Lotus Seed Help

[kg5]

Have got many different coloured lotus plants up and running but I can not get my strong yellow colour up and running.

The seeds sprouts OK. Can get passed the tannins and funguses.

As the seedling grows to about 3" the sprout comes away from the seed and dies.

Have try a Spring , Summer and Autumn germination attempts.

Anyone got any ideas?

[estación seca]

I plant new sprouts into a pot as soon as the second floating leaf expands on the surface or the first few roots emerge. I use a small flat rock on the seed shell to hold the tiny roots just into the soil, with the crown at the surface of the soil. There are not many roots and they are not too long. As you've found, if you break anything at all on a new lotus seedling it's probably a goner.

Also Nelumbo lutea is native to northern North America all the way into Canada. It does not experience hot water temperatures the way the Asian Nelumbo nucifera does. I remember as a child canoeing through huge stands of N. lutea in northern Wisconsin.

[kg5]

You got it estación seca! Thank you for the reply.

It is my temperature that is for sure.

My best attempt was a planting 8 weeks ago. It got the the 2 leaf stage and as soon as a very hot day came along it failed.

With the change from Summer to Autum I planted 64 containers with 13 different lotus seeds.

Have moved them around a fair bit some of the plants have nearly all shade, half shade to full sun. Some with the colder weather are shedding leaves and growing new ones.

Have lost 8 containers but have 12 different still. It will be interesting watching them get through Winter here.

They all have the beginnings of a very strong root system.

The shade house I built off the fence, to block out the new neighbours has turned into the best lotus house.

Just got to get them through Winter for a great start to the growing season next Spring. Last winter I got all the 6 plants I had through Winter.

estación seca
Could you share with me about fertilising the lotus plants from young plants to mature plants please?

[estación seca]

I use pond fertilizer tablets. I put one in the transplant container under the new plant. I push more tablets into the soil each month. More is better. Here many people recommend 1 pond fertilizer tablet per gallon / 3.8 liter pot size. I use standard nursery 5 gallon containers for my lilies and lotus because they have a sturdy grippable rim, and it is just possible for me to haul one out of my pond.

I don't have any lotus now. One dog considers them delicious enough to be worth a bit of a swim and a free dive.

[kg5]

Thank for the great info estación seca.

I do not get to talk plants, other than on OB.

I have a 10kg or 22lbs bucket of 20g or 2/3oz slow release tablets suitable for ponds.

They contain N20 P4 K8 + TE.

Does this sound like am I on track estación seca?

To this point I have been using a manure mixture in pellet form but it is just not doing the growth I would like to see in a gross feeder like the lotus.

[estación seca]

Yes. They only sell one kind of pond fertilizer tab here.

I have an 1885 edition of Greenhouse and Stove Plants by Thomas Baines. I learned so much about how the great English greenhouse gardeners coped with their climate!

He recommends, for fertilizing aquatic plants being transplanted, taking a trapped rat or other vermin, wrapping it in an old handkerchief, and placing it at the bottom of the pot.

I just looked it up... the book is not expensive to buy.

[kg5]

I was very use to getting a great income from bricks & stone.

No work forced me into a very poorly paid horticulture job. After a week I was in charge of construction but the pay was still half of what I was use too.

They had an older English Gentleman who had been a gardener all his life and was very class conscious that came with him from the UK when he moved to OZ. He saw himself as the lower class with a huge attitude.

He was retiring in 12 months and looked after the gardening section but still as a hands on gardener. As he refused to go any higher. They tried to get him to share his experience but everyone presented to him he refused to share. The CEO etc were getting very worried as in was The Garden City and tourism was very important income to business sector.

Long story short he picked me to share his knowledge too. Huge honer! I spent 6 months with him. Worked like a man possessed. Learnt so much.

So I found myself after 12 months there designing annual displays that totalled over 150,000 annuals. I could use any annual I liked. Also pruning from budding to 150 year old trees. All areas of horticulture I was heavily involved in. A truly multi disciplined horticulturist.

Just did so much in 5 years. I was offered a job to put a Parks & Recreation Department together by training all staff and putting all procedures into place.

Condition of employment was Diploma in Horticulture 4 nights a week 4 hours a day on campus. I went the long way around a did all my certificates as I got paid for doing the practical lessons..........Long time ago now........