Red Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea Zenkeri)

[dSerk]

I just planted my first mail-order plant. It came wrapped in moist paper inside sealed plastic wrapped in fiberglass insulation (yeah, the pink stuff) wrapped in paper. A couple of the stems had snapped, one had to be tossed. The leaves are tissue-paper-thin. The roots looked short but healthy. The nice vendor (I can send you a link to her ebay stuff) sent me some extras because there were delays.

The plant just looks frail. I popped in a fert tab by the roots of each. Not confident it will make it, but I've never had one so i dunno. Going to try to post some pics.

The waterflow is pretty calm on that hlaf of the tank. The leaves are in excellent position for maximum light. I've been dosing ferts DAILY for the last week. I'm using DIY CO2.

Are there any special measures I can take to help out this guy? (as you can see from the picture, ms. killifish is standing watch, but she may only be trying to decide whether it potentially is food.)

[krisw]

For a lotus, as long as the bulb/tuber thing at the base is still alive, it'll be fine. The leaves might melt away, but new ones should grow out in time. Just leave it where you planted it, and watch it grow. These things can become beasts in a tank unless you trim before the leaves reach the surface, so just keep on that as it grows, and you it should do well for you.

[dSerk]

This guy is really starting to take over. Still, I'm so happy with it. Gorgeous plant, always new growth to look at.

I've had to trim 4 BIG leaves so far. I thought I'd read you could float the trimmed leaves with about 6" of stem and eventually it'd sprout roots; you could replant and it would develop a new tuber. I've had a couple floaters for a week or two and no sign of new roots. I tried to find some guidance on this method of propagation but I came up short. I guess sometimes I just make up stuff, lol. Could I try sticking the stems into the substrate? I'd love to bring some of these to auction.

[Cristy Keister]

You can propogate Nymphoides sp (banana plant) that way, but as far as I know, not Nymphaeas.

[RTRJR]

Not the leaf stem, but the banana plants and certain day-blooming tropical day-blooming water lilies do produce adventitious plants from a potential bud atthe leaf-stem node or axil. Not from the stem, only at that joint. I can't remember which of the Nile "Lotuses" (They are not of course, but what do names matter? ) is the blue-flowering one - itwould the most likely. the white-flowering form is a night bloomer, and I can't remembbr any of those ever producing adventitious plantlets. They only occur on the floating leaves anyway, IME. For me that means outdoors in full sun and rich warm soil. Only the banana plant (also not a banana, but agin...) has ever produced plantlets in tanks for me, and that is with full leaf cover of the surface available by the plant (no, .repeat no, submerse plantings will survive except maybe Java moss).

[dSerk]

Thanks, guys. I probably was looking at nymphoides when I stumbled across the nymphaeas and got the facts scrambled.

A gardener friend said they use a "root growth hormone" on terrestrial plant cuttings to start new plants. I imagine thats not something Id want in my water though

[Cristy Keister]

Actually, I think ADA sells something like that, but who knows if it's the same stuff?

Green Gain:
"Stemmed plants require frequent trimming. Stress that plants receive at trimming sometimes restrains their growth. Green Gain contains active ingredients (trace elements, minerals, amino acid etc.). Among other various botanical hormones, Green Gain includes cytokinin which, extracted from natural materials, eases plant stress and increases the resistance of aquatic plants against diseases."

[RTRJR]

But water lily and banana plant stems are not really stems - they are petioles. The only potential or real growth points are at the two axils, at the tuber/rhixome/bulb, and at the petiole-blade junction. The latter is the point of origin of the adventitious plantletss that we see. The lower axil could potentially root if you took a tiny piece of the bulb's epidermis, but simply removing one of the growing points would be surer and way faster. Most water lilies have many of them.

By comparison, you can root a leaf of an Anubias (from A. nana at least) if you get a bit of rhizome epidermis with it. Be prepared to be very patient - months at the very least. Cuttings are much faster with rhizome sections and at least a leaf or two, but still slow. For me, the longer the rhizome section, the faster to a usable plant.

[Rick Dotson]

My tiger lotus sent out a runner which grew into a nice plant. I really want to see it bloom, but don't think I have enough light.

[dSerk]

My tiger lotus sent out a runner which grew into a nice plant. I really want to see it bloom, but don't think I have enough light.

Mine are about a foot away from 120W T5 lights. It's about 4wpg. I've cut several leaves that had reached the surface.... Does it need to put out surface leaves before it'll send up a flower? I've heard that some plants can be encouraged to flower with phosphorus.