Trying Lotus ~ again

I'm going to give a lotus another go this year. I purchased a Carolina Queen. This time I'm planting it outside the pond like before but in a round tub that will be sunk into the ground. Hopefully I learned something from my last flop and will have success! I hope to get it planted this weekend as it is floating in a bucket in my mudroom. I'm pretty nervous about planting outside since we have been having hail storms and cooler temps, sometimes down to freezing at night. They say I need to make sure I have quite a few inches above the growing tips to protect from the cold. We shall see how this one plays out in the coming weeks. Fingers and toes crossed!

T

Good luck, T! Keep us posted. I'm glad you're not giving up.

Got it planted today and now I wait. It was growing pretty good in the bucket but now that the lotus is outside it might set it back for a bit.

One shows it planted and the other after I filled the tub with water. I'm being coached by the gal that sold me the tuber. Since I took this last pic I have filled the tub to just below where the leaf will open on the arial on the left per her advise.

T

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Do you have to worry about any rain filling the pot too far? :shrug:

Right now the water is about an inch from the brim and I was advised to fill it that far. I would think that an inch more of water wouldn't make a difference. :noclue:
I plan to ask though.

Now there seems to be a controversy over the pot/tub. One person says that the but will work while another says it's too small and both are known from growning lotus. The question for me now is, who do I listen too. :blink: The tub that I have is the biggest one I could find and measures about 19 inches across and is plenty deep enough. I did more homework on the particular lotus that I bought and found that the websites do not agree with the size of the lotus. Some say it's a medium size for a lotus while other say it's large. :noclue: :blink: :noclue: I guess I will find out over time. :shrug:

T

Did you check here. http://www.victoria-adventure.org/

Thanks for the link and I went and looked.

They seem more geared toward growing from seed than tubers. I did learn that you can have 8 inches of water over top which makes me think I will be ok. It is suggested that you start out with 2 inches just to help the water warm up and then you raise the level as you go along. Since one of my arials was about 1 foot I was able to raise the level (which you would do anyway if you were going to have freezing temps so I'm told).

The last word on my tub size is that I should be good to go!

T

Update.
The lotus looks about the same and has not grown at all yet but with the cooler weather that is to be expected. I'm hoping I will see some action here with these few nice days to help keep me motivated. In short, it is not dead yet! :thumbup:

T

Keep the faith! :thumbup: :amen:

Seems like this method of potting and planting the lotus tuber is working so far.
Two pads on the surface and at least 3 more on the way. I can now see the white roots coming from the tuber. This is way more successful than I had the last time I tried.

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I think you need a lot more sun!

Boy, ain't that the truth. Supposed to have some by the end of the week~ so they say....

Another update.
I think I'm making some progress now.
Now I have to find out how and when to fertilize again. :noclue:

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LOOKING GOOD! :thumbup:

My vote is fertilize every 2 weeks. From what I understand, lotus is a heavy feeder.

I was thinking every two weeks too. The leaves are looking a little yellow and that tells me something is lacking. No flowers yet but I will be happy if I get it to grow!

T