Water Gardening: lotus run amok, 1 by tsg

tsg wrote:
Lotus seeds need to be pricked to germinate because of the hard outer shell,thats the reason the seed has lasted so long in the pyramids or tumbs they found some in and germinated. Some will get pricked by nature though. Lotus multiply from the tubers running mainly. With a seed germination you do not know if you have a true plant variety if grown around other varieties because of possible cross pollination. Thats why it is looked down upon in the selling end of the field plus the controlled growing end. There are many sellers selling lotus and water lilies which are not true varieties. People who want true plants buy tubers. I think in your situation the only way to clear them out would be to herbicide them. I have known of them planted in a growing pond without a liner and they grew down 2 to 3 feet which made it impossible to pick the dormant tubers. Draining the water and letting them die off was the only other way to control them.They now grow in lined ponds.ooops loaded wrong picture .Water lily pond here but the Lotus are grown in similar pond now.

This message was edited Jan 12, 2007 9:44 PM