Zack Kaplan on mon 5 jul 04

Hello- does anyone have any experience in growing lotus in container
pots?? Any tips??

Thanks
zack

******************************

"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily, "when
there's anybody worth talking to."

--Lewis Carroll

******************************

Margaret Lauterbach on mon 5 jul 04

Zack, Geri Harrington's "Grow Your Own Chinese Vegetables" says "plant the
tuber horizontally, with the sprouts pointing upward, at a slight angle;
the end opposite the section with the sprouts should slant slightly
downward. Plant it 2 inches deep; the growing tips should stand about 1/4
inch above the surface soil in the container. Your container must be round,
because lotus roots grow in a circle; if the root were to encounter the
corner of a square container, it might die. The minimum-size container to
use for a single lotus root is a bushel -- or 25 gallons...." Someone else
said the growing in a circle requirement was baloney. FWIW.

Margaret L
Gardening in Intermountain West and Handicapped gardening
http://www.margaretlauterbach.com

******************************

"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily, "when
there's anybody worth talking to."

--Lewis Carroll

******************************

Elizabeth on mon 5 jul 04

Aquatic Plants & Their Cultivation by Helen Nash had the same
information--it says "Another cause of tuber failure is either breaking the
growing tip, or planting the tuber in a square or corrugated-sided container
that allows the tip to grow into a corner and break." She also said to
avoid planting a tuber in water that is too cold, as that leads to
transplant shock.

She recommends two dwarf varieties, 'Momo Batan' and 'Chawan Basu.'

Elizabeth
tiarella@bellsouth.net
Zone 6, KY
Gardens Listowner
http://www.kiva.net/~dorsettm/notes.html

round,
> because lotus roots grow in a circle; if the root were to encounter the
> corner of a square container, it might die. The minimum-size container to
> use for a single lotus root is a bushel -- or 25 gallons...." Someone
else
******************************

"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily, "when
there's anybody worth talking to."

--Lewis Carroll

******************************

Linda Baranowski-Smith on mon 5 jul 04

Hi Zack. This is my lotus experience: We bought a lotus grown in a
2-gallon container at Lilypons (Maryland) last summer, then
transplanted it into a lotus-adapted bushel-size container for our
pond. It did really well during the season but didn't over-winter.
It was supposed to be hardy here in zone 5. We winterized the plant,
per instructions, by sinking it below the known ice level. It didn't
come back this year. When I talked to the people at Lilypons, they
told me compost happens sometimes with hardy lotus. Anyway, the
people at Lilypons were VERY nice and replaced our lotus with hardy
water lilies because it was too late to ship lotus plants. So much
for lotus. The lilies have bloomed and bloomed! Linda in NW Ohio.

******************************

"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily, "when
there's anybody worth talking to."

--Lewis Carroll

******************************