Ok, excuse me, watch out for that elbow, hummm, slipping to the front of the line here. I've been sick, but I'm suppose to be getting some of these water plants from you for my new pond in the front yard. Theresa I hope you have me down for the biggest, fattest, lotus tuber of them all. (LOL)

Actullay I hope all of you remember to send me some water plants for my new pond. Just remember, I dont' have a job so maybe it shouldn't be the biggest, and the best. Maybe I'll have to be satisified with little itty bitty starts of things that will not cost too much for postage. This not working and not having any money STINKS! What am I going to do about trading with people? As you know flat rate boxes are around $10. each. I might have to limit myself to one trade every couple of months. Oh, that just woudn't be a good thing. That would get me down in the dumps faster than anything. I best sit down and try to figure out away I can make some trades and not spend too much money in the process.

Shoot, I may have to start selling something out of my gardens to buy more. OH, I don't want to do that. Someone help me come up with another ideal. (frown)

I'm still sick, I'm going to lay back down in a minute. This flu bug, stinks.

Love Ya'll
Marian

I didn't forget you, Marian!!!LOL Get well soon!
Karyn, I've never collected the pods. The lotus was too hard to get to without getting in the water!So I just left them alone & by the time fall rolled around the pods would be empty of seeds.Yours sounds like it is a small lotus too from the size of the pods.
Good luck with your procedure tomorrow!I will be thinking of you.

Theresa

Thank you Theresa!

Marian, I hope you feel better real soon. (((hugs)))
Daniella

Karyn, I hope your procedure is over & done with!Praying that all went well. Let us know.

Don't fret over your calico fish. He's probably hiding or he might have changed color! That happens all the time with goldfish!
Your welcome, Daniella!My pleasure!

Theresa

it's true, I had a dark brown goldfish that over the course of two or three days changed completely to orange, and one with a black ridge on top that changed pure orange. I also had a betta that was a sort of muddy beige when we bought her, and then we put her in the tank and left for a little bit, came back and she was bright blue! left again, came back, and she was mostly magenta. sometimes she changes a little before your eyes, it's crazy.

do you just have goldfish, or koi too? koi are the absolute coolest. ours eat from our hands, lol.

hope you're feeling better, karyn :)

Ria

Ria, the goldfish changing color is freaky! You swear somebody took your fish & put in different fish!LOL I can't do koi, pond is too small!:( I love my goldfish,I call them my "waterpuppies". Especially the Wakin goldfish, they have the double tail, fat body & the cutest faces! Look how cute they are!

Here is a link that might be useful: Wakin Goldfish

What a generous offer!!!! I wish I could have a water feature.. I can see it now.. The dogs would be standing in it and the cows (who get in the yard on occassion) would drain it dry...
I enjoyed looking at your pictures..
Kylie

Thank you, Kylie! I wish you could have a water feature too!They're so relaxing & add another dimension (& addiction) to gardening!LOL

Theresa

I have a 90 gallon pond. My dog loves to swim. Not a good combination. I keep a couple metal garden sculptures laying on their sides on top of it to keep her out (very attractive) & she will just shove them aside if we forget & leave her outside too long in hot weather. I will have to watch more closely after I put plants in it, maybe another fence. I already have privacy fence around 3 sides of the yard & 4 foot chain link across the back (used to be woods back there). There is wire fence across the back half of the yard to keep the dogs out of the vegetables & another fence around one of the flower sections. I am planning on putting up another wire fence in front of the grape arbor to keep the dogs from digging around the plants, one around the bleeding heart they like to lay in & flatten & I guess another one around the pond & bulb section. This will slow the big dog down but the little one just leaps over the fence or climbs it so in addition to all these fences, I still have to tie my (small) dog when I'm not watching her. Obedience lessons in the spring. LOL

Linda

OMG THERESA!! waterpuppies!! I call my koi waterkitties!! I always have! that's SO funny that we both do that.

by the way, I e-mailed you a couple days ago about the lotus tubers but I think I forgot to mention who I was, LOL. so if you got a random e-mail from a random person who was extremely excited about lotuses, that was me XD

Ria

Send me your Addresses and $6.00 should cover Priority shipping. I have Paypal or send a check. Email me if you need my address.I'm going to try to divide tubers tomorrow.If not, tomorrow next weekend.Have to work everyday next week.
Thanks, Theresa

If you didn't get a private email from me, could you please send me your email addy. I don't know who is who!LOL
Eloise & Danielle & I think Karen(Gardenpaw) I need your email
addresses.
Thanks, Theresa

Hi Theresa, just sent an email. Thanks!

Hey Theresa, I just sent you an email!
Thank you!!!
Daniella

Hey Theresa: You have mail ... and loads of appreciation!!! Thanks, Gloria

Taka a look at these lotus growing in tubs.Beautiful!Read the posts underneath the pics.
Now I have to get some Siberian Pink Cups.Aren't they pretty?

Theresa

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Instructions

OMG I NEED that Momo one!!! Beside the fact that 'momo' has always been my word I use to call people a bad thing in a nice way, it is so pretty!!!

Theresa, I planned on using a 1/2 whiskey barrel next to my pond, but how deep should the mud be? I see that that lady looked like she had pea stone or something on top of the mud? O deary me I have more reading to do. lol.
Daniella

Daniella, just add a few inches of water over the lotus in the bottom of the 1/2 barrel. Then you can raise the water level a little as it grows. If you read further down, the lady tells you to only have a few inches of water over the tuber. Interesting. Maybe you will have to put tuber in a different pot( I know another pot!!!LOL)and raise it up in the tub, if you wanted the water level higher to add fishies or other plants. You can buy something shallow(dishpan) at the dollar store.We have alot of reading to do!
Theresa

lmao, Theresa..not another pot!! :)
First I was thinking of using an old plastic sand box and sinking it in the ground..but I think it's too shallow. I went and measured and it's 10"deep, 26"x30", so is it too shallow? I read, just like you said, that wide & shallow is good, but I dont think I read an actual measurement anywhere pertaining to shallowness. So many sites and so many different ways of growing them, it's hard to know what's right. On one site i read the mud should be 1-3' with lotsa manure, then gradually adding water as it grows till the water is 2'. On another I saw they only had them growing in 12" deep containers, 1/2 mud 1/2 water. Craziness. How's a person supposed to know? SO, I wanna know exactly how you have yours, how much mud in the bottom, do you use manure? how much water on top..cuz obviously your way works well, and I trust your advice.

ooooh I just had an idea, I could use that sand box for native bog plants.
Daniella

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Daniella!
I don't know anything though! LOL
I'm trying to find a better way too! This is the 3rd or 4th year for mine & I've never repotted until this year.It didn't even blomm last year in the pond.I think you're barrel will be fine. Remember, the lotus I have is a dwarf or semi-dwarf.
This post is long, but it explains how to grow them beautifully.

* Posted by joyce Zone 7b LI, NY (My Page) on
Fri, Jan 11, 08 at 16:05

I plant mine very early in the spring, and often the lotus tubs have thin coats of ice over them in the morning. Lotus are VERY hardy to cold. The only way you can kill a tuber is to freeze it solid...rock hard.
Lotus are not tropical...they are hardy through zone 4.
I plant mine in March, usually before March 15th...and they sit outside in their tubs up against the sunny side of the house on the patio. For WEEKS they are subjected to near freezing and light freezing night temps, and maybe getting in the 50s and 60s during the day until the end of April. April they start putting out little pads, and the REALLY get going by the end of May. By July they are blooming or in bud. :)

The best way I have rotted tubers was to start them indoors, where they do not get sufficient sunlight. In my experience, starting them indoors is a death sentence for lotus. Unless you have a greenhouse or a sunroom where the surface of the water is in the sun for at least 6 hours a day....you are asking for trouble....ROT.

Here is my planting method, which for me, gets blooms by mid summer through fall, no matter what kind of lotus you start with.
I fill my wine barrels about 3/4 with composted cow manure, but plain old compost can be used too. Before putting the compost in, put one cup of Osmocote (Veggie Formula) or Multicote (Veggie Formula) at the bottom (these are NOT your typical water soluable fertilizers...please read the entire label on the container to understand exactly how they work). I do NOT recommend any other kind of fertilizer with my lotus in a barrel planting method. You will NOT get the same results as I do unless you follow my instructions precisely: PLEASE NO SUBSTITUTING!
Gently lay the lotus tubers on top of the compost. (you can make a little depression and nestle the tuber into it) Then gently cover the tubers with about 1-2" of pea gravel, keeping the growing tips above the gravel. Gently, slowly add water until 3-4" of water covers the gravel. Then do nothing but top off the barrel(s) when the water gets low, and watch the lotus grow and bloom. DO NOT ADD ANY MORE FERTILIZER...at all. Osmocote and Multicote are time released, and will last through fall.

Remember, besides the Osmocote/Multicote, compost is LOADED with all sorts of micronutrients which your lotus will devour.
Regular potting soil or clay, or topsoil does NOT have all the micronutrients that compost has.
That is why composted cow manure is the best, with regular compost coming in second place.

LMAO Theresa, I Just laughed so hard at that my 4 yr old came running in "whats so funny!?". Hey, you know more than I do!!
looks like I'm gettin some extra composted cow manure. Straight manure, eh..wow. That lovely aroma ranks 2nd to fish emulsion, lol. Thank you very much for that info, I am sorry I didn't read that before, I was so into the pix I didnt read anything, lol. I think I see more lotuses in my future as well, :) that Momo is a dwarf also. The way she explains it all, it seems very simple, I hope I do well.

Ya know what was funny, was a couple days before I saw your offer, DH & I were watching 'Kung Fu' remember that show, lol. DH said to me (with a chinese accent) "Ah grasshopper, do you have any of the sacred lotus flower?" I said "not yet, but I plan on it" then you put up your offer, it was meant to be. Thank you again for offering to share your bounty with us.
And your knowledge..like I said, you know more than me, lol.
Thank you Theresa,
Daniella

I'm mailing out tomorrow. Karen(Gardenpaw) & Ria, I need your addresses. I emailed you. Email me if you don't get it.

Thanks, Theresa

Hey Theas did you get my postage for my lotus? Just checking, don't wanna be left out.

Thanks, Marian

Marian,I did get it.
Thanks,Theresa

Theresa, got my tuber today!! Thank you!! Sent you an email as well.
Thanks!!
Daniella

JUST got my tuber :D!

combing over that growing lotus page now...

thanks SOOO much!!

Ria

Thanks again Theresa, I got my lotus today as well! Put it in some water for a bit and then will plant.

Theresa, I got my lotus tuber. Thanks. I am going to plant it in a tub tonight.

Ok, I have a 3 gallon blue pot with rope handles, a black ceramic pot with no holes about the same size or my bird bath which is way too deep for the birds without falling in. Do you think it would work? It is wider than the others but about half as deep. I saw a little bird perched on the side this morning trying to get water and felt sorry for him trying to lean over without falling in. Last year I put a pot of sweet potatoe vines in it.

I'm so glad your tubers arrived safely. I was really nervous about separating & shipping them. Now, I hope they are viable & grow for everyone.As soon as you see some green, I will breathe a sigh of relief! LOL Keep us updated.

Theresa

Help, is 3 gallon big enough or should I use the 19 gallon one not quite as big as a full size whiskey barrel. That was all I could find at walmart.

Hi Kristy, You could use the 3 gallon pot for just the lotus. Is it decorative? Or you could use a shorter wider container and put it down inside the whiskey barrel and add other things with lotus.It is a smaller lotus variety.Hope this helps.

Thanks. The ceramic pot is nice but plain shiney black. I looked for something wide and short at walmart last night and couldn't find anything so I got the big tub with the rope handle. They didn't have any whiskey barrels and the 2 I have are filled with dirt and have holes drilled for drainage. That thread you sent had huge containers and he said they were small variety too so I got worried, lol. They didn't have composted manure either so I got garden soil and the osmocote for flowers and veggies and pea pebbles to put on top. Going to put it together now. Thanks Theresa

Kristy, the woman in the thread Theresa posted also had a dwarf variety in a bowl. I was gonna put mine in my 1/2 barrel..got it all ready yesterday, mixed in everything I was supposed to..now today I decided I want to put it in something else, since it had a couple small leaks. I filled them with silicone, but still decided I dont want it there anymore..lmao..all that work yesterday. So now I am putting mine in a half liner for a half barrel. Looks to be about the same as the 'bowl' in that woman's thread, and it's lower to the ground which I like. And will also be easier to move into the basment when winter comes.

Hey how about those new pots you got at (I think) the flea market? They are so pretty..I could see lotuses in them! I think I remember you said they didn't have drainage holes?
Just a thought :)

Daniella

Ooh! Daniella, Great idea on using one of those beautiful pots. Kristy, My lotus was growing in a 3ish gallon pot. It grows about 2-3 ft. tall and the leaves reach about 12-18" around. You might do better with the smaller pot. It might get off to a faster start. The leaves will start off as floaters that fill the surface,then make aerial leaves.Good luck.

Theresa

I sure could use one of those pots but I was worried it would be too deep and I can't find a good size pot to use to elevate it with. Those pots are above my knees tall and I have long legs, lol. The black one is more like a deep bowl. I put the tuber in water til I get home. I want to run by the feed store and see if I can find the composted cow manure. I can't believe walmart isn't carrying it anymore. I saw a large round black feed dish at the feed store I want to see if its still there.

I'm JEALOUS!!! Still waiting for the Lotus. My mail must be the sloooowest in the country!!! Keep posting, everyone, on how you are planting these tubers. I'm learning while I wait. Gloria

I got my Lotus today! Now where to put it...hmmm. I can't wade through the mud to get to my pond. :(

Linda

I got my Lotus today! Now where to put it...hmmm. I can't wade through the mud to get to my pond. :(

Linda

Ok, I got the large feed thing. Its round black rubber much wider than deep. About as big as a whiskey barrel but about half as deep. I got the wise idea that I could put other plants in there with it and make a bog with some carnivorous plants like pitcher plants. They should be well fed here with all the mosquitoes, lol. What do you think? I can still put it in the dragon pot if you don't think it would be too deep. I wish there was a way to block the lower half and then fill it. It would weigh a ton with that much heavy dirt and water. What do you think Theresa, Can I made a mini pond/bog and put more than one plant? I thought I would put some brick I have around it and make it look nice.

Here is another site I found with the pot width and depth info. Now I gotta go measure and see what I am going to use, lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lotus

Kristy, sounds like the pot (black feed thing) will work. I planted mine out yesterday after going to three places to find pea gravel (apparently it's pea rock), the Osmocote for veggies because I could only find the one for plants and also I didn't want such a huge bottle of it, and never found cow manure, lol, so I used a mixture of my compost and garden soil. Now all I have to do is wait.

lol!

Kristy, your black container sounds just like what I am using. I'd take a pic but my camera seems to only be working when it wants to. Think I need new rechargable batteries. ANywho, I am going to throw some other plants in there also.
I didn't realize your dragon pots were so huge, lol. You can just use something light as a filler for the bottom..like styrofoam..ya know the big squares and rectangles used in packaging like tv's and stuff? Just cut it to the sizes you need and stack 'em in. Make sure they are close to the interior so they are stable. Then rest your container which the lotus is in on top of that. Just an idea?
Or if you have a plant stand that would fit in there to rest the lotus pot on? Even if the lotus pot was an inch or so over the edge of the dragon pot, you could plant some kinda water plant that could drape over the edges to cover that inch or so of lotus pot.

El, I have never heard of it called pea rock or pea gravel, we call it pea stone here. I was lucky I didnt have to go get any, We put it in the kids play area and front fenced in area a couple years ago. Couldnt keep grass there, so much foot traffic from the kids and dog, it just wasn't growing. So I just scooped a bucket's worth of stone up from there.
I'm surprised you guys couldn't find the composted cow manure. I used that plus my own compost. I'm gonna have to do something about getting water movement in there though, I am nervous about it becoming stanky! Gotta get a spitter. I have a lil pump..i just have to find it.

Are you all gonna have moveing water or just skeeter dunks?

I can't wait till I get a leaf!!!

Daniella

I will have to use dunks since I don't have a power outlet in the backyard yet. I have been waiting on our electician friend to put one in for me for about 4 months, lol. I will take a pic when I get a chance. We are leaving for Houston in the morning to take my daughter half way home. Her dad will meet us. I need to get to bed. Its 1:40 and I am still pumped up from fighting that huge catfish, lol. I hurt all over though. Walmart here stopped carrying the composted cow manure. All they had was humus so I will mix that with the garden soil and yes I had to buy a huge thing of osmocote but I will use it on other things too.

I most likely will use the dunks because the pot I used might not accommodate a pump. My half-whiskey barrel doesn't have a pump either but I have mosquito fish and they seem to take care of any mosquito problems.

I would like to have the lotus tuber for postage if it is stil available.
Thanks

I am planning for a container water garden. Can I grow sacred lotus in containers? How big the container should be to grow the lotus? Where can I buy the sacred lotus tubers for a reasonable price?
Thanks for your help

Sunstar, I don't have any more lotus tubers, sorry.
You would need about a 3 or 4 ft. diameter tub for a sacred lotus, they are huge! Mine is a dwarf or semi- dwarf variety.
I don't have any experience buying lotus online. You could always check out your local nurseries. That's where I purchased mine as a plant for $40 3 or 4 yrs. ago. Ebay is another source.

Theresa

Thanks for the information. I will check in the local nurseries here. I am not very comfortable of buying plants on ebay because of past experience. Unless someone recommends an ebay seller I will not go for ebay shopping. I will check out in local nurseries here.
Thanks for your help.

I am so excited about growing a lotus, but I live in Tucson, and most of the nurseries are telling me that lotus dont' do well in Tucson. It may be too hot. But....those are fightin words to me, and I want to try one anyway. Is there anyone out there from Tucson who grows lotus? I am interested in Baby Doll, pink crane, or Chawan Basu. Thanks.