# New to this Forum



## Teichforum.info (27. Jan. 2005)

Hello all,
Today I subscribed to this Forum. Unfortunately my German is not good enough to write, I do understand it a bit though.
My name is Diana Wauthlé and I live in The Netherlands. I stumbled upon the Nymphaion website via an American website about the Lotusflower.
I would like to purchase one or two, there's no place in my country to purchase one.
But, there are some questions that arise. Our garden is 'protected' by walls, and located on the south east, so during the Summer temperatures can be very high, there's hardly any wind.
-is it possible to keep a __ Lotus in one or two wooden (chestnut) tubes diameter 70 cm, heigth 47 cm? Do we need to do special things with the tube?
-which Lotus would you recommend?
-I have read about raising a Lotus from seed to plant, but when I order in Germany, do I get seeds?
Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
Diana Wauthlé


----------



## Teichforum.info (27. Jan. 2005)

Hello Diana and welcome to our forum!

I'm sure you will receive answers to your questions by users who tried out lotuses in their gardens. I do not see a general problem to keep lotuses under the conditions you described. If the water in the pots gets too warm, you have to fill in cool water every day, otherwise your __ lotus may go to rest. 

Raising lotus from seed is possible, but under the climatic conditions of Central Europe very difficult and not really rewarding. Since all lotus hybrids are heterocygotic, you can't duplicate a variety from seed. The only mean of propagation of true-to-name lotuses is by the devision of the rhizomes. Seed doesn't work, the seedlings will look different to their parents.

Lotus became fashionable during the last few years and as a result you will find many internet sites that offer lotuses or lotus seed. A reliable nursery will never sell you seed under the name of a certain lotus variety, or untried rhizomes that were imported from the tropics.

If you got more 'commercial' questions, you may want to send me an email (kontakt@nymphaion.de), so we can keep this forum non-commercial

Werner


----------



## Teichforum.info (27. Jan. 2005)

Hi Werner,
Thanks for the warm welcome. I'lll email you privately too, because I indeed have some commercial questions. Furthermore, I'm very new to this, I love the __ Lotus for a very long time, never knew it would be possible to raise one in our climate, so you can understand that I'm very excited.
We did have two waterlilies in our pond, a N. Pymea Alba? (beautiful!) and a Marliacaea Rosea (we lost that one).
I do have some inquiries too, since our Lotus in spé will be raised in a 'high temperature' corner of our garden (that is, if the weather is okay), on the terrace: do we also need to add oxygen plants to the water? Will the Lotus be able to handle some shade or does it need a full sun place?
Well, I searched a lot of websites to find a Lotus that we like, they're all beautiful by the way, but we saw a N. 'Rote Quelle' (same as N. 'Red Dot'?), N. "Alba Striata', N. 'Carolina Queen', N. 'Culweixizhao', N. 'Suihiren', N. 'The President', N. 'Youzankou', N. 'Zuikohren'.
Is anyone experienced with these cultivars? Which one would you guys recommend? Is there a difference in heigth, size of the leaves, for instance. Is it possible to use the soil that is used for waterlilies? Should they be kept in a basket too?
Many, many, questions, eager to learn 
Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
Diana


----------



## Teichforum.info (27. Jan. 2005)

Hello Diana,

like Werner said, there are normaly no problems to grow lotusses in your garden. If the water temp. in your tubes rise to high, it will be need to cool down with fresh water (temp. of 20-25°C are best). Form the cultivars you telled I grow only N. 'Carolina Queen'. It is a easy to grow __ lotus with beautiful flowers. 

I grow all my lotusses in pots (volume 90L, diam. 70cm) without any oxygen plants. I think it is better to cultivate lotusses alone in the pots, without any anther plants.

In our climate lotusses need full sun all day long. They will tolerate very light shade but it is better to cultivate in full sun (for flowering).

For soil you can use the same as for waterlilies. You can get any information about soil on Werners website nymphaion.de. The rhizomes of your lotusses you should plant direkt in your tubes, the baskets for waterlilies are too small for lotus rhizomes.

Yours

Stefan


----------



## Teichforum.info (28. Jan. 2005)

Nymphaion schrieb:
			
		

> Raising __ lotus from seed is possible, but under the climatic conditions of Central Europe very difficult and not really rewarding. Since all lotus hybrids are heterocygotic, you can't duplicate a variety from seed. The only mean of propagation of true-to-name lotuses is by the devision of the rhizomes. Seed doesn't work, the seedlings will look different to their parents.
> 
> Lotus became fashionable during the last few years and as a result you will find many internet sites that offer lotuses or lotus seed. A reliable nursery will never sell you seed under the name of a certain lotus variety, or untried rhizomes that were imported from the tropics.
> 
> Werner



Hi Werner,

Just read an article whether to grow a Lotus from seed or from rhizome/tuber. I understand what you meant with 'a reliable nursery' being important.
Interesting too, as it seems in plants we deal with the Mendelian laws too.
I'm a breeder of pedigreed cats since quite a while, so I'm familiar with homozygote and heterozygote.

Here in Holland it seems the Lotus is not that fashionable yet, as most of the information can be found on foreign websites.

Best,
Diana


----------



## Teichforum.info (28. Jan. 2005)

StefanBaldauf schrieb:
			
		

> If the water temp. in your tubes rise to high, it will be need to cool down with fresh water (temp. of 20-25°C are best). Form the cultivars you telled I grow only N. 'Carolina Queen'. It is a easy to grow __ lotus with beautiful flowers.
> 
> I grow all my lotusses in pots (volume 90L, diam. 70cm) without any oxygen plants. I think it is better to cultivate lotusses alone in the pots, without any anther plants.
> 
> ...



Hi Stefan,

Thanks for your answer.
Do you also have pictures of your N. 'Carolina Queen'?
I did plan to cultivate without other plants, but I just wondered if the water stays clear when standing in the full sun. And does it need to be refreshed regularly?

Also, suppose I would get a rhizome in March or April, how do I manage to keep the watertemperature high enough?

And, when you plant the rhizome, could just water from the tap be used or should it be well water? Should the tube from the beginning be filled completely with water or start with a level f.i. 30 cm above the rhizome?

Hope I'm not bothering too much with all my questions....

Best,
Diana


----------



## Teichforum.info (28. Jan. 2005)

Hi Diana,

no problem with your questions. At this time I have no pictures of any of my plants, sorry! The waterlevel is only about 10 cm so there should be no problems and with the fast growing lotusses the water is also be in shade because of the leaves growing out of the water. Refreshness of the water is only be needed if it get’s to hot during the summer. 

If you could place your tube on a sunny place all day its not necessary to heat the water. With rising temp. in spring your __ lotus will grow fast enough till summer to get flowering in autumn. My lotus last year flowers in last September till early October cause of a realativly cold summer. To build flowers there are only temp. of 20°C necessary for a period of time (Werner can answer this correctly). If you want get 100% sure to get flowers of your lotus you can also place your tube in the front of a big window in a warm room of your house, or your can heat the water with a normal aquarium heater (20°C are enough!) – but I think this is not realy necessary!

By planting your rhizome your could use any clean water you have! the waterlevel should only be about 10 cm, so it gets warm faster on sunny days. 30cm are too high. The leaves only float for shot time on the water before growing above it. 


Best,

Stefan


----------



## Teichforum.info (30. Jan. 2005)

Hi Stefan,

Thanks again for your answers. I have been reading a lot the past few days.
Takes some time because English as well as German are not my native language. So now I understand the difference between rhizomes and roots 

I too think that it should be possible to keep the plants on the terrace, it's the sunniest place and also near the living room.
Years ago we had a very large nerium __ oleander outside on the terrace for all winter, no problem. A year later we had the plant in the garden house and unfotunately the plant didn't make it. This year our Tuscan Jasmine has been standing outside all winter, and it's still doing well.

Looking at all the diffferent photos it looks like the hardest thing to do now is to choose a cultivar. They are all so beautiful. 
We thought about three Lotuses, we now reduced the amount that we're interested in to 8. Four of them are more or less white with red/pink tip.
Difficult to pick out one of those four. The other one's we like are N. Carolina Queen, Culweixizhao, Youzankou and Kohyouren.
Can't seem to figure out yet whether these cultivars are small, medium or large size plants and whether they are easy to grow or not.

Best,
Diana


----------

