Lotus look so gorgeous but I dont know how to grow them. The pond is 2000 gal with a 3 1/2 ft area, 2 ft area and 1 ft area. There are also 7 rowdy koi (18in to 20in. ) I have good luck with hardy waterlillies (Colorado Sunset) and tropicals which I treat as annuals. Would anyone here recommend them in this pond or should I bury a rubbermaid stock tank next to the pond and try them there? If the stock tank how do you keep the muck from getting sour? I have my eye on a "Mrs. Perry D. Slocum". Do they bloom the first year from a tuber. Obviously I am in the dark here. The reference books seem to conflict with how to plant, when to plant and where to plant. What I need are you guys with all your experience........please?
Beginner With Lotus Needs Advice
Greetings snapple45,
Mrs Perry D Slocum is a beautiful and very popular lotus. They are hardy in your zone. Typically, lotus are sold mail order as a tuber and it is unlikey your new lotus will bloom the first year. It should produce leaves. Locally, you may be able to purchase a lotus that is established, provided that it was planted in the container you are purchasing one or two seasons prior, then it will likely bloom for you this season.
What lotus like--
*5 to 6 hours of direct sunlight
*relatively still water--can tolerate slight movement
*for best results plant with heavy topsoil in a 30 or 48 qt container(the larger the container, the longer you can go before transplanting); you may also use aquatic planting media--my experience is that pondcare offers the best media on the market; fertilize regularly with lilytabs and place in your pond allowing 2 to 4" of water over the rootstock, use larger rocks to keep koi from uprooting--make sure that growth tip is able to get sunlight
*prune spent leaves and blossoms
*divide every one to three years
*allow up to two seasons before you see blooms--sunlight and fertilizer will help
*deter predators, which include muskrats, nutria, ducks, geese, swans, deer, cattle, fish over 8" and turtles
In your situation(large rowdy koi), you may want to start your lotus in a decorative container outside of your pond and transfer it to your pond once it is more established. However, if your koi have not been bothering your waterlilies--your lotus may be fine.
Lotus bloom during a 6 to 8 week period during mid-summer. In my zone, they bloom from July thru August.
In the fall, many people enjoy decorating with the dried seed pods.
I recommend trying one--they are spectacular!!
Happy water gardening, lilypons
I love mine...though many people do put them in the pond with great success...I recommend your tank idea.
I have my Mrs. Perry D. in the bottom half of a 50 gall drum half buried adjacent to my pond. Once the plant is established...lotus enjoy a good bit of fertilizer and in my experience composted cow manure...this extra ferti can cause problems with your pond water...the tub water can get kinda funky but I only put about 6-8 inches of soil in the bottom, then the tuber, then about 10 inches of water on top and every few weeks I would "overfill" the tub with pond water.
lotus do NOT like their roots disturbed...try to plan to do NO or as little as possible moving with the growing plant.
you CAN get blooms the first year from a tuber...I did.. but I also started my tuber inside "in said barrel" in early Feb. In the bedroom under lights...promised hubby I wouldnt do that again....LOL.... dont ask :)
Hi - I'm jumping in here because you must have read my mind, Snapple45. I'm in the same situation as you - lots of questions, and I've heard that a lotus is very beautiful. So, great answers, just what I needed to know, too - I've got a couple more questions - How big do the lotus spread? I have an 18' diameter pond, so can I put in both water lilys and lotus? Or should I stick to one or the other. And how do you winter lotus - I have seen that some are hardy here - 5a - And finally, do you have any favorites for where you get pond plants? Inquiring minds want to know -
Dax
Charlodetta..........I had to finish drying my eyes from laughing so hard. The "barrell in the bedroom" reminds me of the November I hatched duck eggs in a table top incubator in the kitchen. I did this for my elementary school age kids as a fun family project. I didn't plan on having a dozen eggs hatching successfully. Our garage became a duck pen complete with wading pool from Thanksgivng until Easter. Company would come and sit in the kitchen and go "Do I hear ducks quacking?" Talk about making promises to hubby! Anyway, thanks to you, and lillypons, for the information. I think I am going to try a "tub in a tub" buried outside of the pond so I can pump out the stale water from time to time and replace it with pond water. It will be safer keeping it away from the koi. Then If I am confidant of what I am doing I might try it in the pond. Again, thanks. I had no idea of how deep or anything. This really helps.
Snapple, Funny thing....I've been on another thread because I'm growing lotus, but grow a water lily to save my life. The wonderful DG-ers above are helping me a great deal with the lily problem. You ALL are so wonderful! Thanks for being so willing to share with the rest of us!
:)
Okay...since you confesed with the ducks...I'll admit that I was growing my first lotus and I wanted to be super careful..so I had the big barrel half with soil and the new lotus tuber on the surface...barely covered with water and one of those "hood" lights that you get at walmart...a single bulb with a metal reflector hood. I wanted to use the best water possible so I carefully carried up pond water to put in the barrel...a couple of weeks later we noticed mosquitos in the house...yep...the larva loved that warm water and heat from lamp.... :)
My first year I had Mrs. Perry D. and Chawan Basu...both thrived - the Perry D. bloomed the first summer, chawan basu the next. Both were started indoors in Feb.
Maybe lotus can grow in deeper water but they do best in water about 6 to 12 or 15" over the crown. Folks who have cold winters move them to deeper parts of the pond during winter to protect the root ball from freezing solid. I dont move mine...I just leave them in place outside the pond with protection on top and around the pot for some insulation.
LOL!! I won't tell the story of my tadpoles disappearing during this last freeze, when I brought them in with my water plants, into my sunroom...What the husband doesn't know, won't hurt him, until it sticks to his forehead in the middle of the night around 3am....
:D
OH my gosh...that is too funny... thanks for the monday morning laugh :)
Greetings dax080---
Lotus grow vertically to a height of 5 to 7 feet tall. They will take up the width of the container they are in, generally about 18 to 24 inches. Waterlilies spread out over the surface and as a rule of thumb, allow ten sq feet for each lily. This allows for amble space between lilies. To keep your pond balanced, try to acheive 60% surface coverage. Remember that lilies and lotus will continue to produce new plants every one to three years, so start out with less than your goal. Until you reach the desired coverage, use water lettuce or hyacinths. They are inexpensive, reproduce like crazy--you only need one, and die at the end of the season in your zone.
Yes, lotus and hardy lilies are hardy in your zone. To overwinter them, cut the plants back to just a few inches over the pot. Lower the pots to the bottom of the pond. As long as the root is below freezing level, they will come back in the spring. You can always add a de-icer to keep the pond from freezing solid--depending on the depth of your pond.
As far as a great source for plants, I'm not in a position to say--however, you may want to go to plantscounts on this site and type in waterlilies or lotus and you'll get a list of suppliers and websites.
Happy water gardening, lilypons
Wow! 5 to 7 feet? Vertically? So if I follow the advice above, which I think I will, and put a 50 gallon tub on the outside of the pond, and put the lotus in there, how will that look? Somehow, I'm sure I'm not getting it in my head - does anyone have any pictures so I can figure this out? Love to see them, Lilypons, or anyone else who can help me see this -
In my wg's my Mrs. Perry Slocum lotus gets maybe 3 ft tall maybe a little more, thats it ( maybe in warmer zones they do get bigger or under certain conditions???...the leaves may be taller but tend to go out sideways as they get bigger from the weight and are up to 2+ feet across.. I have not fertilized mine in years or seperated them .. MPS is for a larger pond unless you really want to fill it up ...and yes you do need at least 4-5 hrs of sun. It changes from whitish pink to pinkish res and back if I remember right ...if I had to choose just one lotus MPS would be it ...it is phenominal!!! Amonst my wife's 20,000+ photos on this computer I can't find any wide views this is the best I have ...next summer I will take some photos of the whole enchilada...David
Here's a better shot ...DA wife said that other one was a scanned 35 mm film shot NOT GREAT ....we haven't done film in 6-7 years ...digital all the way...David
Since I just got two lovely tubers of Mrs. Perry Slocum (which, by the way, are now poking their heads above water - Yippee!!) in a recent trade, I'm tuning into this forum for ideas. I love the buried barrel idea. Here is another idea that I ran across a few days ago. He has an interesting way of doing a lotus bog, and there are some fabulous photos. I'm thinking of doing something like this on a smaller scale adjacent to an area where I want to grow carnivorous plants.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/562286/
Magnificent pictures and ideas! Now I get it - and even have a place that could be perfect for a lotus bog - luckily, I have lots of property, and put in a bog last year that gets that much sun. With a little additional work I can make it a good home for a lotus. I'd love to see pictures from everyone - these are truly royal plants - just beginning the water gardening phase and haven't seen these plants much up here - only the water lilies. Know why that is? Do they die easily in 5a?
I have my lotus in large plastic tubs (huge tubs) and then built a wooden box around them to make them more decorative so the tubs won't show. Once they come up for the season, I will send pics. I see they are just now breaking their dormancy, and sending a few leaves to the top of the water line. Eventually, both tubs are on the sides of one of my swings and will just surround the swing with a lush little tropical enclosure.
I have smaller varieties in decorative water-holding crocks, tubs, etc around my deck.
I can't wait - I'm so envious - in Florida they're already growing, and it's still ice encrusted here - will look forward to your pictures.
I owe a lot of thanks, to all who are giving info on raising lotus.
You all have given me some differing ideas. I am now thinking of making use of my preformed pond that I used for goldfish, that sits up by my water fall. Plant the lotus in there and let a small trickle of water go into that and then trickle either into the pond or over to the garden??? The pf. pond is 18" deep; could that be covered in the winter to keep from freezing the tubers ? I also have some mineral feeding tubs for feeding cattle they are probably 2and 1/2 bushel size each I could sink them in the pond and weigh them down good with pea gravel and river rock, that may make a little less work. Any better ideas????
Russ
Melissa...the tubers I sent you are putting out....how wonderful :)
the one that I kept in the greenhouse is greening up too....
not too much fertilizer too soon now....once established they can take alot but some folks do tend to burn up new ones :)
charlotte
I am so excited, Charlotte! I could not believe it when I went in the greenhouse and saw them poking up above the water. I have not fertilized at all. There are probably plenty of nutrients in the water already. I likely will not fertilize until I put them outside.
Russ, your idea of putting the lotus in a tub and letting water trickle in and then out into the pond is a good one. It reminds me of my veggie filter, and I wonder now if lotus would grow well in there. Just about everything else does! LOL I have my gunnera in there and it really took off. This is part of my pond filtration system and is basically just a large deep gravel area where water from the pond enters one side from underneath the gravel, then percolates up through the gravel and pours back into the pond. The gravel sustains all the beneficial bacteria that break down waste products, and the plants I grow there use up more of the waste products as nutrients in the water. I wonder if lotus would work there since they hold their leaves and flowers above the water anyway.
Putting the lotus in a "veggie filter" situation is a fine idea but remember it will have the same problems as if you put it in the pond.
Most folks say that a lotus needs extra fertilizer to bloom well and for some folks this excess fertilizer tends to cause algea problems in their pond.
Just a short word ...maybe my pond is just a fertile one or my soil is super ( it is primo btw)....but I haven't fertilized my lotuses since year one probably 6 years ago ( or seperated or repotted)... I still had green water til I put in my turbo twist uv3 sterilizer last summer and now it's clear but saw and see NO differnce in blooming of my MPS lotus ...Now I have seen a DEFINITE lessening of blooming with all my water lilies but NOT with the lotuses ...tons of flowers. Thats not to say your experiences will be the same!!! .. David
Haven't even gotten to these lotus tubers yet, and they are sending up leaves while waiting. Need to get busy!
Signs that spring is on it's way! First lotus leaves coming up to the surface.
And another in different tub garden. I haven't had much luck with lotus from seed, although I get them to sprout, the don't do well months afterward. The tubers seem to be a better deal in the long run.
I had some lotus seed from Kaleem in Pakistan and I had the same problem. I germinated them with no difficulty, and they grew for a few months in an aquarium with an oxygenator stone, then suddenly they stopped putting out leaves. I thought they went dormant, but it ends up that they died. I don't know what happened but it was very disappointing.
So, Charlotte, what I understand you are saying is that lotus would probably do well in the veggie filter due to all the extra nutrients available, but would have to be lifted (which they don't particularly like) to protect them from freezing in the winter?
David, I wonder if the reason your waterlilies are doing less well is the lotus is hogging all the nutrients?
Absolutely the lotus should be happy in the veggie filter but with lotus you must also protect that root ball from freezing solid during winter.
Thats why some folks that have them in pots put them deeper in the pond during winter. Dont see why you couldnt do that with your lotus in a pot in the veggie filter.
I too have a uv light and wouldnt be without it in the main pond but I like to fertilizer my lotus some and dont want to put that in my pond water.
Always remember with ponding...there are some general rules you cant break but there are many different ways to do things and what works for one person may not work for you..its a bit of trial and error.
:)
"David, I wonder if the reason your waterlilies are doing less well is the lotus is hogging all the nutrients?"
NOPE I have em in differnt ponds... But my lillies are mostly living in the bottom of my pond having poped out of my pots large and small cause they grew so big so fast...as i said they are MUCH more labor intensive and I'm lazy bum...a basic minimal maitenance guy ...David
Suggestion for those who want a lotus but are concerned about size, there is a dwarf called momo batan or something simular, will bloom the first year from tubers and hasn't gottn over 6 feet across in a friends pool, i divide mine most springs to keep it down to about 4 feet in diameter. Fertilizer, placed in a paper bag or several thicknesses of paper towel and buried in the soil in the waterlily and lotus pots will allow the fertilizer to spread to the plant but limit it spreading to the water, i do this and don't have a filter nor do i have an algae problem, but then my pool is fairly large. The single white lotus was turned loose in a swamp at my parents camp, it covered over a 1/4 acre before the muskrats found it and ate it to nothing so they can get to be quite large