darlindeb..... and also others... I'm starting lotus seed...

So finally, darlindeb, I was able to go through some info on starting seed, the ones you sent last year. At last, I could pick up a little hack-saw and scrape down a groove. I'll find 3 bowls for the 3 varieties of seeds so that I can maintain the label and know which one is which when it grows.... I hope they do. One of them broke off while I held it lightly with a plier. The crack could help too, which I found out in another site. I'll keep coming back to this thread as things go along, hopefully with useful tips flowing into it, as always. This is the first attempt.

Lotus should be easy to sprout from seed the trick is to keep them going. You should have an easier time of it than I though. I always have to worry about cold weather and critters. They will be just beautiful in and near your new pond.

The crack could indeed help. It will be easier for the seed to take on the water it needs to grown and to get rid of the brown shell encasing the seed. Something that you might consider doing is planting it in fine gravel. This will keep it from rotting as it tries to establish. You can add fertilzer tabs or if you have enough fish in the pond the plants will use the fish waste to grow and actually help the water quality.

Thanks tetleytuna for the suggestions and inspiration. Do you think the warmer climate here could be a factor to make it bloom earlier than the 2-3 years I read in a few links while trying to study it? Can I use river sand instead of fine gravel?

Your warmer climate should help a lot compared to mine. The poor things only get about five really good months to grow before it gets cold again. Sand should work but the reason I suggested fine gravel is that the roots would have an easier time of it. As an experiment put some fine gravel under water and try to push your finger down into it and then do the same with sand. It is much harder to go through sand. The roots would eventually go through it just would take more energy. You could try heavy garden soil too but the organic materials in it might encourage rot in your little seedling.

I'll see if I can get some coarse sand that is between fine sand and thicker gravel. Today I put the seeds in water. Put it in sun and I've kept them on our hot water boiler unit. It gets a bit warm from beneath and the sun shines all afternoon. Three types of seeds.

Today, it is showing good signs. I'm changing water twice a day. I've put labels in the 3 varieties in 3 bottles. The one that broke while holding with the pliers has not thrown out leaf - it also floated being light - I learnt that the seed has to be heavy and should sink down.

Now what should I do?

Be very happy!

Hi Dinu,

You might want to increase your water level. Eventually you will get leaves about this size.

I'm guessing your weather is hot year round.

What I did with the ones I've started was to let them float above a pot with some soil. Now I did flush (add fresh water to the point where the old water spills over the sides of the container) when I grow these.

When I got a couple of leaves floating I would move them to their new home.

Dinu are you going to try and grow these as container plants, potted in a pond or loose in a bog area?

This is the pot they sell at Lowe's (a garden and hardware store) as a lotus pot for planting in ponds in the U.S. That is my average sized women's shoe in the picture for scale.

One thing to remember about lotus is that you don't want to cut the leaves or the flowers off below the water level. You can kill off the plant that way. Farmers get rid of the plant by cutting it below the water.

Thanks darlindeb for the useful tips. I have two options. There are 3 seeds sprouting now [out of 5 you sent]. At least one of the two will be slow in sprouting. Fingers crossed on that broken one. So, I plan to keep the white parent lotus and the light pink parent lotus in my pond. The one "unknown" seed would be grown in a container, which is a metal barrel that is just more than a foot in height and 2 feet in diameter. I think I need to paint the inner surface first since I see some rusting.

I'll change it to a larger container now that holds more water.

One thing that happens with growing in containers is the water gets foul smelling until the plants gets large and established then everything seems to adjust better. You do have to remind people to give them water if you go on vacation.

I want to remind you that even though the parent of the lotus seed is white you might have it bloom a different color. Please do send photos of your blooms. If you don't have access to aquatic plant food, you might want to take some "aged" cow manure and place it in the bottom of your container then place your soil on top of the manure. Then put your water in and let it set a day or two. Flush the water then the next day put your baby lotus in to float.

Eventually the seeds will grow into tubers that look like these. I know the orientals eat lotus tubers and the American Indians reportedly would eat them. It's not a common item in the American diet. I do see them for sale in the Asian market in Tulsa, OK. I have also read a report that said Auburn University was going to approach commercial fish farmers about raising lotus with fish to create a second cash crop. Where I am most people divide their lotus in containers every 3 to 5 years. Your weather may be better and you might need to divide more frequently.

If I make friends with some Asian ladies who cook lotus, I'll send along the info.

Thanks darlindeb. Will surely keep the progress updated. Yea, Mysore weather is max. 38 C in summer peak, but mostly it is in the early 30s except winter when it gets lower at about 28C. Winter min. will be about 12C. So the range is always between that with the rainy season between June and October when humidity is a bit more. Both summer and winter are dry.

I've asked my milkman to bring some cowdung mainly for my compost bin which I'm starting [my friend is an inspiration] and I'll save some for the lotus by which time it would have aged - I don't know when he will bring. His dairy is close by, just half a mile.

Today, I changed the water of the 3 bottles that had become cloudy - dark. Filled it to the brim this time.

I've had lotus root, fried as a topping on sushi. It was delicious : )

Tasted like taro, I thought - more rich than any potato.

Today, the sprouts were moved in to small buckets.

I'm thinking of growing two of the three varieties in the pond. There are plenty of snails there. Also, toad tadpoles. Can they pose danger to the young leaves if I put them next week?


This message was edited Feb 12, 2009 9:56 PM

Growing in buckets of water.

I can't get over how fast these seeds are growing for you. I'm happy for you!

I don't know about your snails there in India. Mine here in Oklahoma have not been a problem. You might want to try putting one out and see what happens.

Lotus do have this interesting ability to turn normal soil into something more clay like.
Also, when you go to transplant them there is this odor that is "primal" for lack of a better word.

You may very well get a bloom your first year with your tropical weather. I'm wondering if they will bloom the same time as your native lotus?

It's loads of fun for me to see your photos. I do hope you get some colors and blooms that you like.

There are 4 sprouted seeds now. I have a plastic container that is about 15 inches in diameter. It is a jerry can and I have to cut it up. What should be the height of this container? Can I place it in the pond? How much soil/gravel? I have now got cow dung - fresh. I heard it has to age. How long it has to age? I also have a metal drum that is about a foot in height and 2 feet in diameter. Kindly suggest exactly how to go about these. If growing all the four will be too big for me, I'll give one to my garden friend where he can grow in his pond. The leaves are flat and about 2 inches in diameter, some are now opening flat.

If you are going to place the jerry can in your pond the only limitation on height is how deep the pond is. As long as the container is under several inches of water and visually appealing it will be fine. What did it originally have in it? If it was a petroleum product like gas or fuel oil you will not want to put it in your pond or try to grow lotus in it as the gas/oil residue will poison your pond and plants.

As far as the planting medium is concerned make sure you have enough in the pot to provide plenty of room for the plant to establish itself. I would not suggest using cow dung as a fertilizer for this purpose. It will only bring down your water qaulity and encourage algea growth. If the cow dung is very dry it will not stay in the pot at all and float to the surface again causing water quality problems.

Here are the two containers I could put in the pond. The white one can be cut up. I think I'll use this one. On the right is a plastic tub that has a crack in it and so unusable to hold water any more. My pond depth is about 22 inches when water is full brim. I'm going to use the ordinary soil I have. I don't know if any fertilizer tabs that I read here is available locally. I'm also thinking twice on using cowdung as earlier[in my old pond, for water lily] it did affect water quality as you mentioned. Let's see how it does in ordinary soil. The container did not hold any chemical or oil. It has been kept unused for many years until I used it as a rainwater first filter and it has passed out hundreds of gallons of rainwater. So I think that will be safe. I'm going to halve it. Is that okay? Also, how many lotus seeds can I grow in my pond? Is my plan suit the situation? Hope you have seen the picture of my pond with water lilies in my other thread that is still on top.

How interesting to read about ya'll growing lotus from seeds. I just put a new pond in the front yard. Do any of you by chance have some lotus seeds you could share with me to try to grow?
I would really appreciate any water plants, seeds and so forth that I might be able to grow and add to my pond. Right now I'm still adding more rocks to the outside part. It's about 5 ft deep at the deepest part and about 6 inches at the shallow end. With any luck I'm going to get my son-in-law to build me a waterfall at one end. That will have to come later in the year as I already have too many irons in the fire.

If anyone has anything to share please d mail me directly as I'm old and I have a difficult time of getting back to where I left messages and so forth. Oh, and please let me know if I have anything your interested in trading for your water plants.

Thanks in advance and Happy Gardening, Marian

I would put one plant per container. What is the measurement of your pond in feet and inches?

You might want to consider doing some containers outside of your pond. It sounds like your weather is tropical enough that they could grow outside without any problem year round. You or someone you know could get "artsy" and decorate the containers.

One thing to take into consideration is how much wind you have. The more soil (weight) you have the less likely a container is to tip over. I have grown lotus in 5 inches of soil. (see the photo of pot with my tennis shoe earlier in this thread). That pot did live in a pond.

The lotus I have seem to do well in full sun.

"Aged" cow manure was what was used to fertilize water lilies in the late 1800s. I still think you might want to consider it if you do some in containers outside of the pond.

I'll talk to Santa Claus and see if he can send you some fertilizer tabs (wink).

Honey bees in lotus in the photo below.

Eventually, the one on the right was immersed in the pond. I also used the black drum for the two 'unknown' seeds and one oil barrel drum [contained and passed off gallons of rainwater for 3-4 seasons - no danger. That tub that went into the pond was used for water. The drum is painted white on the inside with some rust at damaged parts. I put in the 'parent white' in the pond and the 'parent light pink' in the green barrel that holds about 10 gallons. I filled them up with at least 5 inches of ordinary garden soil and I chose not to put in cow manure. It took half a day for the lighter floaters to settle.

I bought a liner that was 18x12 feet. My pond is 2 feet deep when water is full brim. There are 'steps' on 3 sides.

All 3 containers can be seen here: one in the pond, two outside.

With your weather they should be very happy plants.

Once I get some aquatic fertilizer tabs in I'll try to remember to send you some.

Once you get these up and going maybe you will want to try seed from these tiny and very small bowl lotus. They grow in something about the size of a large salad bowl.
I'll send some pictures of these in their containers in the spring providing they make it through the winter okay here.

I'm off to see that movie, "Slumdog Millionaire."

How did you like that movie? I loved it-especially the darling little boys. It's is a colorful, vibrant movie. I've always wanted to go to India. Want to see another great Indian movie? See Monsoon Wedding. One of my favorite movies!

It was an interesting movie. I can see why it won best picture.

I don't think I could handle that many people all crowded into such little space. I was truely thankful to be home tonight on our five acres out in the country where deer, raccoons, skunks and all the other "critters" run free.

Dinu the red colored bird is a cardinal at my feeder in the backyard. It's a common bird in North America.

Slumdog millionaire! The whole world is talking about it, leave alone our country! Agreat prestige to the countrymen and performers. I haven't seen this yet. It may be long before I get to see - our local TV should telecast it for me to see it or my daughters have to bring home a DVD from a library if they get the interest. We have no cable TV at home for its sheer nuisance value and its abilities to eat our time. I'm using such time for my other pursuits like gardening...! I understand it is a really good movie in a long time.

Do the leaves leave the water surface and rise higher and stand above the level? Should I leave a few fish in the containers outside so that they will take care of mosquito larvae?

Nice red cardinal there. How I wish such colourful birds visited my garden! The light pink lotus is a beauty and I hope the one that has begun to grow here half way round the earth will do just as well.

Dinu

Yes, you will get leaves that rise above the surface. The first leaves are small and float on the surface. They get bigger the longer the plant is established. After the leaves get established then the blooms come. The blooms don't last but about 3 days; however, the are very lovely and you should get several blooms throughout the season and more once the plant is established and fertilized.

Regarding misquito control, people do put fish in their container water gardens. The most common here being, misquito fish, flathead minnows and depending upon the size of the water garden and aeration goldfish, too.

This shows a pot of established lotus pulled from a pond in the spring after they have been dormant during the winter. You will see little leaves that look like arrow tips heading for the sky.

The above photo has rocks in the top of the pot. I don't put rocks in my pots anymore and they seem to do just fine without them. That was just the way someone I learned from did it.

Here is a close-up of the leaf; however, it is turned side ways.

Thanks for the information darlindeb. I'll move a few fish to the containers from the pond. Here is a pic of what I have. I don't know names, but I enjoy them being with us. A few guppies, half a dozen tetra, some of those red ones..

Here is an interesting article about "Slumdog Millionaire" -

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/the-real-roots-of-the-slumdog-protests/?ex=1251003600&en=23dcf76fa0f19672&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=OP-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M083-ROS-0209-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click

I have not seen it myself (not much of a movie-goer) but I am now intrigued.

IC you will love the movie. I am serious about that other movie called Monsoon Wedding. It has multiple story lines, interesting characters and is very colorful. It is right up there with Slumdog but didn't get the notice or acclaim because of the timing. There is such a huge influence from Asia in our culture right now. In my husband's country (England) this cultural influx happened about 25-30 years ago. The number one food in England is Indian (not fish and chips). About 50% of the meals we eat in our home are Indian because my husband does a lot of the cooking.

I saw Monsoon Wedding, too and really enjoyed it!

Here is a collage of the three places where my four lotuses are growing. The top two are containers outside the pond and near it, the bottom one is immersed in the pond. Note the smaller leaves in this one among the water lily leaves.

Wow! You got that kind of growth in about a month! You really do have a "green thumb"
(that means you are very, very good at gardening).

I wonder if these lotus you started from seeds will bloom about the same time as your native lotus there around Mysore, India?

As you know, I grow several different lotus near each other. I hope the one from the white parent turns out white for you; however, I have lots of insects that visit the lotus and one may have created a cross between two different lotus.

darlindeb, I'm impressed with the remark. And you may not be wrong [my mother also used to say this 35 years back, in her own words]. May be that is an added factor to the warmer climate that is currently available for the lotus seeds here. The ones in the containers are having wider leaves than the white flowering one in the pond. The climate may also accelerate growth. I only hope they survive well in this climate since it has come from another zone. The first 3 leaves of that white have wilted off but the two are floating well. Hope that is normal. Are things I did now okay?

I think you did everything perfect. I don't know why the one in the pond has wilted leaves. Just give everything time now, and let nature take it's course.

One thing you might want to make a note of is the amount of water from surface to where the plant starts. I don't know if that would be the difference between the pond pot and the container pots growth. I don't think it would make that much difference, but if you are going to try growing more in the future you might observe that.

I'm not an expert. I'm just a home gardener who enjoys lotus. In the past, I sent a lotus tuber to someone in Florida and I think he has a similar climate to yours and the lotus did just fine (better than my climate zone to tell the truth). The last time I was in touch with him, he was growing a lotus from seed from one of the tubers I sent him. I don't know if the seed's flower looked like the parent or came out different. I'll try and D-mail him and find out.

This is a photo of one of the dried lotus flower pods with a dragonfly sitting on it. In the background you can see a photo of a full grown leaf. The leaves are interesting they repell water and the water just collects into droplets and dances off of them. I hear some paint company has been trying to duplicate the dynamics of the lotus leaf. Imagine a paint like that would make something out in the rain virtually self-cleaning!