Water Gardening: uh-oh: Nelumbo seed looks bad..., 1 by bwilliams

bwilliams wrote:
Well a lotus is like a underwater vine it will crawl and spread easily and can take over a pond if not contained. In the bog it is allowed to spread and expand that is why I have been able to get such large leaves and a lot more blooms. It's a bit more natural for the lotus. If you have a huge pond I do think they are worth putting them in. Their are a few things that can be done. One is with really large ponds you can build a underwater wall you can use large rocks or cendar blocks some thing that will hold the dirt back and give the lotus plenty of room. Then plant your lotus their. If the pond is big but not extemely large huge containers can be bought that will hold a lotus I would suggest something barrel size or larger it does not have to be deep but it does need to be wide. The lotus plant need 4 to 12 inches of water over the top of the container. The deeper they are the more surface leaves you will get the more shallow the more leaves you will get held up out of the water. Also if you have it in the container do not fill the contain to the top with soil leave around 4 to 5 inches on top this will keep the vines spreading around the pot rather than taking off into the pond.
This photo of the large pond at St Louis Botanical gardens shows a lotus bog similar to what I talked about first. Their is a underwater barrier that holds the soil and the lotus back. I am sure that it has to be maintained every year or two to keep them from over taking the area.