What are the techniques for raising lotus in a water jar
Core introduction of the text: This article discusses the techniques for raising lotus in a water jar and the related experience of planting lotus in a jar, including detailed explanations as follows:
In the past, Black Sister wanted to plant lotus in the courtyard because there were several unused "grain jars" at home. These jars are not the large water jars commonly seen. They are relatively short and stubby with a wide belly, which were very common in rural areas in the past.
Our family had several of them, and they were discarded when building the house. When I saw them the previous year, I thought of planting lotus in them. It would not only decorate the courtyard but also lift my mood every day, which seemed like a win-win situation.
I acted on it immediately, drove our family's tricycle to the field to dig a cartload of soil, filled the jars with soil, and then bought several sections of lotus roots from the local market. I buried these roots in the soil and poured tap water from home into them.
I was confident at the time and even made a video about it. If anyone has seen my previous videos, they would find an episode about planting lotus. However, after planting, I never saw any sprouts, and the water in the jar dried up without any sign of growth. I dug it up and found that the lotus roots had rotted.
I didn't understand what was going on at the time. Later, after asking someone who grows flowers, I realized that I had made all the possible mistakes, which was why the lotus didn't sprout or grow.
After correcting my mistakes, I finally managed to grow the lotus. You can see the pictures; the growth is not bad, right? Once it starts growing, it's a rhizome. As long as we do a good job of frost prevention in winter, it will continue to grow the following year, which is very convenient.
So, what was my first mistake? What should we pay attention to if we want to plant lotus in a large water jar at home?
Black Sister summarized that there are basically five points, two of which are about planting, meaning two key points of planting to remember. Three are about growth, which are three problems to prevent. Let's talk about them separately, hoping to help friends who want to plant lotus in a water jar at home.
Ⅰ: Two Key Points to Remember
Before we plant lotus, we need to do the necessary preparations. However, we often make mistakes in these preparations, which directly lead to the failure of the lotus to sprout after planting.
This is what we call the two key points to remember, which are selecting soil and seeds.
Didn't Black Sister mention before that when I wanted to plant, I directly drove a tricycle to the field to dig a cartload of soil? The soil in our area is half-sandy soil, which is not suitable for growing lotus. We need soil with a muddy nature.
This type of soil or mud has some fertility, which is beneficial for the germination and growth of lotus. It's not just about digging up some soil randomly, planting the rhizomes, and then pouring water, which won't work.
Some might ask, where can I find such soil? Can I not plant without it?
In fact, there is plenty of this kind of soil. For example, we can dig some from fish ponds or even from ditches in the village. Every village has rivers or ditches, so this kind of mud is easy to find.
We put this river or pond mud into the jar and then plant.
But when planting, we need to choose seeds. To grow lotus, we need rhizomes.
I planted by myself at the time, thinking that any vegetable rhizomes would do as long as I planted them.
Vegetable rhizomes can also be planted, but special attention must be paid to selection because most of the vegetable rhizomes we buy have broken nodes or skins. Once they are broken, they will rot when planted and will not sprout and grow smoothly.
The best choice is to be particularly careful when selecting those with intact nodes and sprouts. If they have sprouted, they are the easiest to grow.
If we like large leaves, that is, lotus leaves, vegetable rhizomes are completely suitable for planting. But if we want them to grow leaves and flowers, vegetable rhizomes are not the best choice because they tend to grow leaves easily but not flowers.
Selecting soil and seeds are two issues we need to pay special attention to before planting. When the soil and seeds are chosen, it's time to plant and nurture them, which is also where most people make mistakes and what we will discuss next.
Ⅱ: Three Problems to Prevent
During the planting and growth period of lotus, we have three problems to prevent or pay attention to, which are water, light, and fertilizer.
This seems to be a cliché because the growth of any plant is inseparable from these three elements. However, lotus is a bit special because its growth is closely related to water, as it grows directly in water, so its requirements for water are higher than other plants.
Other plants just need watering, but lotus needs to be soaked in water, which is quite different.
How much water should we pour into the jar? For example, when Black Sister planted for the first time, she filled the jar with water right after the soil.
This is not correct. The soil should occupy at most one-third of the jar, and the water should just cover the soil by three to two centimeters. Too much water makes the temperature of the soil too low, which is not conducive to the germination of our rhizomes.
For example, when we put the rhizome芽 upward into the soil (anyone who has planted before knows this), the water should just cover the soil and not be too much, or it will make the temperature too low.
Also, when we plant at home, we usually use tap water, which is not suitable for lotus to germinate because it's too cold. Therefore, it's best to let the water sit in the sun to warm up a bit before pouring it into the jar. Wait until the rhizomes sprout and grow out before adding more water. Too much water in the early stage is harmful and has no benefits.
Next is sunlight.
Many people think that since lotus grows in water, it doesn't need much sunlight.
This is a misconception. Lotus actually requires a lot of sunlight. Although its roots are in water, its leaves need a lot of sunlight to grow well. We cannot place the jar in a shady place; it should be placed where there is plenty of sunlight, such as our courtyard, which gets sunlight from noon to afternoon, making it more conducive to the growth and flowering of lotus.
Some people worry that too much sunlight will raise the water temperature to a point that can kill the lotus. This concern is reasonable because in summer, the water temperature can indeed reach a level that the lotus cannot tolerate. Therefore, we need to add more water to ensure the leaves have sunlight and the water temperature remains in the lotus's growth range.
But it's not just adding water randomly. The water level should be about fifteen to eighteen centimeters above the soil.
As for fertilizer, lotus does not require too much. For example, when we planted, we used river mud, which was black. Don't worry about the smell; the stronger the smell, the better. In such muddy soil, we don't even need to fertilize because it already contains nutrients.
However, it's not that we don't need to fertilize at all during the life of the lotus. Because lotus is a rhizome, the nutrients in the river mud will eventually be used up. When we see the leaves turning yellow, it's a sign of nutrient deficiency. At this time, we can use some common fertilizers, such as fish meal fertilizer or urea commonly used in agriculture.
But since lotus grows in water, we cannot just sprinkle the fertilizer directly into the water, as this will burn the stems. Remember this point. The correct method is to mix it with the soil or make a mud ball with fertilizer and soil and bury it under the soil, allowing the fertilizer to slowly release its effect.
When using fertilizer, remember that less is more. Too much can easily cause the lotus to rot. We can apply fertilizer at intervals, but never in large amounts. Also, don't sprinkle it directly, as this will cause the stems to rot or even burn the lotus to death.
After working hard to grow it and seeing it sprout, it would be regrettable if it dies from burning, wouldn't it?
By paying attention to the two key points of planting and preventing the three problems of growth, we will have beautiful lotus in our courtyard.
Ⅲ: Actually, it's best to place the lotus jar next to a grape arbor, with one jar on each side and a lounge chair under the arbor. In summer, lying on the chair, with a dog at your feet, a cat on your lap, picking a bunch of grapes at will, listening to the sound of the breeze, watching the lotus sway — that kind of comfort, that kind of leisure, can only be understood by those who have lived in the countryside.
However, to achieve such comfort, we need to put in some effort in the early stages. Therefore, we must pay attention to everything from the beginning, such as the type of soil the lotus needs, the type of water, and how it grows. Once everything is in place, the lotus will naturally thrive.
When the lotus blooms, sit quietly and listen to the rain and birds. When the cat and dog are dozing by your knees, you forget about spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
Isn't this nice?
Isn't this happiness?
There is a butterfly resting on the lotus leaf, ready to take flight.
The above discussion on the techniques for raising lotus in a water jar and the detailed method of planting lotus in a jar with illustrations, I hope, can serve as a brick to attract jade and solve your problems with green plants.