What Is a Bowl Lotus? Detailed Guide to Growing It at Home and Precautions

Many people like to grow a pot of bowl lotus at home. It looks like a lotus and also like a water lily, fresh and elegant. Placed on a table indoors, it can beautify the environment. So what is a bowl lotus? How do you grow it at home? What precautions are there?

1. What Is a Bowl Lotus?

The bowl lotus usually refers to the small and medium-sized types of lotus, and its scientific name is the same as that of the lotus. The leaves of the bowl lotus are round, including floating leaves that rest on the water surface and upright leaves that rise above the water surface; water lily leaves, by contrast, are round with a notch and only have floating leaves resting on the water surface. The bowl lotus is an aquatic flower grown in small containers. Though small and compact, the bowl lotus does not lose the fresh, tender beauty of the lotus. Placed on a table indoors, it can beautify the environment and add a touch of freshness to your home.

2. How to Grow a Bowl Lotus at Home

1. Preparation for Planting a Bowl Lotus

(1) Planting Time

Many flower lovers like to grow bowl lotus at home. It is as beautiful as a lotus, and although it does not have the proud bearing of the one by Daming Lake, a small pot of bowl lotus at home is enough to let you feel the beauty of being there in person. But here comes the question: when should you buy the seeds, and when should you plant them?

In fact, bowl lotus seeds can be sown in all four seasons. As long as the water temperature is kept at around 16°C, the seeds can germinate normally. After the seeds germinate, the suitable growing temperature is 15~30°C. For households where the indoor temperature is low in winter, you can choose to sow in spring.

(2) Material Preparation

Bowl lotus seeds, a file, silt, a white flower pot, sand.

2. How to Plant a Bowl Lotus

(1) Seed Treatment

First, break the seed coat. When eating lotus seeds, you will notice that there is a green outer skin on the outside of the lotus seed. After the lotus seed matures, the outer skin turns black and hard. It is said that as long as this white skin is kept, lotus seeds can be buried in the soil for a hundred years or even a thousand years without rotting. If you do not treat the seeds before planting a bowl lotus, you probably will not see them germinate in this lifetime.

A lotus seed is pointed at one end and round at the other. Make a small opening at the round end. You can rub it on rough cement ground or crack it with a file. In short, you must make an opening so that water can seep into the seed and it can germinate as soon as possible.

(2) Soaking Seeds to Speed Up Germination

The next step is to soak the seeds whose shells have been broken in warm water at 30°C to speed up germination, soaking for 2~7 days and changing the water 2~3 times a day. Generally, the seeds will grow small sprouts on the 5th day. If they have not sprouted after 7 days, they will not germinate, so throw away this kind of seed.

In addition, the water temperature for soaking the seeds should be kept at around 30°C and must not be higher than 40°C or lower than 20°C, otherwise the seeds will germinate slowly.

(3) Hydroponic Seedling Raising

After the seeds germinate, place them in a 25°C environment for hydroponic growing for 5~7 days. During the hydroponic process, keep the water at about 10 cm, ensure sufficient light, and do not frequently change the water or move them around, so as not to affect the growth of the leaves.

After hydroponic growing for a period, the first leaf unfolds, the second leaf is about to unfold, and white roots have grown. At this point, they can be planted in mud.

(4) Choosing a Pot and Planting in Place

According to the needs of planting, put the prepared silt or fine sand into the flower pot, add soil, clear water and fertilizer, stir evenly, and let it stand. After the water surface becomes clear, plant the bowl lotus seeds. The seeds should all go into the mud, and the leaves should spread freely on the water surface. Be sure that the water does not cover the leaves. In addition, during planting, handle them gently and do not break the leaf stalks.

For home growing, for the sake of appearance, after the seeds are planted, spread a layer of small stones on the water surface to keep the water clear and increase the ornamental value.

(5) Flowering

Different bowl lotus varieties bloom at different times. Generally speaking, the bowl lotus slowly begins to form flower buds after growing 5~17 upright leaves. However, some varieties quickly grow flower buds and bloom after growing upright leaves. As long as you take good care of it, it is only a matter of time before the bowl lotus blooms!

3. Precautions for Growing a Bowl Lotus

1. The Container Should Be Large

The container for growing a bowl lotus should be appropriately large. If you only use an ordinary bowl from home, it is too small and too shallow, and it holds too little nutrient soil, so the bowl lotus cannot grow fully and neither the roots nor the leaves can spread well. Growing a bowl lotus this way is meaningless!

2. Sunlight Should Be Sufficient

When caring for a bowl lotus, you must not just keep it indoors all the time to decorate the environment. With long-term indoor care, the bowl lotus cannot get sunlight and grows slowly. Often take the bowl lotus outside to receive sunlight. Only when the pot soil is warmed by the sun will it grow more vigorously.

3. Fertilizer Should Be Light

The bowl lotus likes fertilizer, especially nitrogen fertilizer. During the growing period, sufficient nutrients must be ensured. In addition to adding enough nutrients to the mud before planting, timely topdressing is also needed. Topdressing depends on the size of the flower pot; if the plant is small and the pot is small, then less fertilizer should be applied. If too much fertilizer is applied, the plant will only grow leaves without blooming, and in more serious cases, the plant will wither and die.

4. Long Leaves Should Be Pruned

During the care process, the leaves of the bowl lotus will become denser and denser, which to a certain extent affects the growth of the bowl lotus. An appropriate number of leaves should be removed to promote the plant's respiration and ventilation.

4. Differences Between Bowl Lotus and Water Lily

1. Water lily leaves float on the water and have a V-shaped notch; they only have floating leaves. The bowl lotus, however, has both floating leaves resting on the water surface and upright leaves rising above the water surface.

2. Water lily leaves are glossy and have no fuzz on the surface. Bowl lotus leaves have fuzz on the surface.

3. The center of the bowl lotus flower has a lotus pod, while the water lily does not.

4. The water lily plant is relatively large and has a certain degree of cold resistance. The bowl lotus plant is relatively small and is not cold-resistant.

5. Water lily petals are long and narrow, and the flowers are slightly larger, in colors such as red, pink, white and yellow, mostly white, with oval or heart-shaped leaves. Bowl lotus petals are nearly round, and the flower colors are limited, generally only red and yellow, and the size is only about 5 cm.