Help! My lotus from the TWL coop arrived today and they are beautiful, easily the largest and healthiest lotus tubers I have ever seen.
My problem is they are in a bone dry medium, peat moss probably. Is that the way they are shipped or did my Post Office hold the package too long - which would not be unusual here. Long story but I cannot plant them before tomorrow morning and I am wondering if I should dampen the moss this evening. I do not want to stress them any more than necessary.
Thanks for any advice.
Advice needed asap
Eek I don't know, but maybe someone else will, bump!
Mine arrived today also packed the same way... some instructions would be nice! I think they will be fine for a few days.. they better be because I don't have time to pot them right now.
Tammie
I just checked mine and I do think they are fine as they are such fat, healthy tubers. The leaves that had already emerged will probably die off though because they have already turned brown.
When I ordered them DH and I had been talking about renovating the house but we had been talking about this for over 18 months. Who knew within a matter of weeks our home and lives (and my water gardens) would be torn up; we have a new and very energetic contractor who is moving along at warp speed. I had completely forgotten about these plants and when they arrived yesterday I panicked. The lotus pots I have for them are buried beneath all our household furniture which has been moved to the garage. Going out this morning to buy some animal feed buckets so I can get them into some soil and water.
someone remind me what is the best way to pot these.. I have lotus and waterlilies. also a marginal clover of some kind. What do I do with it... can it float or does it need to be in a pot also? Took 2 out of their bags last night and just laid them on top of the water to float around until I can get them potted.... will that hurt them?
Tammie
You really need to get some advice from the place where they were grown. If you don't have full and detailed cultivation requirements, specific to the variety in relation to its new location, its hit and miss
Tropical waterlilies and lotus have allsorts of quirks
Regards, andy
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/
andy, did you get any of the TWL plants? I have found them to be far superior in quality at a more than fair price. No instructions included is a small price to pay. In the past I have always bought live lotus plants; I had no idea they could be shipped dry during dormancy. It is good to know it can be done.
Mine are planted and happy now.
It will not hurt the lotus tubers to be floating in water. I'm a little surprised that they came so dry.
Be EXTREMELY careful to not break off any growing tips, without those, your tuber pretty much is a goner.
Get large flatter shaped tubbies ( I found large black dishpans at the dollar store) Fill it halfway with either water plant planting medium ( no perlite or vermiculite which will float in the water) or kitty litter (the plain cheapo, non-scented kind from WalMart).
Lay the tuber FLAT to SLIGHTY ANGLED in the planting medium, again being careful to not break off any delicate growing points....and finish filling with KittyLitter/WaterPlant medium, allowing any growing tips to remain slightly exposed if possible.
You can then submerge the tubby slowly into your pond, about 12 inches deep, in a sunny location. If you have fish in your pond (especially large koi) make sure you put a layer of rock on the top, so they can't get to the tuber and uproot it.
If you are growing them in a bog garden, any low lying area that stays "boggy" will be good. Normal soil will be fine, as long as it stays very very moist.
I grow mine in 25 gallon water tubbies around the yard and in my koi pond.
That was what I thought, but perhaps my PO held them. They deliver in regular cars and if they are driving a small one you have to wait until they have room in the car for boxes. On the other hand these tubers are huge and fat, with plenty of stored moisture; maybe they didn't need damp medium.
Hi Ardesia,
No, I didn't take part in this coop. Yes, Texas waterlilies does send out better plants than many, though personally I'd rather get tubers which are just starting into growth, which I can put into isolation to apply fungicides to, to make sure the plant is disease free
After recieving so many dead or crown rot infected plants in prior years, I take no chances these days
Grown out plants tend to die back to the tuber in the volatile climate here.
Assuming there is a tuber on the plant...
From prior experience I've become reluctant to tinker with stuff from sources which don't provide good information.
It can take a couple of Summers of trial and error to find out what Jekyl and Hyde quirks there can be, the climate here is volatile, the majority of tropical waterlilies persnickety
The novelty of giving over large areas of pond space to plants that have significant flaws wore off some time ago.
Regards, andy
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/
This message was edited Mar 14, 2008 6:58 PM