Bowl Lotus questions

[LeeAnne151]

OK, I've got two nice bowl lotus tubers from Lawanna. I am going to do them in containers, not put them in the pond. I have some wide, shallow "colorbowl" type pots with no holes or I have some deep narrow pots with no holes. I'm not sure which is best to use. I can't use whiskey barrels or half barrel liners, they are too big to fit in the greenhouse and lotus need the greenhouse here to heat up enough to bloom in our gray and cool weather.

My colorbowl pots are 16" and 14" wide but only 6-8" deep and the other pots are 12" and 14" wide and as deep.

The lotus are 'Green Maiden' and 'Joyful Eyes' and I mixed them up even though Lawanna carefully labeled them.

[tranquility]

LeeAnne I plant some of mine in pots narrow at the bottom and wide at the top--but, since lotus tubers actually will find their way to the bottom---I've found the ones I planted in wider but, shorter bowls do best....but, either one will do...
Lawanna

[Kat]

If it was me, I'd use the taller ones since you are going to have the pots freestanding.  With our dry/hot summers I like to have more water in the containers so I'm not filling them up every day.

[LeeAnne151]

Thanks, now if only I'd remembered the steer manure in two trips to the store....

[marla]

I have my Green Maiden in a 20" across, 17" deep pot for the last 3 years and it has done great!! It is a pot that narrows at the bottom.

[matherfish]

I think the wider the surface area, the better off you will be. I raise all of my lotuses in 24" wide and 12" deep containers. My experience has not been good with containers smaller than 16" in diameter.

[tranquility]

thats the bad thing about most pots they are made really wide at the top and narrow at the bottom...deep is good so you can keep enough water on them but, they really do get cramped if the bottom is too narrow....best thing I have found to grow my bowl lotus in is the black cauldrons you can buy after Halloween .....they are perfect for them-just gotta remember to go after Halloween and grab some
Lawanna

[LeeAnne151]

Keeping enough water on them in my climate isn't a problem. We aren't hot and dry. I have to dump water out of my pots all the time as the plants get totally submerged.

Finding space for a pot that is 24" wide in the greenhouse would be a problem....

[Joyce]

LeeAnne, in the winter, I stack my pots in the garage.
I use 2 x 4s to for support in between the pots.
After all, they're dormant. 

[tweetybaby2005]

Joyce, do you water the lotus in winter or just let them be until Spring? 

Thanks
Kuan

[Joyce]

I keep the soil muddy-wet, very little or no submersion.
So yes, I add water about once a month, if that.
There is hardly any evaporation on the tubs under the top tub because they cap each other off pretty good.
The 2 x 4s provide a crack in to see what's going on and for adding water if necessary.

Same treatment with the water lilies. 

[marla]

Joyce, do you not get real cold in the winter, I know I've seen pictures with snow??  I don't think I could do that here, but would be nice if I could...I think even the dirt/water would freeze in the garage here.

[Joyce]

Our garage is attached, and under the house built into the slope we live on.
The garage doors open on grade...and then the basement is behind the garage built into the slope.
You have to walk through a door in the garage into the basement. Then there is a staircase from the basement into the main house.
And when you stack the lotus and potted water lilies, they insulated each other, up against the back wall...they are very protected.
You just gotta keep the garage door closed at all times.
We keep a thermometer in the garage, never seen it go below 35* unless the door is open for too long. (usually DHs fault )
Once you close the garage doors, the heat from the Jeep or Trucks engine brings it back up over freezing.

[marla]

Hmmmmmm, sounds like your garage may be a bit warmer then mine.  Mine is not protected by the house or built in a hill, it is attached but only one side to the house.  I'm pretty sure it gets colder then 35*, one year I tried to force Paper Whites in the garage and the dirt in the pot froze solid.  We will get very cold (-12 and lower) sometimes for a week.  DH wants to build a lotus pond this year for the larger lotus so we don't have to drag the whiskey barrells in the basement anymore, the smaller ones in the pond on the shelf I have always brought in but I think I could just drop them to the bottom of the lily pond it's about 3' at the deep spot....I talked to a few people last year here that do that.

[LeeAnne151]

Lotus are very hardy as far as winter temps go but it is so cold and wet here in spring that they need to be in the greenhouse to jumpstart their growth to get blooms. I never got blooms on Sharon last year but I did get nice leafy growth. It may have been a mistake to keep her in the greenhouse over the winter. I'll have to call Hughes Water Gardens and the Classical Chinese Garden and see if they winter theirs in the greenhouse or just have them there in spring. I see no growth from Sharon at all.....

[marla]

LeeAnne that is what happened to me last year with 2 of my lotus, Baby Doll and Carolina Queen, I put them in the basement for the winter in the Whiskey barrels and they only grew maybe 2-3 pads  last year and not big ones kind of deformed even at first, I thought maybe it was snail damage, but the Green Maiden I treated the same and it was fine....this year I'm noticing the same thing, the pads start but the stems seem to rot off.  Not sure if it is to warm down there or it is a fungas or snails again or what.  That is why I want to just try leaving them in the pond this winter......I can count on members here usually haveing some lotus so if they don't make the winter I'll try again.