How to Grow Dwarf Lotus in a Bowl? Planting Method Illustrated

Lotus sways with grace, beautiful and refined, with gorgeous flowers and elegant leaves, and a delicate fragrance. It is one of China's top ten famous flowers. Its character of emerging from mud unstained and bathing in clear water without being coquettish makes the lotus an embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty in people's minds, and even more so a noble and auspicious “sacred flower” in Buddhism.

Among them, the lotus family includes a group of miniature lotuses, which stand less than a chi tall, with round leaves like discs, thin rhizomes like fingers, and flowers as large as a coin. They can be planted in a bowl for ornamental viewing, and the ancients called them “bowl lotus”.

Bowl lotus is also called bowl lotus or basin lotus, which is simply lotus grown in a bowl, specially for display on indoor tables to beautify the living environment. Many flower lovers start growing bowl lotus from seeds, but because they lack experience, it is very difficult to get them to bloom in the same year. Today, the editor will tell you exactly how to grow bowl lotus.

I. Key Points for Growing Bowl Lotus:

1. Sowing time: Lotus seeds have no dormancy period. As long as the water temperature can be kept above 16°C, they can be sown in all four seasons. Under suitable temperature and light conditions, lotus seeds need 50-60 days from sowing to flowering in spring, and 60-80 days in autumn.

2. Seed treatment: The seed coat of lotus seeds is hard and dense. Before soaking the seeds, the shell must be manually breached. One end of the lotus seed has a small pointed tip, and the other end has a small concave dot. Rub the end with the small concave dot on rough cement until it breaks, or use pliers to crack a small opening. Be careful not to crush the embryo, and do not remove the shell.

3. Soaking seeds to promote germination: A summer water temperature of 20°C-30°C is very suitable for lotus seed germination. Depending on the number of seeds, use a bowl or basin to hold water, just enough to submerge the seeds. Place indoors and change the water twice a day. They can germinate within 1 week. After sprouting, place in a sunny spot, strengthen light exposure, and do not let them lack water. After 2 weeks, fine roots and 2-3 tender young lotus leaves grow. Once the leaves are coin-shaped and the root system has formed, they can be transplanted separately.

4. Transplanting sprouts: Choose a bottomless ceramic pot or plastic flowerpot with a diameter of 18cm-30cm. Add half a pot of garden soil or river-pond mud free of chemical pollution, and add water to soak two weeks in advance. Do not apply fertilizer. When transplanting, press the fine roots of the young lotus seedling into the mud, one plant per pot. After transplanting, add an appropriate amount of water, just not enough to submerge the small lotus leaves.

5. Autumn and winter management: 2-3 weeks after transplanting, when they enter the peak growing period, if the leaves turn yellow, a small amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compound fertilizer can be applied as a top dressing, with dilute fertilizer applied frequently. Lotus likes warmth and light, and cannot tolerate shade. When the outside temperature is below 16°C, growth slows down, and they should be moved into a sunlight greenhouse.

II. Bowl Lotus Planting Steps/Process

1. First: Learn to distinguish the two ends of a bowl lotus seed.

The seed coat of lotus seeds is very thick. For smoother germination, simple treatment is needed. First, please distinguish the two ends of the bowl lotus seed: one end has a small protrusion, and the other end has a small concave dot. The end to treat is the one with the concave dot.

2. Next: Treat the end with the concave dot

Generally speaking, there are many ways to treat the end with the concave dot. Conventional methods usually include:

1. Rub off the seed coat on cement ground;

2. Crack it open with pliers;

3. Cut off a small piece of the seed coat with a sharp knife.

You can also first drill a small hole at the concave spot with an awl, soak it in water for a period of time, and then use scissors to cut off a small piece of the seed coat! Be careful not to drill too deep, and do not drill into the kernel inside!

3. Then: Soak the treated seeds in water

Use a small box, a plate, or any container to soak the treated seeds in water.

Notes:

1. If the temperature is low, you can use a thermos cup with 30-degree warm water. If the temperature is above 20 degrees, soaking indoors or outdoors is fine.

2. Change the water twice a day. I usually change it once in the morning and once in the evening;

3. The water only needs to submerge the seeds;

4. The higher the temperature, the faster the germination. Generally above 20 degrees, germination takes 3 days to one week.

For lotus seeds that have been soaked in water, the hard coat can easily be peeled off by hand. Peeling off no more than one third of the seed coat helps the seeds sprout sooner.

After peeling, continue soaking in water.

On the fifth day, the green sprout tip was visible.

From the seventh day on, they were placed in the sun every day. In addition, the pot for planting lotus was also prepared, filled with soil, added water, and soaked well. After 9 days, the first floating leaf was about to unfold and the second leaf also appeared. On the tenth day, the first floating leaf unfolded, and the lotus seed also began to grow roots.

Notes:

When treating the seeds, do not crush the embryo, and do not remove the shell. When soaking the seeds to promote germination, the water temperature is best kept between 20-40 degrees. If the water temperature is above 40 degrees, although the seeds germinate rapidly on the first day, their later growth will be inhibited. If the water temperature is below 20 degrees, the seeds germinate and grow too slowly.

When soaking seeds to promote germination, promptly remove seeds that cannot germinate. Generally, they will all germinate within 7 days. Be sure to give the lotus sufficient sunlight!

Bowl lotus is a perennial plant and will form rhizomes (not edible lotus rhizomes). After entering the mud, they will spread roots. One bowl lotus can grow into a large pot and produce many leaves. Therefore, a container with a diameter of 30 cm is completely enough for planting 1-3 plants; more will not fit. Those with many germinated seedlings can divide them into separate pots, use a container with a larger diameter, or share the lotus seedlings with friends.