25 Gallon Lotus Bowl

[xenxes]

Omg I didn't know there was a yellow variety! Ugh... I want both. Biting into corn syrup. YUM.

Word of advice, don't try growing lilies from seeds. I had no luck out of 5 batches

Have you thought about doing a lotus plant? Mmm smoky stir fry lotus roots with sugary soil and ginger.

[Eldachleich]

Originally Posted by xenxes

Omg I didn't know there was a yellow variety! Ugh... I want both. Biting into corn syrup. YUM.

Word of advice, don't try growing lilies from seeds. I had no luck out of 5 batches

Have you thought about doing a lotus plant? Mmm smoky stir fry lotus roots with sugary soil and ginger.

There is indeed.
You can have..
Red with white insides
Red with red insides
Red with pink insides
Red with yellow (rare)
Pink with white
Pink with red
Pink with pink
Yellow with white
Yellow with yellow
White with white (rare)
White with pink (rare)
White with yellow (rare)

Teehee.. Thats why this is called a Lotus Bowl!!
I am going to put a lotus in it. A dwarf variety called babydoll.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...usP1010231.jpg
Or some other dwarf variety. I like classic lotus flower shapes. So that narrows it down alot. And it has to be dwarf. Even further now..
So basically I just have to pick... Which colour?
I likes white though.

Unfortunately I missed lotus season.
You can only order fresh tubers in early spring.
So until next spring I'm going to put a dwarf lily in the pot. At which point the lotus will replace it and the lily will be moved to the small pond.

Have you tried walter pagels lily?
He lives down here and invented a small whitish pinkish dwarf water lily. Its really well known for doing really well and flowering quite a bit in part shade. And I know it can stand pretty high temps and humidity.

You need heat and sun. And I've noticed that cold stratification is really helpful on some of them. Especially the hardy lilies.
Why not pick up a red tiger lotus bulb from petco?
Thats a tropical water lily that should do well.. Surviving well in part sun in my yard.
I joined that site btw...

[xenxes]

Oh the grand duke, I tried rooting powder, did not work, tried like 20 times with different stem cuttings. Been trying the injure stem->wrap soil in bag around it -> keep moist method. Nothing so far.



I have Petco lilies in my mud bucket, not sure the difference between lotus and lilies.

[Eldachleich]

Lilies leaves never rise above the surface.
And lotus leave rise several feat above the surface.
Two types of lilies. Tropical and Hardy. Kinda what you expect. Tropical need warm and sun and humidity to thrive. Hardy need warm and sun too bloom and grow but can withstand freezing temps and go dormant in the winter.
Tropical lillies have more star shaped flowers that rise several inches to several feet off the water surface. Often time they are fragrant. About half are night bloomers. Comes in intense pinks purples and blues. Spade shapes leaves most of the time. Sometimes completely round. Normally has slightly ruffled edges.
Tiger lotus, red lotus, and red tiger lotus. And green and etc... They are all species of tropical lilies.
http://www.oceanwideimages.com/image...4T6270-02D.jpg

Hardy lilies will bloom in colder areas and survive much tougher winters.
They tend to have smaller cup shape flowers either on or right above the surface of the water. Comes in whites, yellows, creams, peaches, pinks, and sometimes oranges.
They are my personal favorite and almost all of the pygmy varieties are hardies.. They tend to have round leaves.
http://gardendrama.files.wordpress.c...attraction.jpg

Lotus have two sections as well. Asian and American.
The Asian one is found form India to China. They love heat and sun but humidity is their enemy!
They need at least 6 hours of sun a day (hence my pot location). The leaves of these plants are large round dinner plates held on thick sturdy stems. They rise several feet off the water surface. They send out large 6" - 12" flowers that are highly fragrant. The flowers smell of anise usually and last around 3 days. They rise a foot or more above the top of the leaves. They have delicate tubers and large root systems so they need a large round pot with no corners.
They now have dwarf varieties called bowl lotus. Or extreme dwarf called exquisite teacup of the bowl lotus (what I'm getting).
Giant - 7'-'9'
Normal - 5' - 7'
Semi-Dwarf - 3' - 5'
Dwarf or Bowl - 2' - 4'
Teacup - 1' - 2'

Asian lotus is naturally a soft white blushed with pink tips. It often goes creamier in the center as it ages. http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/landsc..._LIT_fig.1.jpg

American lotus it a soft cream colour. Almost a soft daisy. http://thewildclassroom.com/biodiver...ican-Lotus.jpg

Both have a UFO shaped stamen where the seeds will form. These range from yellow, to chartreuse, to lime green. If you leave it to dry to the plant it lasts for decades in flower arrangements. They are normally all ready by the end of the growing season. http://www.driedflowersrus.com/image...ds_stemmed.jpg
Divide these all in spring and voila! New plants..
Or you can cross your lotus and see what kind of plants the seeds produce.

I just went on a spiel... ahaha..

[Eldachleich]

Originally Posted by xenxes

Oh the grand duke, I tried rooting powder, did not work, tried like 20 times with different stem cuttings. Been trying the injure stem->wrap soil in bag around it -> keep moist method. Nothing so far.



I have Petco lilies in my mud bucket, not sure the difference between lotus and lilies.

Have you tried sticking it in a pot and ignoring it?
Do you need to take new growth cuttings?
Or old growth?
would the gravel or sand method work?

[xenxes]

That's what I tried first, stick it in dirt and ignoring, then I tried rooting powder and dirt, then I tried soaking, tried different kinds of stems (new/old) different times of year. Blah!

[Eldachleich]

Originally Posted by xenxes

That's what I tried first, stick it in dirt and ignoring, then I tried rooting powder and dirt, then I tried soaking, tried different kinds of stems (new/old) different times of year. Blah!

What a shame. I say just let it be and try in a year or so.
Let it mature lol...

[xenxes]

Lol missed your lotus/lily reply, damn you've done your research thx.

[Eldachleich]

Originally Posted by xenxes

Lol missed your lotus/lily reply, damn you've done your research thx.

Lol....
No research. That's just what Ive picked up over the years.
Well except the teacup lotus thing. I just discovered that!

[Eldachleich]

So..
This thing is planted!
The lily is ordered!
And next spring I believe a lotus is coming!
Super exciting.

I'll take a crappy pic and upload it.
It planted with basic marginals and floaters.
I'll refine my plant selection as time goes on.
For now I'm just stuffing it with plant mass.

[Eldachleich]

Here are the pictures..
All the plants are pouty from planting them.

Flora

Marsilea Quadrifolia
Ludwigia (sp?)
Lemon Bacopa
Red Stemmed Parrots Feather
Water Lettuce
Azolla Moss
Rotala
Sensitive Fern
Greater Duckweed
Java Fern
Anubias
and an assortment of un-named stems..

No fauna yet.
Has 8 gallons of water on top...

[xenxes]

WOW that IS PLANTED!!! Lol you stuffed full, dirt substrate I hope? It's only holding 8 gallons? I wouldn't put fauna in there... maybe the platies I gave you, or some shrimp. Looks like it'll boil in there. What's that glass cube?

[Eldachleich]

Originally Posted by xenxes

WOW that IS PLANTED!!! Lol you stuffed full, dirt substrate I hope? It's only holding 8 gallons? I wouldn't put fauna in there... maybe the platies I gave you, or some shrimp. Looks like it'll boil in there. What's that glass cube?

Ahaha.. It's only 2 plants! Well the ones you can see lol.. Theres tons of random stuff planted underneath the water lol..
And I have a lily on the way!
Stuff will be pulled and trimmed as it grows in.

Its a giant layer of Laterite mixed with... uh... a mixture of horse compost, MGOPS, and soils from various piles of different soils from around my yard.
I just mixed it till it felt right. Thats capped with a 2" layer of sand which is capped with a 1.5 inch layer of pond soil.

Only 8 gallons of water left.
The only fish in here are purely for mosquito control.
Even though it's 8 gallons its actually quite spacious. It surprised me that it was only 8 gallons. My gourami would be happy in there I think. But I don't feel comfortable putting him in there right now. Too cold.
It actually stays between 60 - 75 in the tub. I was thinking a betta.. Or my gourami in warmer weather. Or maybe a few whiteclouds.
Not sure yet.
Problem with whiteclouds is that they breed... I hate homing fish babies.
We will see. Nothing is going in till the lily is in and the plants have taken off...

The glass cube is another carnivorous plant. My american pitcher plant, sarracenia purpurea.
Set up alot like my VFT but geared more towards water retention.
They get a nice purple maroon colour and have nice sort squat pitchers for most of the year.
They get about 12" in length. But their shape is cute and rounded.
Great fly catchers. Seriously.
Mine catch like 9 flies per pitcher per day. It's getting to the point where the flies can just crawl out again because the pile of bodies is so high.
Mine is also still very small so..
When it gets bigger I can only imagine.

[xenxes]

Put the platies I gave you in there, seriously. I don't think anything else will survive long. And I can always send you more.

They actually look really good from the top when they're bigger and fatter, almost mini koi-like.



This is a juvie skinny one, imagine a fat one.

[Eldachleich]

Why won't anything survive?

I was thinking some sort of gourami for those really still hot days we get...