Water Gardening: Lotus propagration, 0 by lourspolaire

lourspolaire wrote:
I have succeeded in sprouting a few lotus seeds by burying them in my 40 gallon aquarium's substrate. But as soon as they sprout, the fish eat them because that's like candy to them.

I'd like a few more lotus in my pond. Who wouldn't? I have started germinating about 8 seeds 2 days ago. I filed the shell until I could see creamy white showing through the notch in the shell. I used a heavy steel file and held the seeds in pliers. Why I didn't think of my Dremel is beyond me.

I change my seeds' water every day. I am "soaking" them in a large clear plastic jar. As soon as they show signs of germination, I will fill an empty 20-gallon aquarium with about 5 inches of genuine topsoil mud topped off with about 5 inches water and plant the germinating seeds in there, in full Florida sun. They grow in mud and muck in nature; I'll try to replicate that. If I don't succeed this time, I will declare myself inept at germinating those seeds and try to arrange a trade with someone who grows them on DG. Someone has got to have a glut of them. I'd just like a few more in my pond. Anyhow, that's my current experiment right now.

Sylvain.