A Detailed Guide to the Latest Methods for Planting Lotus Seeds
The scientific name of the lotus seed is lotus seed (lianzi). Propagating lotus by sowing seeds can save seed lotus roots, labor and money, is convenient to transport and easy to handle, and the lotus plants grown from seed are vigorous and can be rapidly propagated on a large scale. However, seedlings grown from seed are prone to variation and cannot maintain the superior traits of the variety, so they are generally mostly used for breeding new varieties. Now let us take a look at how to plant lotus seeds!
Seed Selection
Lotus seeds have a very long lifespan; seeds several hundred or even a thousand years old can still germinate, and their sprouting ability is very strong. Sometimes, in order to speed up propagation, in mid-July, when the seed coat turns from green to yellowish-brown, sowing immediately can also result in germination. But if sowing is to be done after the following year, one should wait until the lotus seeds are fully mature and the seed coat has turned black and hard before harvesting. The harvested seeds should be dried and stored indoors in a dry, ventilated place. Therefore, when selecting seeds, one should choose mature and plump seeds for propagation.
Sowing Time
Sowing lotus seeds is more suitable when the daily temperature is around 20°C. For seed lotus, in order to reach the number of lotus seeds that can be harvested in the same year, the sowing period is generally early to mid-April. Flower lotus is sown from early April to mid-July, and generally can bloom in the same year. Sowing can also be done from late July to early September, but because the temperature is lower later on, only plants can be formed and the goal of flowering cannot be achieved.
Germination and Sowing
The method for promoting germination is to use scissors to cut open the hard shell at the concave, flat end of the lotus tail, exposing the seed coat, while being careful not to injure the embryo bud. Place the shelled lotus seeds in a germination basin and soak the seeds in clean water, generally keeping the water depth at about 10 cm, changing the water once a day. After 4-6 days, the embryo bud can appear. When temperatures are high in summer, sowing should be properly shaded, and water should be changed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. At this time, because the temperature is high, lotus seeds need only 2 days to show the embryo bud.
Seedling Cultivation
The main methods for raising lotus seedlings are basin culture and seedbed culture. In basin culture, pond mud is spread thinly in a basin, with the basin soil accounting for 2/3 of the basin. For seedbed seedling cultivation, generally a seedbed 100 cm long and 100 cm wide and 25 cm high is selected, then 15-20 cm of thin pond mud is added and leveled. Finally, the germinated seeds are arranged at a spacing of 15 cm, sown into the mud in turn, and kept with 3-5 cm of water.
Timely Transplanting
When the seedlings grow to 3-4 floating leaves, they can be transplanted. Plant one seedling per pot, and transplant as you go, carrying soil along with the transplant to increase the survival rate. For field planting of seed lotus, generally 700 seedlings are planted per mu. After transplanting, in order to promote the normal growth of the seedlings, shallow water should be maintained in the early stage, and the water level should be gradually raised according to the growth of the seedlings.