#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Farming & Gardening In Thailand >  >  Growing Lotus From Seed

## buad hai

This might work and it might not. I've only got two seeds to try....


Of course, this is a dried lotus seed pod. This pod has only one viable seed; the big fat one in the center.


This is what the seeds look like after extraction.


The shell of the seed is extremely hard. The seed won't germinate unless the shell is cracked or scored or soaked in the water for a very, very long time. I use a pair of pliers and a file to score the seed. You need to go right through the shell into the white meat that is inside.


Then you pop the scored seeds into a glass of water and wait. (Where'd that glass come from?) The fact that one seed is floating is a bad sign. That one probably won't germinate, so we've only got one shot.

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## corvettelover

had to google what a lotus was have seen befor but never new what they were called nice link below about them
Growing Lotus from Seed

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## buad hai

^Nice link. We'll see how I do this time. I've tried this before, but the plants have never reached maturity. I'm stupid enough to keep on trying.

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## corvettelover

if you want to win at something try till you excell then perfect it till you are happy

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## corvettelover

BT
where are you actually at ? did a google search gave me links to teak door

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## blackgang

Strollie can tell you how to grow wacky tobaccy from seed. :rofl:

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## skyshadow82

someone forgot about gancha seeds, very good source of medications

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## friscofrankie

> The fact that one seed is floating is a bad sign. That one probably won't germinate, so we've only got one shot.


Always used this method to test for viability until a friend of mine paid too much for some seeds of another variety, and they all floated.  Had to plant 'em.  They germinated.  Grew up to be quite healthy, til we killed 'em and burnt 'em.
Don't count that floater out, man.

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## buad hai

^Don't know about other seeds, but with lotus if they float they generally will not germinate. That said, the "floater" in the photo above is now on the bottom of the glass. No sign of germination from either, though.

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## bustak

I love the lotus flower, it's beautiful. 

It makes me think of Buddhism & the Buddha:
_
The Buddha is likened to the lotus. Like a lotus that rises                    out of a muddy pond, the Buddha rose above the defilements and                    sufferings of life.
_
source: Buddhist Studies: Devotional Practices and Objects._


_

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## buad hai



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## buad hai

Both seeds have sprouted. This is the easy part. Hard part is to get them to survive and transplant into a larger pot....

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## buad hai

The seeds just sprouted yesterday and this one is already well above the edge of the glass. I figure it grew about 10cm in 24 hours.



The water has sediment in it because I added a little soil (din bua) so the roots would have something to hang on to.

I moved the other seed into a larger plastic bua pot.

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## buad hai

I transferred the seedlings to this bigger bua pot. You can see that both seeds have long stems with leaves on the end (red arrows) all ready to open up. The initial small leaves will float on the surface of the water. Later leaves will go aerial.

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## buad hai

Both seeds now have floating leaves (lower left) and one has put out a second (upper left).

The large floating plant (upper right) is a Pistia, or water lettuce. It has long roots that do a great job of filtering the water. The smaller floating plants are duckweed. They multiply quickly (by division) and will quickly cover the surface of the water. They are also good filters.

Notice that someone has been nibbling on one of the lotus leaves.

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## slimboyfat

this is the most relaxing thread i have ever read

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## buad hai

^Wait 'til you read my "Growing Giant Redwoods From Seed" thread.

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## friscofrankie

^They actually grow from burl-like nodules.  You can buy 'em up along the coast  :Wink:

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## BUCKEYE

Do they produce a euphoric state of mind? How long does it last? How much do you want for them?

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## buad hai

You actually can grow a redwood tree from a burl, but naturally they grow from seeds which you can buy via mail order:

Redwood Trees at Redwood-R-US

From the wiki article on the Sequoia or Coast Redwood:




> The seed cones are ovoid, 15-32 mm long, with 15-25 spirally arranged scales; pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8-9 months after. Each cone scale bears 3-7 seeds, each seed 3-4 mm long and 0.5 mm broad, with two wings 1 mm wide. The seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity.

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## buad hai

^After writing the above I got to thinking about the redwood burls. When I was a kid we lived in California and used to vacation in the Big Sur area and also up in the redwood country north of San Francisco. We always used to buy a burl and sprout it. I don't remember ever having one develop roots, but they sure lasted a good long while:



Thanks for the reminder FF.

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## slimboyfat

how are the lotus thingys doing?

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## buad hai

> how are the lotus thingys doing?


Quite well. We've got five floating leaves now. 



I'll post a photo again when, and if, we get some aerial leaves.

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## buad hai

The first aerial leaf:

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## Lily

^Well done. You really do have a green thumb BH.

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## buad hai

^Thanks. More photos coming when it gets a little bigger.

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## BUCKEYE

This is very relaxing. I can't wait for the redwood.

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## buad hai

> This is very relaxing.


Sometimes gardening is simply a great excuse to do nothing but wait....

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## slimboyfat

i had to come here to cool down after reading that bkkmadness TV suspension thread. i will look at buadhai's aerial leaf until my blood pressure goes back down to normal levels.

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## stroller

> Do they produce a euphoric state of mind? How long does it last? How much do you want for them?


For the first 2 questions:


> Most of the reports and information I have read on Blue Lotus refers to making a tea or steeping the substance in wine. I decided to try the tea option. I put approximately 9 grams in a perculator and let it boil for about 15 minutes. I then removed the boiled plant material and set it aside. I drank the tea over the course of about a half an hour, surfing the internet in the meantime. After about 15-20 minutes, I began to feel a distinctive buzz. I could not really relate it to anything I have tried...maybe the closest thing would be opium. I began to feel very happy and relaxed. Sounds seemed distant and there was a slight ringing in my ears (not unpleasant). Problems seemed unimportant, and I even felt a bit horny. There was a strong 'hypnotic' effect as well. The effects seemed to increase for about 1/2 hour, then stabalize. At this point, I decided to eat the boiled plant material to sustain the buzz. I washed it down with a couple of beers. This did seem to help sustain my buzz. After about 2 hours, the effects began to taper off, but I still felt relaxed and serene the entire night.


Erowid Experience Vaults: Blue Lotus - Problems Seemed Unimportant - 17084

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## BUCKEYE

Blue Lotus Flowers.  +9 grams of dried flowers- wonder what a small garden would yield.
Happy and relaxed! Sounds medicinal in value.
Had a problem getting atavan from Dr. in Udon.

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## buad hai

We got a nice tall aerial leaf now. This means the plant is healthy and will probably survive. The challenge will be transplanting it to a larger pot. At this stage the roots are very delicate and even a bit of damage can kill the lotus.

The leave damage you can see was caused overnight by some tiny caterpillars that I found munching away on the bottom of the leaves.

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## slimboyfat

please dispose of the caterpillars quickly BH. this drama is ruining the relaxing properties of the thread.

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## BUCKEYE

I like the thin leafed, yellow speckled crotons in the photos. Where can I find some info on when is the proper time for pruning,transplanting,careing for and planting of the seeds of this species?

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## buad hai

^Easy to propagate by cutting. That's what's happening in the photos. Making cuttings for the new house. Any time of year is OK. But, they do better with hardwood cuttings so make sure you get some brown stem.

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## buad hai

Still going strong....

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## klongmaster

this is a great thread...wish I could do things like that...but I'm a great before and after man..

so just to recap

before     

   after

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## buad hai

That's about the size of it....

Once I'm sure the roots are good and strong I'll move to a larger plastic pot. Maybe by the time the plant is mature my house, garden and pond will be ready....

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## Narachon

Great thread!
When I was a teen, I once tried to grow lotus plants in my grandmothers fishpond, but they didn't survive the New York City winter ..... I thought they could go dormant, like water lilies.... ( I had read somewhere in National Geographic Magazine that Lotus plants grew up in the Himalayas )
Maybe I _should_ have brought them inside when the weather got cold .... :rofl:

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## buad hai

I believe lotus can survive a harsh winter as long as the tubers themselves don't freeze. So, I guess you'd need a large body of water that stayed liquid at the bottom. I believe that some varieties are hardier than others.

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## buad hai

I moved the bua seedling to the pond at the new house yesterday.


Looks right at home....

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## buad hai

The lotus is still doing well. The leaves are quite large now and it seems to produce several new ones daily. These large leaves float rather than stick up in the air. Time to repot soon:

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## buad hai

This lotus has really taken off now. Yesterday I noticed that it had sent out a runner which was setting roots into the sediment at the bottom of the pond. Lotus can really take over a pond, so I've got two chores:

- Remove the runner and either discard or put in another pot

- Repot the original lotus in something larger

Here's the runner still in the water:


Here it is out of the water:


I'm gonna put it in this big ceramic jar:


The jar has a layer of lotus soil in the bottom. You don't really need to put the roots into the soil as they'll find it. This cutting is the sort of thing you get if you order lotus plants by mail.

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## buad hai

We finally got around to buying some more lotus soil so we could put the now-large seedling into a bigger pot.


You can see how vigorous and how bound up the root growth is.


It will be much happier in this nice big pot with plenty of soil.

I decided not to keep any lotus in the pond as they spread too rapidly. Confined in these big clay pots they seem to do fine.

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## Loombucket

Most interesting thread BH, It never occoured to me to try and grow lotus before. Worth a special pond of it's own, as a nursery, and then into a nice clay pot. Well done.

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## buad hai

Finally a flower. 

It's been nine months now since I started this project. Early this week Ms. B noticed that a tiny lotus flower bud had emerged from the water. A few days later it has grown in size and looks as if it's about to open:



As I recall, the seed from which this lotus sprouted was taken from a white flower. But, this bud is clearly going to open into a purple flower....

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## El Gibbon

BH
How about an update (a visual trip) around your garden?  Its been awhile since we were all engrossed in your endeavors. I'm sure most would love to see the results as they are now.

E. G.

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## buad hai

^I'll take some photos and post them on the Buadhai's New Garden thread.

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## buad hai

The flower opened this morning:





Smells so sweet.

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## klongmaster

Excellent BH: and I thought you were taking the piss when you first started this thread...

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## buad hai

> I thought you were taking the piss


Me?!?

Thanks.

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## buad hai

Still going strong....

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## klongmaster

That's at least a month and a half BH: how long do they flower for?...

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## buad hai

^Ah, I mis-wrote. That's not the same blossom. I was just noting that the plant itself is still thriving. The blossoms last two or three days. But, we have a nearly continuous supply from the two plants started by seed.

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## Lady Hawk

wow have Just read this thread, fantastic B/h really enjoyed that well done you for your patience  :goldcup:

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## klongmaster

> ^Ah, I mis-wrote. That's not the same blossom. I was just noting that the plant itself is still thriving. The blossoms last two or three days. But, we have a nearly continuous supply from the two plants started by seed.


Oh...shows how little I know about gardening :bunny3:

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## buad hai

Buad Hai makes the Bangkok Post....




> See how 'Buadhai' grew lotus from seed on the forum at Thai Green Fingers. Membership is free. For more information email normita -at- thaigreenfingers.com.

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## Marmite the Dog

> normita


That name is familiar. Do I know her BH?

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## Marmite the Dog

"Normita Thongtham"

Sorry, different one.

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## buad hai

> "Normita Thongtham"


She's Filipina married to a Thai. Does the Saturday _Green Fingers_ column in the _Post_ and runs the Green Fingers web site and forum. Seems to be a nice lady.

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