Lotus?
 

I would like to know if it's possible to grow a lotus, indoors, in a tub. The tub is 19 inches diameter, and 17 inches deep, and I have a spot where it can get lots of light, and is nice and warm. Is this possible?

Re: Lotus?
 

I have actually tried doing this under my car porch which was brightly lit. The lotus didn't bloom and they died out. I have tried shade growing water lily hybrid under this condition and they were flowering well. Here I am referring to the tropical ones. Most of the lotus which bloom well are are grown in the hot full sun here.

Re: Lotus?
 

Lotuses and water lillies are the most beautiful flowers to me. I want to learn how to grow them here in Las Vegas, if possible. Any suggestions?

Re: Lotus?
 

John, Scot - never tried to grow them myself, but in China they grow them in full sun in paddies like rice. lol Not sure what help this is but it was interesting to see.

Re: Lotus?
 

Thank, it sure does help. I am moving to China.

Re: Lotus?
 

So I'm guessing we are not talking about the real Lotus: Diospyros lotus.

Re: Lotus?
 

Affirmative, or at least in my case that's correct. Although figs are cool.

Re: Lotus?
 

Assuming that you have a pond, there are a couple of things that will lead to success.

First, lotus are heavy feeders. I have mine in a watergarden that serves as a nitrate trap in my Koi pond.

Lotus cannot handle direct sun, especially in LV sun. Give them filtered sun and they will do well

Please the roots under abouy 3 inches of gravel in 9-12 inches of water and stand back. Once the water reaches 60 degrees they will start to bud and once it reaches 70 they will really grow.

Do not let the water get stagnant. Make sure the water is moving all of the time.

Good luck!

Re: Lotus?
 

John,

I do not mean to contradict you. Perhaps the temperate species/varieties are different from ours here. In M'sia, lotus are found mainly in stagnant water bodies in the full sun. The folks harvest the seed as a delicacy here. In Thailand, the best looking ones are found in the catchment area of the monsoon drains where the water is stagnant and super stinky.

Re: Lotus?
 

Thanks for that information, John. When I posted the original question, I was thinking about people soaking seeds, or rooting cuttings in water, where they mention changing water every day, or every couple of days. I was wondering whether I would have to do that. Does anyone know if putting an aquarium air stone in the tub would help?

Re: Lotus?
 

Tog - Thanks for your reply, also. Of course, in the house, I wouldn't want stinky water, so if anyone has any suggestions for keeping the water sweet, please let me know. Thanks.

Re: Lotus?
 

The genus Diospyros contains Persimmons, Black Sapote, and Lotus -- the famed fruit from Homer's transcribed tale of the Lotus eaters in The Odyssey. The Diospyros lotus is native to parts of present-day Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and the foothills along the southern rim of the Himalayas. Although most D. lotus are very high in tanins, the subspecies near the Caspian sea has negligible quantities in the fruit and is said to have a sophoric effect. Note that Diospyros is in the Ebony family which contains a large number of poisonous plants. The tree bark alone of most species is enough to stun fish.

Re: Lotus?
 

I can confirm that once lotus get established, they can take over. I have a friend/fellow gardener who's sister called him sort of upset. They thought it would be nice to put a few lotus in their pond. Well now she wants him to remove them because the horses can't get to the water to drink. I don't mind because I am hopefuly still going to get free lotus this spring. He has his in a bog that he dug out 3-4 feet deep, then placed a liner on the bottom and refilled it will soil, It was absolutely beautiful.

Michael

Re: Lotus?
 

Tog - your lotus sound like the ones I saw in China.

Re: Lotus?
 

Hey Johnny, I used to keep the lotus in Thai Dragon pots (water retaining pot with an embossed dragon on its side) which are 2.5 ft in diameter and 1.5ft deep. They were kept in the open and they did alright. For mosquito larvae control, a couple of guppies will do. Any soil will do as they root very well. I used the old leaves as fert which is very effective. I had no success in the shade at all.

Yep Cassie, stinky, yucky, turdy, messy........:ha:

Re: Lotus?
 

Definitely plant the lotus in a large container, round or oval, without holes. Otherwise, as noted, they will take over your pond. Don't put them in a container with corners (e.g. square, rectangular, etc.) as the growing tip will die if it gets trapped in a corner. I keep my lotus (Chuwan basu(var) - Nelumbo nucifera) in the pond year round, but trim the dead foliage and drop the containers to the bottom of the deep end for the winter. Absolutely stunning flower!!

Re: Lotus?
 

I tried a Lotus once in my zone 8a/b...Beautiful flower,one of my favorites...unfortuneately they require at least 8 weeks of continuous warm sunny weather here,at least 24-28c before they flower....our nights here are too cool...maybe you'll have better luck with warmth there....

Re: Lotus?
 

I am speaking about Nelumbo nucifera.

I hope that is correct with you Scot.

Re: Lotus?
 

Tog,

My experience is limited, as my lotus are in a water garden that serves as a nitrate trap for my Koi pond. When I replant the tubers (which I am about to do this spring), the medium reeks. Because of the high nitrate levels, that is why I culture them this way.

You are correct, I am trying to limit the true mess these plant can create in an unfiltered stagnant pond.

Thanks,

John

Re: Lotus?
 

The American Lotus(Nelumbo lutea) that grows locally is in the most Stagnant, nasty water you'd rather NOT wade through. My ASian Lotuses grow in those 20 gallon rope buckets, filled to a third with a 1:1:1 mix of Sand, peatmoss and composted Cow Manure...placed in Full Sun. Right now, with the weather warming but no Frogs making tadpoles the water is as nasty as any wild Lotus patch...
Cheers,
Pat
FWB, Florida
z8b

Re: Lotus?
 

Ok, I will go there to grow them. Thanks!

Re: Lotus?
 

Not sure I would go to those lengths! But they do seem to like black and stinky !!

Re: Lotus?
 

Just what I don't want in the house!

Re: Lotus?
 

John,

Thought I'd bump this thread.

I did my annual water garden cleaning yesterday. I do it every year as it is part of a filtration system for my Koi pond. Each year, the garde nis fresh and clean with replanted lotus and a few other water plants.

Each year I hope that the job will not be as bad as the first. Each year, I am disappointed, as the stench (not smell, stench) can be at time overpowering.

The lotus do not seem to mind the change, despite their affinity for the muck that seems to develop over the period of a year. I think you might be able to grow a dwarf variety inside, a normal sized lotus will be 6-7 feet tall

The flowers are worth the effort in my opinion.

Re: Lotus?
 

John,

Thanks for the info. I don't know whether I have a dwarf or standard. I bought it at the end of the Tropical Plant Industry Exposition trade show, when a lot of the exhibitors sell stuff off cheap.
There is a tag on it that says, "Mrs. Perry D. Slocum". I Googled that, and got some pictures. It seems to be a pretty enough flower, but I didn't notice any information, as to size.
I was mainly concerned that the water would get stagnant, and smell. I do remember, however, something from years ago, when I had a tropical fish import business. I had a greenhouse, with concrete benches, that I had converted to fish pools. We also sold aquarium plants, many of which we got, weekly, from a grower in Florida. Some weeks, we would have a few left over, that we just threw out.
One time, I had about 300 Corkscrew Valisneria left, that I decided I'd try to keep. In a 5 X10 foot pool, I placed a 6 cu. foot bale of peat moss, a 40 lb. bag of dehydrated cow manure, and covered that with 300 lbs. of aquarium gravel. We had a little algae bloom at first but, once the plants got growing and depriving the algae of the nutrients, things cleared up pretty well. I threw in 3 pairs of Blue Gouramis to help keep things clean and, within months, I didn't have to buy any more Corkscrew plants and, after a few more months, I was able to pull out a couple of thousand 1 inch Blue Gouramis. Now that pool never got stinky. We had aeration on it. I don't remember if we had a filter or not.
I was thinking that maybe I could drop an air stone in the tub with the lotus, to help keep the water sweet. Of course, in about a month and a half, I could move it outside. (And if things got too bad, before then, I'd just dump the whole thing in the woods, and sacrifice the tuber.)

Re: Lotus?
 

It might work. I turn off the flow to the water garden once water temps get below 50 and it sits without aeration for abour 4 months, which adds to stagnation, I'll bet. In my case, there are no fish in the water garden, although I have frogs in it during the spring. My fish do quite well eating the eggs and small tadpoles that go over the edge.

In the situation you state, sacrifice of the tuber is not necessary, as you can wrap it in newspaper over the dormant season, keep it over 40, but not warm, and put it back in the water in the spring. It should survive well. This year I 'harvested' about 10 feet of tuber. Some of it was nearly an inch in diameter.

Good luck with your project.

Re: Lotus?
 

Hey guys,

From my observation, the stinky, stenchy part of Lotus growing comes basically from the old leaves which drops into the water and rot and also the older roots which dies out. These two things seems to be the main natural fertilizer for the plant. Over here, there are wetland areas with tens of acres of lotus and they are mucky and stinky caused by what I have noted.

When John_ny did his Val and gouramy set up with a big area, it became a mini eco system which became self generating. The Cockscrew Vals are very vigorous growers here and have a string root system but the volume of dead materials cannot be compared to the size of a lotus colony.

I had a 30 x 10 x 3 ft elevated pond which I kept lotus and water lilies. At the beginning all was well, but after a year, the bottom became like a thick layer of silt from the rotting leaves and the old 'shedded' dead roots. Even though it was in full sun, the water was clear due to the shade provided by the plant's foliage. I guess it's the nature of the beast.