Need some lotus advice, I planted mine and some baby lilies

[Jonna]

Robie and Neo brought me a sprouted lotus    and a seed.  I had the sprout in a small pot of water but I started worrying that the water was getting too hot because there was so little of it.  So, today I planted it in an oil pan with compost and osmocote - from Joyce's instructions - but I didn't have a really shallow area in the pond to put it.  There is about 2 feet of water from the top of the dirt/rocks to the surface.  The highest leaf is about 6" below the surface.  Is this going to be OK? 

Also, while it does not get cold here it does get cooler.  The water temp now is about 85F and will probably drop to 78 or so over the winter.  We don't have much of a change in hours of sunlight but there are less, it goes from a little less than 11 hours at the winter equinox to about 13.5 hours at the summer equinox.   Is this little seedling going to do all right under these conditions?  I so want it to live.

Here are some pics of it in its new home.  I was so happy to get all the blue oil pans out of my pond and it looked really nice for about a week but now they are back with the seedlings and there are a couple of dog bowls in there too.     Oh well, I'd rather have plants than pretty I guess.

This is the lotus with the 2 plecos checking the bowl out for algae.


This is the my pond after I put all the starts in. 


and how it looked before I messed it up with all the plastic pots again.

[PondmaninAL]

Jonna, if those are the floating leaves, they should do as water lilies do, grow longer stems. With your climate, they should be blooming by Spring.

[karen J]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry at all about the stems- in a couple of days the pads will be at the surface. Full sun?

Not quite sure about the 11 hrs of sun. I wouldn't think that it would be troublesome with temps in the upper 70's, but I do suspect that we don't really know the importance of sunlight cues- I (opinion) think the sunlight cues are much more important than we give them credit for.
It's not like your lotus has to store tons of nutrients in the tuber for winter since there really isn't any winter there, so to speak, it's more like a temporary slowdown. So I'd expect a slowdown until spring, then a big growth phase.

Don't even listen to me, I've never lived or gardened in a tropical place.  I have no credentials. 

Your rocks & pond are gorgeous!

[Jonna]

Thanks Scott and Karen.  I also think that hours of sunlight are important, it is some kind of internal clock for plants I believe.  But, I know very little real data myself, it's just a feeling.  They won't get direct sun for all of those hours, but they should get it for at least 6 hours a day minimum.  I'll move them around if they end up in a shady spot of the pond. 

[HOWELL]

I'm sure if they get plenty of light they will do so good...mine barely get 4 or 5 hours of sun and they are awesome...they do get tons of light though...
What are the ones planted besides the lotus?

[Jonna]

The other blue plastic pan has leavers from the Dauben that I am trying to grow out.  The dog bowls in back have the small lily that Robie brought me and some starts from I think the pink lily.  Way in back in juice bottles are a start from Wood's and another Dauben start. 

Hope they all do well.  I guess I need to buy some more concrete pots, shallow ones for starts.    What I really need is a grow out pond on the roof, you know?

[HOWELL]

I have a grow out pond on the roof....I just can not wait to see it....I can't wait for it to be friday....

[Jonna]

Ha! Every day is Friday when you are retired 

Karen and Scott were right, the pads have already reached the surface.  Fingers crossed.

[jw]

Jonna your little plant babies look like they are growing good to me but one thing really makes me sick to hear you say............................................"The water temp now is about 85F and will probably drop to 78 or so over the winter". I am so jealous

[Jonna]

The weather is a big part of why I moved here.  It's hot and humid in the summer but, for what it is worth, I have never gotten around to installing air conditioning in the house.  I get in and out of the pool, we have lots of ceiling fans and high ceilings and thick rock walls.  It's OK for me, there have been a couple nights when I would have turned it on if we had it but they weren't all that bad.  There are gringos here that think I'm nuts and I'm sure it would be way too hot for many but it suits me.  I still may install it in the bedrooms but now that it is October I figure I'll put it off until spring, shoot, I've survived the whole summer now. 

My favorite orange vendors have reappeared on the street where they always have their truck, they were gone all summer.  That made me so happy, I miss fresh orange juice in the summer but the oranges are just not great and are all imported.  So, it really must be fall if there are oranges for sale again on the street.      I stopped to buy and got a big welcome, the father had been sick but says he is fine now.  The father told me he used to work in Calif in the fields up in Humboldt county and on fishing boats out of Pescadero and the son said he worked in San Francisco at a Chinese restaurant for a couple years.  We all agreed it was much more tranquil and relaxed here and a whole lot warmer.   When I bought my 5 kilo bag of oranges they only charged me 30 pesos, I used to pay the 'gringo' price but I'm getting close to the local price now.

I've noticed a slightly cooler feel to the air, I think the humidity is going down a little, it's still well over 80% though.  In the winter it will drop into the 40% range and the temps will stay around 80 to 90 F. 

[miguynmkoi]

I'm happy to here your pond plants are doing well.  The photo of your pond looks so wonderful and lush.  All that daylight and even temps gotta be good for everything!  We too are looking forward to fresh tree ripened oranges soon.  My orange trees will be bearing orange oranges in about a month or so. 

[janek]

80 to 90 degrees for the winter?!  I volunteer to be your pond keeper for the winter 

[Jonna]

Winters are wonderful here, that's for sure.  The snowbirds will be coming back soon and the party season will start.  Plus, winter is when my friends from up north visit.  I love that part too.  The rains will stop and the mosquitoes will die and that makes me even happier.  Frankly, the heat in summer doesn't really bother me but the mosquitoes are what bug (!) me and can keep me inside in the evenings.  Although, right now I'm out on the terrace and it is 7:30pm and just got dark, the temp is 85F and I remembered to light the mosquito coils so they aren't bothering me.  That makes me enjoy the weather a lot more.