Colorful Glow Lotus
Plant Description
Colorful Glow Lotus comes in shades of cotton-candy pinks and creamy-whites along with a yellow-gold receptacle that embellishes this delightful lotus! This lotus specimen looks lovely in pots on your deck or patio or in the shallow end of a small pond! Colorful Glow Lotus can be planted in a container to grace a sunny area of your deck, porch or patio--all you need is a no-holes container, loam soil water and a Colorful Glow Lotus tuber, to add this amazing specimen to your surroundings. Colorful Glow will grow to 2 - 3 feet tall.
Dwarf-Medium/Pink/Multi-Petal
Planting Instructions
Plant in wide (16 - 30 inch wide or wider) container using loam soil. Dig a trench across the top of the soil and place your lotus tuber in the trench, being careful not to damage the growth tips. Bury all but the growth tips in an inch or two of soil and gently add two or three inches of water over the soil. Place your container in a sunny location outside (8+ hours of sunlight daily). In a week or two you will have coin leaves growing on the surface of the water. DO NOT FERTILIZE until you have aerial leaves growing out of the water. (Lotus tubers should be started outside in a sunny location when daytime temperatures are consistently in the 70's and nighttime temperatures are consistently in the 50's). Wide temperature fluctuations slow the growth of your lotus tuber!
Wider containers allow for more plant growth and more blooms!
Fertilizing Instructions
DO NOT fertilize your lotus too early as this may cause your lotus tuber to perish. Once you have aerial leaves growing out of the water , you may fertilize your lotus with three to four fertilizer tabs during the months of June through September. These are the growing/ blooming months. Simply press three to four fertilizer tabs into the soil around the roots of your lotus tuber, being careful not to damage the roots. We recommend Waterlily World Fertilizer Tabs for ease of use, optimum growth and best bloom!
What Is Loam Soil?
Loam soil is a good mixture of Topsoil and Sand
If you are lucky enough to have good topsoil in your backyard, by all means, use your topsoil. All you will have to do is add fertilizer. If you are not so lucky--and your backyard is sand or heavy red or yellow clay, you can mix up a batch of loam soil.
You can create your own loam soil by mixing these two ingredients together
- 2/3 Inorganic Topsoil (Little or no organic material added)
- 1/3 Pool Filter Sand
Mix together thoroughly with a little water. Your soil should clump when squeezed. If your soil is mixed properly, it will not muddy your pond water.
You can purchase inexpensive bags of inexpensive / poor Topsoil at Lowes or Home-Depot. Good soil clumps together as a ball in your hand with only a little moisture.
Don't buy brands like Scott's or Miracle-Gro, as they will contain too much organic matter that can foul your water. Buy an unbranded bag of topsoil instead.
You can purchase Pool Filter Sand at any store that sells pool supplies.
Loam soil is well suited for all aquatic plants (except oxygenators). Oxygenators rarely need to be planted, just anchored in the substrate or in a container filled with sand or 1/8 inch pea gravel.
Sand holds little water but does allow for aeration and drainage.
Some DO's and DON'TS regarding Aquatic Planting Soil
DO NOT use potting soils ( as they are too light and will float right out of the pot). Potting Soil has organic material that will rot and foul your water!
DO NOT add too much composted material (as it is too rich in organic matter and it will ferment underwater and destroy the ecology of your pond).
DO NOT use 100% calcined clay as there is no nutritional value in calcined clay.
DO NOT add rocks, stones or pebbles to the top of your planting container as this will inhibit the growth of your plants. Plants do not grow in rocks and stones in nature!
DO NOT purchase API Aquatic Planting Media or Microbe-lift Aquatic Planting Media as these products are NOT suitable for waterlilies, lotus or most other pond plants. They are suitable for submerged grasses ONLY!
