How to grow lotus flower

Beautiful, tropical looking, it’s actually easy to grow a lotus plant. Cold hardy to zone 5, you can grow and leave a lotus outdoors in Chicago!

It takes about two years for a lotus plant grown from seed to flower, but tubers produce plants that blossom the first year.

Water depth

Taller standard lotus can grow in water up to 18” deep or even deeper, but it takes more energy, and in spring and in cool climates lotus benefit from the extra warmth in shallow water. Dwarf lotus should be grown in water between 2” and 12” deep.

It can be placed inside the house as well. The Lotus is associated with the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi and Lord Buddha. The presence of lotus is believed to bring in wealth and prosperity and is one of the most auspicious Vastu plants for home.

Usually, lotus leaf, when matures, remain out of water. If for some reason, it is forced inside the water (by making water level more), they can rot.

Lotus need at least 5+ hours of DIRECT sunlight to grow and bloom. If your lotus is only getting late afternoon sunlight, the rays of the sun might not be strong enough for your lotus to bloom. Try relocating your lotus container to a sunnier spot, making sure to not disturb the tuber or roots.

Remove the plant from the container, remove the damaged leaves and hose them off really well water and spray them cooking spray oil. That will suffocate any that are in hiding. Clean out the container really well then replace the plant. The amount of oil on the leaves won’t affect the plant or water.

Once your Exquisite of Bowl pond lotus has aerial leaves, use 1 – 2 Fertilizer Tabs + Humates per month for the first month, then 3 – 4 Fertilizer Tabs + Humates every three weeks, for the rest of the growing/blooming season. You may also add 1 teaspoon of epsom salt to your container to help keep leaves green.

If the soil becomes depleted of magnesium, adding Epsom salt will help; and since it poses little danger of overuse like most commercial fertilizers, you can use it safely on nearly all your garden plants.

Epsom Salts

They supply two essential plant nutrients, magnesium and sulfur, which is why people have used them for decades and decades to feed plants such as roses, tomatoes, and peppers. They don’t kill plants. They make them grow better.

Produce Bountiful Roses. Before planting a new rose bush, add one tablespoon of Epsom salts to the bottom of each hole. For established roses, add one tablespoon of salts for every gallon of water and spray foliage when plants begin to leaf in spring and once again during flowering.