Have any of you tried your hand at breeding lotus?
I think this is a interesting website and I enjoyed seeing all the variety of blooms one cross could produce. http://www.victoria-adventure.org/lotus_images/christian2/gallery1.html.
I'd like to cross some tiny bowl lotus. This is picture of one named 'Sunrise.' The U.S. penny will give you an idea of the size of the bloom.
That is a wonderful little lotus. How hard are they to cross? The TWL co-op has just opened up and it would be a great time to get several different varieties pretty inexpensively.
Tried the link and it does not seem to work.
I trimmed the link down-try it like this:
http://www.victoria-adventure.org
BTW: I tried it and my seed stopped growing after a week. Weird but would reconsider another time.
Thanks mothermole you got the link right.
I haven't tried crossing any myself. I was hopeful that one of Dave's members could let me know if they have done it.
Good idea tetleytuna about the coop.
Hello D.D. I didn't try to cross polinate my lotus. However, they're pretty self-fertile. I've collected seeds from natural pollination, and have had luck with sowing those seeds.
My question for you and those that have had experience, how long does it take for a lotus to make flowers from seedling-stage?
Kim
I read somewhere that you can get a bloom the first season if you are some place very warm and more tropical.
My experience with seed in Claremore, Oklahoma is that it took me 2 years or two seasons to get a bloom.
This photo is of a lotus seed that was taken out of a painted floral arrangement that was suppose to be at least 15 years old (that's why there is red glittery paint on the seed).
D Deb: Your site was outstanding for information-I really enjoyed it-especially as they are a married couple who weren't lotus experts but became experts and reinvented the process of cross pollinating the lotus.
Just saw on the lotus co-op where Texas Water Lilies is going to be carrying the type of lotus you described next year. I will have to look into this whole breeding thing for sure! Wouldn't it be fun to see what we could come up with?
Yes, it would be fun to see what we could produce. There is an article over at the victoria site that show the different types of flowers that were produced with one cross.
Do you all have a favorite lotus type or color?
Is it possible to have just one fav. lotus? LOL. DD. That's fascinating to learn that Lotus seed stays viable that long!
I enjoyed the article too! I ordered five lotus tubers this year for a lotus bog I'm going to put in my front yard. I'm intimidated learning how big these plants get, it seems like any sort of hybridizing would require acres to play with!
Question please. Are they hardy in a natural setting such as a pond in your Northern water garden? I know mine are here on 7b. (Then again, that may just be a specific species/cultivar of Lotus ?).
Everything I ordered was listed as hardy to zone four on Bonnie's Plants. I'm going to put my lotus in an 18" deep bog and will put a pond heater in there next winter so the tubers do not freeze. From what I understand, if the tubers freeze solid, they die.
I don't want to get into the pond in November or early December to drag them into the basement. I guess we'll see what happens : ) I have to get them to sprout, first, after they arrive. Hopefully I won't be an oaf and break the growth tips.
You might want to rethink the pond heater. Power outages and you have no heat then you might lose it all. What about a heavy mulch on your bog??? I wonder if that would work?
I do not think I would worry about supplemental heating too much. I doubt they will freeze solid in an 18" deep bog. They have been known to completely overrun an area in two or three years in our zone with no care at all.
I'm only worried about the first winter, getting them established. We've had so much snow the past two winters that I doubt they would get frozen, but now I'm torn.
Fingers crossed, we have not had a power outage this winter, but we had two last year, the longer one lasted for nearly 24 hours. That was the longest I've lived through since moving out here and it was cold! I live just a few blocks from an elementary school so we're on a grid that always gets restored very fast.
My bog is just over 3 ft. deep and my lotus did great. Save yourself some $$ and anxiety by just digging alittle deeper.
Is your bog right next to and or attached to your pond? Is it full of soil or clay or something else?
My bog is in full sun. Not attached to the pond at all. Just a little water garden by itself.
When I dug it out I put all the soil on a big tarp. Put a liner in the hole and back filled it with the dirt I took out...minus the wood chunks and rusty beer cans. Dumped in a bag of composted manure and filled it with water and 2 lotus plants.
C4B, that's so cool. How big? What is the size of your bog? I may venture out and have a bog garden to my backyard. Full sun, however is a premium here in our little home. I grew my Lotus in a single tub. They're hardy here even the tub gets iced over occassionally. Here is a thread on my experience on these precious plants. (Remember folks, I'm in zone 7b).
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/878093/
Hi Kim, your doing really well with your lotus. Growing them here in tubs would be nice, til winter hits. My bog is 4' x 4'
The pictures of your flood reminds me of the house I lived in before. The water would completely surround the house. We had to use a boat to get to dry land.
crazy4brugs please post some photos of your bog if you have some. How old is your bog now?
I was thinking of building a bog for myself. I just ordered lotus from the Texas Waterlily co-op going on now. I'm wondering if this would work. I'm thinking of putting down some chain link fence under the pond liner I put down for the bog. Why you ask? I'm thinking I could use the tractor to pull the chain link bog out so I could divide the lotus every so often.
This is a pot of lotus I had turned upside down and was in the process of moderate hosing to divide the tubers. If any of you have a "creative" way to divide lotus, let me know.
Crazy 4Brugs: Yes please post some pond and bog pictures! Some of you may know that I recvd a lot of my starter plants for my pond from "Crazy". She met me halfway between out homes and her generosity overflowed (quite literally into my car! . . . ). BTW: All the plants did great last summer.
Crazy: I think it was you who recommended a retail place in WI for pond plants and water gardens. If it was you would you refresh my memory on it? I am getting so stir crazy that I road trip to an indoor greenhouse might just do the trick!
Linda
Ok here is my bog right now.
LOL, C4B. As if that pix is going to tell us alot about your pond. But it's the thought that counts.
D.D. The roots/modified tubers on lotus are in segments -like structures. How many of the segments will you likely to cut them into? Are you deviding them now, while dormant? Or are you waiting for the spring to do so? Thanks.
LOL This will be the second summer for the bog. This pic was taken late last spring as the lotus was just starting to emerge.
And just like a pond, make the bog bigger now.
For 2 years I tried growing lotus in a pot and they always died. I would sink the pots into an area in the pond that didn't freeze and in spring move them up to shallow water. No luck.
MM here is the link for Windy Oaks
http://www.liquidescapes.com/windyoaks/windyoaks.html
They won't open until later in spring. The lotus were priced in the $60 range. It's really a neat place to go.
Okay, I have a "new to lotus" question. My tubers should arrive next week from Bonnie's Plants. I have my plastic containers ready to go, my heating mats, but I don't have containers yet to put the plants in once they start to root and grow. I know approximately the sizes I need.
Reading what brugs said about the tubers dying when left in containers over winter, even when sunk into the deepest part of a pond, I find myself in a great dillemma. I now want to plant the tubers directly in the pond, but the soonest that it will be safe, temperature wise, to do that would be May 15-ish. The tubers will definitely be ready for soil before then. Can I plant them in a smaller tub and then move them from the tub directly to soil in the bog when it is warm enough to do so? Or, would moving the growing tubers from one container to the bog kill them?
I purchased mine in a container and when the bog was ready I moved them into there.
Just be careful when you move them.
Lots of people grow them in containers.
Once the plant has broken dormancy, is there a time of year that is better to move it from the container - for example, is it better to wait until late fall or should I move it as soon as the bog is ready and the temperatures are warm enough, at the beginning of the growing season?
How deep was the pond that you moved your lotus into C4B?
I have divided lotus in the spring usually about the middle of March to the first of April if I remember right. You wanna get them before the leaves start openning. Now I have kept them floating til mid May to take to a swap. I'm about zone 7 so April 15th is usually the last freeze where I am. If I let the lotus float loose in a pot I would bring them in the garage at night if cold weather was coming. When I'd plant them in a pot I'd usually fill it with top soil. (Make sure it's not potting soil with those little white perlite pieces that will clog your pump.) I put the tuber on top of the soil and place a rock on across the tuber and gently put it in the pond. Yes, I've had them float loose and had to rerock some.
In the photo of the lotus turned upside down, I was didividing them in late October after all the stems had turned brown and died. I stored them for the winter in the garage. I cleaned them and hit them with a fungicide and stored them in damp peat moss in the garage inside bags that were inside big coolers. The garage stays cool, but doesn't freeze. ****Please note that some fungicides are toxic to fish. If you are gonna try this method, you need to take that into consideration.
I think I found this lotus pot at Lowe's in their water garden section.
Does anyone own those heated water-planters? I wonder if they work and if they would benefit using in my zone to give the plants a head start?
Linda
Here's a picture of the planter I mentioned above.
http://www.pondbiz.com/home/pb1/page_3354_8/thermoplanter.html
Lowe's Lotus tub is about the small size container that I used to germinate my Lotus seeds. (see picture). Pictured here is my container got flooded off for roughly a week then was found again. The seedling germinated last Summer. It's now dormant outdoor in my climate without protection.
M.M. I'm sorry I haven't had experience with those thermo-planters.
I have easily over wintered a "Mrs. Perry D. Slocum" in a tub sitting underwater at two feet. It was under ice for most of the winter(s). I no longer grow it because it was absolutely huge. Even though the tub that held it contained nearly 40 pounds of kitty litter as the growing medium, the huge leaves caught the wind and the whole plant would blow over. On windy days I was constantly climbing into the pond and pulling it back upright.
Yes, yes I remember you telling me about that.
are there lotus that are suited to grow in small pots like 20 gallon water ponds? I would like to find some seeds or plants like that. I have a couple round pots to use for that purpose.. I have just a small papyrus like plant in each of them right now.
Tammy 20 gallons pot is plenty big. It may take a couple of years for seedlings to produce flowers but it is worth the wait. In my zone they survive the winter outdoor with occassional icing over .
I moved mine into my potting shed/green house with a heater for the winter so the plants in them are fine... if I find some seeds.. can I just start them in them? When I put them out, they will be in a sunny area.. they were last year.
