The lotus grows naturally in full sun, in fields of hundreds, even thousands of acres of fresh water marsh. Our native North American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea) is a large/yellow, and grows not far from my house in Southern Louisiana, U.S. It is an impressive sight, hard to match by any other flowering plant I've seen. It will bloom surprisingly well in shaded/filtered sun, in 5 gallon/ and larger pots//kidy pools with at least 6 inches of heavy topsoil free of organic matter upon which the tuber is planted just barely into the soil. I just add 6 inches of water over the tuber, set the tuber on top of the soil and weight it down with a small stone to keep it from floating. As it forms roots, then leaves, add water at least a foot deep for larger plants, less for smaller, although Ive seen them grow in 8' of water, or tubers may grow suspended in water vegetation, obsorbing nutrients suspended as well, in fairly clear water.
This Titan is a medium to small plant. It is called red by the retailer, but hot pink by God. I buy almost every new ''red'' one that is found in the wild or hybridized, to see if it is indeed red, but they have so far been, all pink. Humm... I grow this lotus and most others in 40 gallon no hole containers.
After the plant is established the (second summer) organic matter will be its food source, as lotus are heavy feeders/crave fertilizer, pond tabs/osmacote/8-8-8/tree tabs. I use tree tablets, although they don't contain the correct npk, it's cheap. I get them on line in 25 lb. boxes for about $45. Those little bottles of pond tabs at big box stores are just a snack for these hungry beasts/too expensive. I have lotus in small ponds the size of a house and throw what ever fertilizer I have over the pond at the first emergence of new leaves in late winter/early spring, but sometimes forget. After the plant is well established, like all other plants they feed off the previous years growth. Sometimes they will eat everything in the pond and go into a hibernation/comatost state, nature's way of waiting for better times.
If you are a whiskey man, lotus are the Crown Royal and seven up of the plant world.
