Lotus

[blueadzuki]

Mar 10, 2016 17:52:25 GMT -5 prairiegarden said:

Apparently there is a lotus ( Nymphaea Odorata ) which grows across North America including Saskatchewan so it has to be pretty tough. None of the information I found said anything about how deep the water had to be or if the roots had to stay unfrozen or not, or indeed how big the plants got. Apparently the variety is also edible.

I'm not really expecting anything from these, was just curious to see if they would grow and if so what sort of plant they would be. They're going to have to manage in cramped quarters..one site I found about lotus said basically that like "stuff", they will grow to fill whatever space is available.

Right idea, wrong plant. Nymphaea Odorata is a water lily, not a lotus (despite their very similar appearance lotuses are not all that closely related to water lilies). There IS an american lotus species, Nelumbo lutea (in fact it's the only lotus species there is except from N. nucifera. Well the only living one (there's an extinct fossil one too)) It's native range isn't quite as far (it only goes as far north as Minnesota, but it has been introduced far further north so it could grow in Saskatchewan I suppose.)

[reed]

The ones in that pond are pretty uniform in height above the surface but they grow all over it except in the most shallow parts. That might be more because of competition from cat tails and water lilies than their habits. Interesting plants for sure especially since I now know you can eat them. Something else for the someday list.

[steev]

Cat-tails aren't so inedible, in a pinch, depending on the season and the part you want to eat.

[prairiegarden]

The lotus seems to be doing fine sitting in a 2 gallon pot with only about 4 inches of mud, the whole thing sitting in a mixing bowl with a few inches of water.. As long as it has at least about 2 inches of water in the outside bowl it seems happy. It goes through quite a bit of water. I dumped a bunch of grey water in there a couple of weeks ago and it never hesitated, it seems as long as it's got enough water, what sort it is doesn't much matter. Going to have to raise the lights though, it's now a foot tall and getting cosy with the bulbs. It's a nice bit of greenery.
It seems that it would be very easy to grow quite a bit of root quite quickly, now I'm regretting using the grey water. I was away and when I got back it only had about a half inch of water In the bowl and was looking very sad. So I thought it was a goner anyway, but soon as it got topped up it threw up all new leaves in a matter of days. Now wondering if watercress would work the same way. Time to look for containers....

[rowan]

My lotus has died down now in the bathtub. The entire bottom of the tub is covered with tuberous roots. Although it is a small variety I have eaten a couple of the tubers. They are a bit fussy as they are small but still delicious. Next spring I will buy a full size variety to see how it goes.