Can anyone tell me how to do this, please? I am still looking for water lily seeds.
germinating water lily and water hyacinth seeds
I found a site on the Internet years ago by typing in how to germinate Lotus seeds. I never was successful with my Lotus seeds:( You might find a site for water lily seeds if you try searching the net. Good luck!
ebay has seeds for sale. I've never tried them, so I'm no help with germination, but the sellers should know how. Good luck, and let us know!
Brenda
Thanks. I did look at ebay, and they have some nice, hardy pink ones which I would order if I only can find my little notebook with my passwords in it. Whoops! I just found it!
What I would really love is a blue/purple one hardy or tropical. Do you think I could overwinter a lotus some way in the house? I am going to buy the pink right away. About one fifth of the pond has smaller white water lilies which are very pretty.
Hardy waterlily seed is best started fresh, kept moist. Dried seed is likely to be erratic to germinate
Tropical waterlily seed can stored and keep dry for five years plus at room temperature
There are quite a few quirky differences between the two types of seed.
Storing disease free tropical waterlilies is doable indoors, in an aquarium, a dish of water in a well lit window, or storing tubers in slightly damp peat or sand. Between 50°f and 70°f they are quite reliable, dormant to semi dormant through Winter indefinitely... I've got some spares in trays of water at room temps for two years...
Refrigerators tend to be a bit risky for storing tropical waterlilies, folk do lose all the tubers in temperatures that can be too cool below 45°f
It might be easier to start a tropical waterlily in early Summer...
Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/
adavisus, Thanks for the photobucket; I think I can live with the hardy ones! Why are flowers so darned beautiful? I believe I will save my pennies and splurge in spring on a tuber.
I was wondering if I could overwinter tropical lilies in an aquarium. I wanted them to remain dormant so they would not have to expend energy growing leaves I would just have to snip off for lack of room.
This message was edited Oct 26, 2007 2:35 AM
Yups it is a challenge to get snapshots of the waterlily blooms when they are at their peak, before heat, fate, bugs or frogs get to mangle them. Then you can mull over them all winter to figure out what better choices to tweak next season, by way of position, shade, fertilising
It may take a season or two, to figure out how best to plant Gonnere, Burgundy Princess, Almost Black, so that they bloom steady through the heat instead of being shy bloomers (or dying, as in the case of many a fickle poorly documented tropical waterlily)
Yup, Wintering trop tubers and vips is definitely doable indoors. No special equipment, technical mumbo jumbo required
As long as the plants are disease free, at a temp range of 70°f -75°f they can tick over at a quite modest size, if temps and fertility creep higher they may become sprawly at a rapid rate
Vips such as Tina, Islamorada, Ruby, Lavender Lace, M. Ganna Walska, Queen of Siam, Niemi's Opal, August Koch, Panama Pacific, may fizzle down to a tiny size, quite healthy, to bazoom up to a flowering size when planted out in good conditions outdoors (Air temps steady above 86°f, water temps going over 70°f)
Bear in mind trops may flower for 4 months, July-October
(if excessive Summer heat does not cripple them)
Hardy waterlilies may flower 7 months April-October
(May be shy to flower in excessive heat)
Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/
Thanks so much for the info Andy! We have had our first frost here and I will need to take the tropicals in for the winter this weekend I think.