American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)

I really would like to grow these in my pond. My pond is about 3 1/2 feet deep and has a mud bottom on one end. The mud is about 6 inches deep. There is liner under that. I am thinking that is too deep for the lotus? Also the temp there that deep would be cool and they would not grow? I'm not sure how to fix this. I originally put a small kiddie pool, filled it with average clay like soil and filled the pond, after filling (or as I was filling) I had to level one end more than I thought and it made that end of the pond about a foot deeper than I wanted originally. The only way to fix that is to drain it all, scoop out the dirt and remove the pool. Will it hurt anything if I leave it for now? And just take it out in a couple of years when I do a big cleaning? Are there any lilies that will live at that depth?

Can you plant them in pots, and set those on concrete blocks? There is a beautiful Temple down the street from me that grew lotus in those big plastic totes, rather than in their pond.

one end of the pond does have blocks but again they ended up deeper than I thought, not sure how deep the roots need to be in the water? I could add another row of block on top of the first set to make it a little taller, but not sure how close to the surface they need?

these chickens got ate recently by a fox, saw w my own eyes (yeah, I'm schizophrenic like that) anyhow posted on facebook about how glad I was the neighbors chickens got ate up. I guess word gets around pretty fast, because I have not had one chicken in my yard since. They did tear up all my markers and now I don't know what anything is. Pooed on everything

the goldfish are still alive, I seen them a week or so ago, and have started feeding them.

(edit to say, junk in the background is the neighbors side)

I doubt 3 1/2 feet is to deep. I'm fairly certain some of the wild ones here are deeper than that.

maybe so , but you are in zone 9. I am in zone 6 barely. Almost 5. So the water temp in the spring stays cold far longer and I thought they need warm water temps to start sprouting?

Okay so I am trying to decide how/when to plant this lily and the area with the pool is only 30 inches deep-so not as deep as I thought by my guesstimate. The water cleared off really well and I went out w a long stick and measured it. So since the pool area is filled w mud, can I just drop the tuber/bulb down into the pond and let it land on that soil or does it have to be buried? Will it root into the dirt by itself? Also if I just let it grow freely into that pool spot, will that be sufficient forever? Or will I need to go in at some point and thin them? I have no idea what I am doing!!

I thought the yellow, wild ones were located in very few locations. Near Sandbridge Road, in Virginia Beach, VA. & further south, were gigantic Nelumbo, along the ditches, with those huge flowers & five foot tall leaves,, at a Wildlife Refuge ( Mackey Island?). I forgot, if it is nucifera, or actually nymphacea, that were the wild yellow sort & how far north, they do grow. I would think those N. lutea from Northern localities, would be much more winter hardy than the southern population.

I saw these in Witchita Falls TX and I think they are cold hardy enough for here. So I want to grow them in my backyard pond. But I don't know how to get them started.

I think there is a difference between the native, yellow water lily & the other, pssibly as an introduced "Lotus". I haven't researched it specifically. I only knew that there were some wild yellow water lily, in a somewhat brackish water area, located in Virginia Beach. The road, ( Sandbridge ) which intersected the waterway, had the yellow lily growing on both sides, when I was much younger.... It may be online, I don't know. Possibly in news paper 'Virginia Pilot'..
There were discussions many years ago, about questions over its' habitat destruction', as some plants seemed to be "disappearing" & there were some debate , if it was possibly due to a nearby golf course. But, it is quite possible, some of those water lily had been actually removed, instead of due to some other environmental problem, as the real cause, of the reduction in that population of yellow water lily...

@Frillylily. I have seen the strange roots of Lotus, for sale at garden centers ( named variety- a cv.) & had one. Also, some Oriental Markets may sell them. The fresh Lotus roots, can either be cooked or be candied & eaten. Otherwise, the large seed can be filed & then grown, but needs rinsing & water changing, plus good sunlight, to be grown from seeds, then planted, when warm enough, in a muddy type of pond soil. Or a basket, with purchased Lily 'growing medium' from some big box store, with addition of an adequate fertilizer. hth

Those wild yellow water lilies seem to like cold climates, as I have seen them in a lake in the high Sierras here in Ca. They could have been introduced though. The domesticated lotus were growing in those plastic garden totes at a temple down the street from me so most not need too much depth.

Nelumbo lutea is native and grows from the southern tip of Texas into Canada
http://bonap.net/MapGallery/Co...

Good to know!

The problem is I have water 30 inches deep to the top of the soil at the bottom of my pond, most of the water lilies I've seen need much shallower water than that. I read that this lotus can take water up to 4 ft deep. Of course the water here stays cold well into spring at that depth, so it would be slow to take off growth in the spring time I think.

Does anyone know if lotus are fragrant?

Some lotus are definitely fragrant. My white N. lutea has no fragrance I can detect. I haven't gotten close enough to the blooms on my others to find out.

A few years ago, my mom and I loaded her aluminum boat into the truck and scouted the upper waters of the Ross Barnett Reservoir for native plants for our garden ponds. There was native lotus growing in water over four feet deep, so that shouldn't be a problem, once sprouted. One way to heat your pond's water faster in the spring is to cycle it from your pump through a black water hose or other black piping that is laying in the sun before returning to your pond. You can plumb in an outlet valve to divert the water through this system, then switch it back to your regular pond plumbing and remove the exposed black hose or pipe once the water temperature is where you want it. Of course, the longer the black hose, the more effective it will be. Also, laying the hose on concrete or stone helps elevate the temperature by sunlight being reflected back onto the hose. I used to do this with my swimming pool and a 100' garden hose placed on the concrete around the pool, and it worked very well.

Radly

Thank you! I will keep this in mind, never thought to do that. It seems to take forever here to warm in the spring.

@Horntoad Thank you for straightening that out, for me. I just couldn't figure out why an Asian Lotus, was growing near a National Wildlife Refuge, which required passing down the road, where on either side of that road, the yellow water lilies grew... .. I would venture, this American Lotus has the much smaller seeds pods, which usually have no seeds, in them, meant for dried flower arrangement. As an aside, I noticed in a couple of states, the American yellow Lotus is considered Endangered.