Nelumbo Titan / Titan Lotus

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.

Nelumbo nucifera, The President lotus

4th day flower.

             Lotus are an invasive, or you might say successful aquatic plant. Don't plant them in an earthen bottom pond unless you want a pond full of lotus. I've had them in my pond rooted in 8' of water, and from that point the runners can spread another 15 feet on the surface, literally covering the surface of a large pond in 5 or 7 years. This can be depressing if you want to fish. However, you will not be sad at bloom time. A field of blooming lotus commands the attention of Kings. As glorious a sight as any mountain range they are. Yes Sir.

2nd day flower.

If you by some chance let them get away, the best thing to do first could possibly be nothing. Lotus are heavy feeders and if you've had an influx of fertilizer in your water for some reason, the lotus will eat every bit of it and possibly starve themselves out. When the nutrients are gone the lotus count will definitely dwindle.

This is what happened in my pond some years ago when I planted azaleas all around it and fertilized them regularly. The run off from the sprinkler system drained in the pond. As soon as the azaleas took root and started growing on there own, I quit fertilizing them and the lotus are now 99% gone. These first lotus were the native American lotus ( Nelumbo lutea ), nucifera species, and Mrs. Perry D Slocum, quite a sight in summer. I've never had The President before this year (Pond Mega-store $40 )... It's a bit more red than other reds and the species plant. It's in a 30 gallon tub now with 6'' of topsoil and water. The open flower is 11 inches wide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo

Nelumbo Nucifera

This is a plant growing in my pond. As invasive as it is beautiful, it grows in as much as 8 foot of water here, so it's not good for most ponds. There is a legend that mentions The Buddha emerging from the Ganges upon its leaf.