Fire Red Lotus (Frie Hong)
Plant Description
Fire Red Lotus is a delightful lotus hybrid with intense, bright-red color on the single-petal blooms. This dainty jewel adds beauty and joy to your outdoor living space! Fire Red Lotus grows to 18 inches tall when planted in a 20" in diameter container.
Exquisite Of Bowl
Single-Petal
Bright-Red
Planting Instructions
Plant your lotus tuber in a wide, no holes container (11 - 16 inches wide or wider). Fill your container 2/3 full of loam soil. Dig a shallow trench across the surface of the soil and gently place the lotus tuber in the trench. Cover the lotus tuber with an inch of soil but leave the growth tips exposed to the sunlight. Gently add 2 inches of water above the soil and place your container in full sun. (Lotus need 8 - 12 hours of sunlight daily to grow and bloom.) In a week or two you should have coin leaves on the surface of the water, a week or so after that you should have aerial leaves growing out of the water. Once you have aerial leaves you may begin to fertilize your lotus.
Fertilizing Instructions
Fertilize your lotus only after you have aerial leaves. Once you have aerial leaves you may add a fertilizer tab to the soil of your lotus plant. Do this once each month during the growing / blooming season. Simply press the tabs into the soil near the roots of your lotus plant, taking care not to damage the roots
*We use, recommend and sell Waterlily World Fertilizer Tabs for all of our aquatic plants, including lotus.
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!
