Being new to ponding and growing lotus I have discovered a few painful lessons. The first being that if you use any type of oil spray like Neem oil (diluted with water and an emulsifer) and probably horticultural oil spray on a lotus you will scorch the leaves, no matter when you spray and here is why: Unlike other plants where the spray drips off harmless and supposedly evaporates, on lotus it seems to embed itself into the structure of the leaf surface. Where the leaves burned was exactly where the spray was applied, you can even see the individual drops and where they landed. Then later when it rains unlike normal lotus leaves where the water beads up and rolls off the surface, the rain sticks to the oil spray spot. You can't get it off the leaves once its sprayed. Believe me I tried...even with a rag soaked in water and dishsoap.... (yeah crazy idea, but I thought I'd try).
Long story short, I lost all my leaves on a newly budding lotus that had only 5 leaves and I am worried that the plant will not survive as I do not see any other new growing tips present. There are still roots that are newly formed and seem alive (white and pink tinged) though. And, I placed a fertilizer tablet in the pot near the roots. Has anyone ever had a plant survive after something happpened to all its leaves e.g maybe after eaten by insects and stripped bare?
Side note: It is a Chawan Basu lotus, and the second thing I learned is that this type in particular wilts in the extreme summer heat (lesson 2) . In fact its first 2 leaves were sunburned while it was in a small container. I subsequently moved it to a deeper and larger container and started spraying it with the Neem oil just in case it was some mold problem (I didn't know the difference between mold and sunburn at the time...I do now-Lesson 3), hence the scorching and demise of the remaining leaves (lesson above).
Any thoughts, comments, personal experiences?
