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

The two leaves in the pond plant is looking fine. I forgot to tell what I did with the seeds when planting it in soil. I put water after I put the soil, then as suggested, pushed a depression with the finger and placed the seed in the hole but did not cover the roots with soil. I understand they grow into the soil later. Right? I have put the same ordinary soil to all three containers.

It is heartening to note that you expect these to do well in my climate going by a previous expreience of the one whom you sent tubers. If you compare Florida's flora and Mysore's, they have so much in common. I had communicated this to our member "Floridian" earlier.

I like the water repulsion on the leaf. It is interesting how it forms a globule. Yes, I read somewhere about the paint research. Spiritually also it has much meaning. The lotus is held in very high esteem esp. in our Hindu philosophy and mythology. There are so many beautiful comparisons with it to our life iteslf. Lotus growing had been a dream for some time now and you have been sent by Him, on his own, to get this done! My sincere gratitude to you.

I'm glad you are enjoying them.

Update: the two plants in this tub is growing like this.

Those look like happy plants to me. You've done a good job with them.

Do you see lotus growing in containers in Mysore, India? When do the native lotus bloom there? What color are they?

My "project" for this year may be to try growing the N. luteau ( hope I spelled that right) which is the native lotus found in the U.S. It's yellow in color. Someone sent me some seeds that they had gathered from a wild one.

I won some pond liner a while back that I plan on using for a lotus bog. I'll post pictures when I get some new blooms.

Do you have dragonflys?

Yea, we have lots of dragonflies. I've posted a few on Bug Files.

I have not seen lotus growers in Mysore. May be some larger schools [may be one or two for a wild guess] or some nearby farmers could be growing them. But most of it grows in the wild. During October festival season, these flowers are available in the market and they are pink in colour. These villagers salvage them from their wild natural ponds and sell them at that time. I have not seen other colours.

Will wait for your pictures of your new project.

Hmmm, I noticed a lotus for sale that someone said was a "Sacred Hindu Lotus." Do you know if that is the one that grows where you are?

I have never cut any of my lotus flowers. Do they make a nice arrangement in a vase?
Do they open and close with night and day?

One time I was getting a pond ready for a tour in the future, I trimmed and groomed the hardy water lilies and cut all the blooms. They made okay cut flowers. Those flowers did close up at night though. I also have heard of people dripping candle wax between the petals to keep the flowers open.

This is something odd that I see almost every year on one of the first blooms of the season. The pod just doesn't form right. I have seen this same thing in photos of other peoples lotus.

Deb,

Not only do we love honeybees and frogs, but Lotus as well! So
good to see a neighbor with the same interests!

Hubby just dumped his tubs earlier, and peee-youuu! That smell
you mentioned earlier...glad it was his hands in the muck and not
mine, LOL.

I don't know much about whether it is the same or not. I'm not too sure. There are books written on the symbol of the white lotus' spiritual significance, but no idea if it is the same. I'm a novice and I should try to open my horizons through your queries. I also do not know if anybody uses lotuses in arrangements. So I can't tell you much about it. Putting wax to petals also amazes me!

Wuvie: I guess I need to get out and start dividing and clearing up the pond. I think rubber gloves are a good idea when dividing water plants. I'm always amazed at how you can put regular soil in the pot and when you go to divide lotus it is more like clay.
Did you notice that? Do you ever get up to Tulsa or Claremore?

Dinu: I know you will see in the Hindu religion the goddes of music and knowledge sometimes seated on a white lotus or a white swan. I read a little bit about your religious holiday/celebration in October.

Most Americans celebrate Christmas which is always December 25th. The night before is when Santa Claus comes and leaves presents for the children. Of course, we have people of many different religions in the U.S. with their own customs and traditions; however, Santa Claus has been known to show up about everywhere. I wonder if you have a version of him in India. He is a fat man dressed in red who leaves presents or gifts.

Hi Dinu!

Did not mean to dismiss you. I love your pictures and stories!


Deb, yes, I go to Tulsa five days a week, sigh. But have never
been to Claremore.

Karen

Please help: I just recvd my Texas Water Lily lotus' and want to grow all of them except one in a bog that I starting digging yesterday. How deep do I dig it? I am about 18-24 inches down 1 foot across and about 6 feet long in full sun. It's a long and narrow bog that can continue to grow as I don't plan to trim the liner at the end but kinda tuck it in . . .

How do I put these tubers in the bog? It's still so-so (zone 5a cold) with the weather here. I bought mushroom compost for the bottom of the bog and plan to put a few holes in the liner and fill the rest with my wonderful clay soil. What else do I have to do???? There was a lotus/bog thread but now that I really need it I can't find it.

I hope someone can help!

http://www.worldteachertrust.org/bk/index.htm [Scroll down and find link to the online book on white lotus our Master has brought out]. There are many other symbolic representations on which information/secret is revealed in the books.

That was interesting.

Hi Mothermole,

May I ask why you want to put holes in your liner? If this bog is in the ground,
the holes will permit water to drain. If the bog were in a pond, the roots will escape
the holes, just a mention. That may be your plan, but I wanted to say just
in case you didn't realize.

Some are in distinct opposition, but we use generic Special Kitty brand
kitty litter, the type that comes in the red paper bag at big grocery stores.
Cheap, goes a long way. Then we add Osmocote or a comparable fertilizer.
Recently we bought two pound containers of Sta-Green for three bucks at
Lowes. Same 19-6-12 analysis plus sulfur. Unless you just have extra cash
and prefer a pink label, I'd compare the analysis and go with what is cheaper.

(Kinda like cereal, you know :-)

KM

Yea, I was wondering about the mention of the holes too.

Well, I didn't put the holes in the liner either (although I read that somewhere online that I should do that). I couldn't bear wrecking the liner and it also seemed stupid to be as well thinking about natural bogs). It ended up being about 2 1/2 to 3 feet deep in the center. I filled it with mushroom compost (manure not available here yet . . .) and then put the clay-soil that was in the hole on top and then filled with water. It was a big mess last night but this morning the water was crystal clear.

So how do I know when to put the lotus in the bog? Do I semi bury it when I do or just place it on the surface of the water?
Thanks for the info on the fertilizer. I don't need the natural cat litter(clay) - I have enough of my own in the ground. . .LOL!

I've done both. Let'em float and find their own way down to the soil and put a rock across the tuber laying on top of the soil. I'd didn't notice any difference.

I gave one to someone who let it float in his pond. He forgot to pot it and it found it's way down to the muck in the pond and started growing.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2058/

The article published by member art_n_garden [Susanne Talbert] is linked here so that we need not search if anyone needs.

I emailed the people who own Texas Water Lily and they said to just put the tuber outside even in my iffy weather but to cover the tuber with the mud but not the entire growing tip. They also said 18 inches is more than enough soil to be sure it didn't freeze over. . . I am going out of town for a week starting tomorrow. I will do that when I get back so I can keep an eye on it. I might even put my pond de-icer in the bog to allow me to sleep at night when it is expected to go colder just to keep it warm enough.

Good to know mothermole.

I divided some lotus last week and had one break. Here is what a lotus tuber looks like inside.

I tried eatting a piece raw and it was too starchy for me. It reminded me a little of raw potato. I then tried slicing them up to make lotus chips; however, I think I got them too thin because they seemed to burn instead of brown. The ones that did make it were okay.

I've read that every part of the lotus is edible.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2009 9:47 AM

Well, I didn't read the whole thread, but skimmed and enjoyed looking at the pictures! I will have to go back when time allows and read more of this great info posted. Unfortunately, I lost my lovely lotuses last year. I started them all from seed, but failed to put them below the soil line soon enough and the big beautiful tubers froze. :-( They were mystery seeds from a friend and I ignorantly started every last one of them. (I waited for 8yrs. to start them)...dangit. Hard lesson learned.

Anyway, before their demise after season 1 in pots...this is how I started 12 of them. (Btw, every single one of them sprouted.) I scratched the surface of the seed on my concrete porch until I could see the whitish-yellow part of the seed, plopped them in a tall vase of water and wallah! After that, I placed them in large round pots filled with aquatic soil (charcoal added as well) in western sun exposure. I just periodically flushed out the water with the hose to keep it clear.

They are one of the fastest growing, most amazing plants that I've ever seen. I'm still really heartbroken over the loss.

Anyway, here is a pic of a couple of the sprouting seed.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2009 11:02 AM

Here's another of a tall baby...

Here's what they looked like in the pots. I love how water rolls around on the leaves like little balls of mercury.

When you check out this website Bonniesplants,this lady raises Koi and has a wonderful section on how to grow Lotus, detailed instructions are available right there .I purchased one of her tubers and I am finally seeing roots develop.Can not wait to see what the summer brings

beautifulchaos did yours bloom for you?

It is amazing how fast they grow.

darlindeb:

I wish I had gotten to see them bloom. They only made it through their first season, since I didn't make the proper provisions to overwinter them.

We've got about 20 days left til we are past our average frost date.

Hubby is tormentting me by telling me we'll have snow this weekend.

I moved some tubers to deeper water in a tent tonight.

I have three seedlings from last year. I'll probably put those on cart and ferry them in and out of the garage for a while.

These are ones that I divided a week ago. I took this photo today, and you can see the leaves starting to rise up.

I can imagine how difficult it is out there with cold conditions! Mysore is lucky that way with no extremes.

those sure are nice looking... I can't imagine having such nice tubers!

Yes, very healthy tubers you've got there!

I wrote about the representation of the Lotus in Hindu scriptures. Here are two pictures from our home. On the left is Lord Brahma - note he is having a lotus in his hand. On the right is a painting by Ravi Varma the famous painter of the last century. My grandmother has decorated with jewelry etc. Observe the lotus.

I know there are lotus that have lots and lots of petals and there are also lotus that have just a few. In the Hindu religion is it better if the lotus has more petals?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the four arms represent two in everday world and two in the spiritual world.

I do not know the details of the fact about the number of petals. Yes, all the visual artistic representations of various things carry some deep meanings from the scriptures. I'm not that well-versed to explain at the present moment.

I think this is the biggest tuber I've pulled this year. I don't know what variety it is. It was an escapee into the muck of the pond.

Looking at all these tubers I wonder if the tub pictured above will one day be too small?? The one I kept in the pond.

Deb: Maybe you should start a lotus supply company. They seem to really, REALLY like you and the environment you have created. Deb, if I plant my tubers on top of the soil after the froze threat passes-will they grow down deeper and form new tubers below the frost line or should I place the tube into a dent in the soil and as the lotus starts to grow, cover the tuber up with soil to protect it?

Wow, I've tried to post replys twice and got disconnected???

Dinu - You'll probably want to divide them eventually. It will be interesting to see how fast they grow and bloom

mothermole - I hesitate to give you advice because you are in a colder climate area then I am. I have had good success with getting lotus established by placing a rock across them to hold them in place on top of the soil. However, I have also had tubers manage to float to the top of the water within a couple of days of planting.

Deb, I agree with mothermole...you could start a business selling those beauties! In fact, I'd be one of your first customers. ;-)

There is a crack in the tub I have immersed. Does the tubers go through it?