How to Grow a Lotus Plant Inside a Home
Lotus plants can provide much satisfaction when grown in an indoor water garden. Many cultures consider the plant to be sacred. In Hinduism the lotus often is used to represent chakras or energy centers in the body. Varieties include the famed blue lotus or Nelumbo nucifera of Egypt, Asia, Australia and the Philippines as well as the Nelumbo lutea species in North America. Some preparation is needed to start a lotus plant indoors.
Choose a pot at least 8 inches deep and 18 inches in diameter. Make sure your pot has no drain holes.
- Lotus plants can provide much satisfaction when grown in an indoor water garden.
Add pond plant potting mix with heavy loam to your pot. Put about 3 inches of soil in the pot.
Check your tuber to ensure it is firm and a grayish to whitish color. Place the tuber on the soil and cover it with 1 inch of soil.
Fill the remaining 3 to 4 inches of the pot with water.
Add a water garden fertilizer tablet to the water around your plant when leaves begin to appear. Repeat application every three weeks. Increase application to every two weeks in spring.
- Add pond plant potting mix with heavy loam to your pot.
- Fill the remaining 3 to 4 inches of the pot with water.
Remove leaves as they yellow and die to keep your plant healthy.
Re-pot your plant every two years by clearing out dead tubers that form and adding new soil around the viable tubers.
Grow A Lotus Plant Inside A Home
Considered stately and serene, a floating lotus (Nelumbo spp.) The flowering water plant can thrive indoors when grown properly in a container large enough to house its roots and provide the necessary water depth. Set a lotus plant's rhizomes in the container's clay soil, with the rhizomes' shoots facing upward. Rhizomes are similar to bulbs. Set the container in front of a sunny window where it will receive about eight hours of direct sunlight daily. Fertilizer dosages vary among brands. Lotus resumes growth in full sun when the temperature is above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove leaves as they yellow and die to keep your plant healthy.
- Set a lotus plant's rhizomes in the container's clay soil, with the rhizomes' shoots facing upward.
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Writer Bio
Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., Robin Coe has reported on a variety of subjects for more than 15 years. Coe has worked on environmental health and safety issues in communities across Ohio and Michigan. Coe holds a Bachelor of Science in journalism with a double-major in international politics from Bowling Green State University. She has also received training and experience as a nurse aide.
