Lotus tuber question.

[PondmaninAL]

I took my lotus tuber out of the ziplock bags today that I packed them in to move up here. I stored them in a crisper drawer of a spare fridge in the laundry room here. I took them out last week and let the water warm a bit. I would say that 80% are good. A few of them were hard but had grooves or splits in them. What colors survived, I will find out later.

[purplepshn2004]

Wishing you good luck, Scott!

[bunny56lbc]

SOo what's your're question? 

bonnie

[PondmaninAL]

Bonnie, you got a point there. I forgot to post the question.

The question was suppose to be, even though the tubers are damaged, the rest of it is hard and has growing tips, will it continue to grow or just rot?

[bunny56lbc]

I would think if the growing tips are doing good & growing that it would live ...but that's just my opinion..maybe Johns or someone else that knows more about them will answer this question for you..

[Johns]

Pondman,

The danger to lotus tubers that are split is invasion of bacteria that can result in rotting.  What I would do with a spilt tuber that I wished to save would be to mix a 3 percent peroxide (like sold at drugstores) half with water and soak the tuber for 10 minutes then apply vaseline over the split and then plant.

[matherfish]

What caused the tubers to split? If the tubers froze, and that's what it sounds like, it is doubtful the plant will survive, but maybe...What color are the growing tips? If they are gray, or black they will not survive. If they are pale green they should be all right. Keep them in water with lots of sun and heat and you will know in a week or two. They will start growing in just a few days if they are healthy.

[PondmaninAL]

Thanks Johns, I will do as you say.

Frank, the growing tips are pale green. They were kept in a crisper drawer in the bottom of the fridge where things don't freeze. Water was collecting in that drawer for some reason and is why I placed them in there.

[Rad Michelle]

I remember you and I were trying to ask how to store tubers and if it was ok to let them dry etc. I ended up pitting them in a empty fish tank in laundry room shed.... Instead of the lighter brown/tan tubers they turned a dark red brown and started growing tips and then stopped. Some of the longer non cut pieces I had random tubers in the middle squishy and they next to no signs of life that I can see and have been in warm waters for a good two months. So I'm guessing my way did not work out

[PondmaninAL]

Michelle, I'm sorry that yours didn't fair so well. My method was just a twist from an old method that I had read over and over. Seeing that I didn't have any sand, I just put them in water with a little coconut fiber that I had left over from some of those Wal-Mart water lilies, just for padding. After we got moved and found out that we had access to a refrigerator that had a crisper drawer that collected water for some reason and was unusable for storing anything else, I figured it an ideal place to store the lotus tubers. Your idea might have worked if you had kept them moist somehow. In a way, you're like me when it comes to ponding, you like to experiment and that is good.