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| Hi all,
I've always wondered if it was a myth that if a lotus stem breaks and gets water in it, it kills the plant. Well, this was the second season for my American lotus. it was growing fairly slowly at the beginning of summer, but I think it was because of the cold weather. anyhow......one day I decided to pull off all the algae on it, and it tore off one of the leaves (only had 3 leaves at the time). I tried to be careful to hang the broken stem on a bamboo spike in the soil, so it was above water. A few weeks later, I found it under the water. Well, the whole plant proceeded to die. All the dead pieces of tuber are floating up to the surface. I'm thinking in a really hardy lotus who is several years old, it might have survived. But I believe this one is deader than a door nail, unfortunately. So maybe that myth really IS true! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by catherinet z5 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8, 09 at 11:51
| Gee Catherine, I thought it was untrue also. Sorry about your lotus! |
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| I've walked outside to find my bullmastiff in my pond and she broke off several stems, but there were about 20 at the time, it's still ok& I do think that if the plant is estbl it has a much better chance. Sorry abt your lotus do you need a seed or 2 to grow? |
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- Posted by catherinet z5 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8, 09 at 17:11
| Hi bri, Thanks for the offer, but I'm okay. I agree with you......it probably doesn't matter to a big healthy plant. Mine was over a year old, but it didn't do so well last year, so I think that's why the broken stem did it in. Who knows......maybe it had some other problem to begin with. Thanks again for your kind offer! |
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| Catherine, I have a lotus that is dying also. Got the tuber last year did well and bloom last year. This summer was doing well even bloom only once right before the 4th of July. It hasnt grown any new leaves since and looks very poorly only has maybe 4 or 5 leaves still left on it. Dont know what went wrong with it all the other lotus plants seem to be doing great. Teresa :o( |
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| Catherineut! So strange, I logged on to post to you and say I appreciate you because you always offer people positive advice and encouragment. So thank you for being you=-) Sorry to hear about your lotus=/ I also thought that was untrue! I have been experimenting with mine over the last couple of years since we have spoken. Do you think it died because the plant only had one node so it was easy for the water to get to the tuber? Following the logic of when there are more leaves there are more nodes seperated from each other? I will try to catch up with you soon and post pictures of the different ways I have tried to grow lotus! - John P.S. You cracked me up with your "Gee Catherine, I thought it was untrue also. Sorry about your lotus!" hahahaha |
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- Posted by catherinet z5 (My Page) on Tue, Aug 11, 09 at 8:27
| Hi Teri and John. Teri.....be sure to dump it out in the Fall and check out what was going on under the soil. Maybe there's some sort of lotus virus??? Hey John!! How the heck are you?! I think of you and wonder how you're doing. This American lotus has never been really thriving. I was thinking it was in its second year, but its its 3rd. Its never been divided. It only had 2 blossoms in those 3 years. Maybe it had some sort of problem from the start? |
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- Posted by daniellalell 7 NJ (My Page) on Wed, Aug 12, 09 at 9:08
| O man, that stinks. I'm sorry to hear about your lotus. I wondered if that was true as well..I did the same thing with mine, it is in its second year..didnt bloom at all last year, finally it has 5 buds ready to open soon.. anyway, While I was pulling out string algae I broke 2 leaf stems..I left them semi-detached from the plant, just laying in the water. The leaves died, but the lotus is fine. I also a few times sticking in fert broke roots n stuff under the soil suface, by accident. I wanna know how in the world your supposed to stick them in and NOT hit anything, lol..my lotus overtook the whole preform it is in..I think its like 5.5'x3'. I agree, I think it was an underlying issue, or maybe it just wasnt established enuf? I hope there are more tubers down under that are OK. Hopefully you'll see some new growth soon. I wouldnt go digging around just yet..with the screwy cool weather for most of the season so far, and it just warming up..I would stick some fert in there, & give it more time to see if it does anything rather than digging around risking wounding any tubers that may be down in there and OK. just my opinion on what I'd do. Whatever you decide, I hope there are some survivors. |
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| We're about to find out how true it is here. I just broke off one of the leaf stems dragging the container out of my pond...it was so darn heavy! Anyway it has lots of leaves that are piddling along and have the look of something growing in dirty water... which is why I decided to pull it out and flush it out good with clean water. I also pulled away a bid of old dead growth. I'm hoping that's okay too. I've got the green stem above water for the time. It has gobs of fibrous roots. I can't even see the tuber. So here's hoping! I'll let you know! |
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- Posted by akidleativy2 z9 CA (My Page) on Sun, May 2, 10 at 1:55
| I've grown most of my lotus from seeds and I've found that no matter how healthy the plants look the first year, because they're so fragile, just moving them to a new location or messing with the water can be enough to kill them. If a stem breaks on a young plant, I can pretty much kiss it goodbye. I've had better luck with the more established plants. |
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| Well... I know it's only been a few days, but I think I've found a trick! and so far, so good! I figured if by the open stems they'd "drown" then how about sealing them up? So I tried a little bull clip on one, but couldn't drape it over a side of the pot without sinking the stem and didn't want to take the test that far... so I pulled it off, but in doing so it made a permanent dent and within 24 hours it was drying up and shriveling at that exposed end! In other words, it seemed to form a natural seal. I found 2 other stems I didn't even see and we're trying that same thing again. None have been underwater yet, but the next rain and/or wind will be the final test. I hope this works for someone else too! These are too expensive to replace! |
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- Posted by catherinet z5 (My Page) on Wed, May 5, 10 at 14:45
| That's interesting shelley............keep us posted on how it goes. Maybe if its going to rain, you can make a little rain poncho for it. ;) All I have left this year is my original Egyptian lotus that is buried in a bog. I'm thinking nothing will kill it, since it has such a big space to grow roots/tubers in. Its put up a couple floaters already. I think I'll try another American lotus next year. I just needed a break this year and didn't buy anything new (except a million perennials!). Let us know how your lotus does. |
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| 2 weeks later and still alive! Your going to think I'm TRYING to kill it, but since mine is just piddling along with growth, I'm moving him to a little bigger pot :)! I wish the special lotus pots weren't $25! |
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