Lotus and Waterlily propagation!

Water Lilies – How to separate the tubers?

 Many people have asked me how waterlilies are propagated. Both water lilies and lotus are propagated both by tubers and seeds.  The question people have is how to separate the multiple plants in a pot and I am attaching a video of that.  However just a small post on how to sow lotus seeds.

First, use a sander or sandpaper and scrape the lotus seeds. Then put them in a small tub of water about 2 inches in depth. They will sprout in about 3-4 days. Keep adding more water or change to a larger container and see the leaves emerging first then the roots. Keep them in water until the leaves are at least about 1 foot long and the roots about 4-6 inches. Remember to use a larger container as the leaves grow out. Once the roots are between 4-and 6 inches in length you can plant them in your water lily/lotus pot.  If you plant too soon the leaves die out. (I made that mistake multiple times). Also, the weather is important. Spring or the early March timeframe is the best time to start the seeds in the Gulf. The method of planting a water lily I have already shared in a video earlier. Here I am also sharing what a very well-known breeder of water lily and lotus Ms. Indira Shankar has advised for potting the tubers of lotus. Remember Lotus requires clay soil which is hard to come by here. This time I did not get the soil so I used a mixture of normal potting soil and vermicompost and topped it up with sand. Here is what she advised me –

5 parts soil ( black or any clayey   soil preferred)

1or less part vermicompost

20g DAP optional

Mix well

Add water, mix well and leave it for a week.

Ideal pot  size :

Large cultivar

min 20 -24 inches wide

Depth can be 12 to. 18

Medium cultivar :

12 to 18  inches wide

10 to 12 inches deep

Small cultivar:

10 to 15 inches wide

8 to 10 inches deep

Add soil manure mix up to little more than half the height. (Because we don’t have true soil here I used a mix of potting soil vermicompost and sweet sand)

Plant the lotus rhizome that was floating in water for a week or more and has sprouted leaves.

Make a trench that may be the same length and width as the rhizome with the growing tips facing the sky.

Add 3, 4 inches of water

Slowly can increase the water level as the plant grows.

After five-six big leaves appear:

May push undersoil 3 or 4 grow tabs once in 20 days

ALSO

1/4 spoonful of Fungicide mix in water and then add to the pond once a month.

Water lilies propagate both from tubers as well as seeds. Remember to remove the decaying leaves and the flower stalks from the very bottom. This helps to avoid algae formation. However, leave one or two flowers to sink to the bottom. Each lily can contain about 2000 seeds, and some will germinate and form another plant in your pot which you can separate later. If you find large tubers in the pot you can slice them and let them float in the water until they sprout again.

Both Lotus and water lilies are heavy feeders and need fertilizing every 20 days or so. Either use the aqua tabs or insert a pipe about 2 feet in length and about 2 inches in diameter into the soil of the pot and deliver the NPK to the soil through that. Wait for 5-7 minutes and gently remove the pipe so that the NPK goes into the Soil. If you sprinkle in the water the algal formation will increase and very little nutrition actually is absorbed by the plant.