Found this while pruning

[Xzap]

I had planted this Red Tiger Lotus as a bulb 3-4 weeks ago, but thought it never sprouted. Was pruning last night and found it hidden under the hygro!

Thx,

Dave

 

[travis simonson]

Nice!

 

[rich311k]

Pretty plant. Nice surprise.

 

[An t-iasg]

Very nice!

I found a pygmy chain sword under my hygro once. I moved it to another tank where I could see it!

 

[Xzap]

Now that it's getting some light ..

 

[humpty]

What is your substrate?

humpty

 

[Xzap]

Eco Complete.

Dave

 

[rich311k]

Nice the little thing is taking off.

 

[Zezmo]

You should un-bury the bulb, they tend to rot when buried. Those plants develop a huge root system, so be ready for it. Finally, trim any leave that break the surface. If you leave them the pland will convert to growing surface only leafs (which are thick and rubbery). Underwater leafs that hit the surface will soon wither/rot, so trim them too.
In my high light environment, I had a red lotus lily that put a leaf from sprout to surface every day. I finally pulled it and sold it at auction because it was too much work to keep it under control.

 

[ringfinger]

Zezmo is right. You better move it where you want it now before it gets it's roots established and becomes difficult to dig up. At 2.25 WPG mine was also putting a new leaf to the surface daily which was a pain to keep up on pruning, but now it is in a more shallow tank at 1.5 WPG and has converted to more of a broad leaf groud cover. My Cory Cats love to hide under it!

 

[gfink]

You should un-bury the bulb, they tend to rot when buried. Those plants develop a huge root system, so be ready for it. Finally, trim any leave that break the surface. If you leave them the pland will convert to growing surface only leafs (which are thick and rubbery). Underwater leafs that hit the surface will soon wither/rot, so trim them too.
In my high light environment, I had a red lotus lily that put a leaf from sprout to surface every day. I finally pulled it and sold it at auction because it was too much work to keep it under control.

Let me just be sure I understand this. I got two bulbs in the mail. One sprouted, and one not. I should put put above the substrate? Just sit it in there?

 

[ringfinger]

Ya gfink. Sometimes they float for a couple days, but will soon sink. The roots go down, and the leaves go up. It anchors itself just fine without being covered with gravel.

 

[Xzap]

Where would ya cut the stems.. at the substrate ? How tall do you let yours get before pruning it ? Discard the leaves after pruning? My tank is 24" tall.

I was gonna let one stem go to the top and flower.

Thx,

dave

 

[ringfinger]

I must admit that I don't know the first thing about pruning, but I just cut them off at the substrate shortly after they reach the surface of the water, and then just discard the leaves. I did wait around for a while to see if I could get one to flower, but lost interest after about 6 or 7 large leaves were blocking a lot of the light at the surface. I guess you could leave one to flower..?

 

[Xzap]

They are some beautiful leaves to have to throw away !

Dave

 

[ringfinger]

I finally got around to taking a picture of the lily in my 10g. I haven't trimmed it at all since I put it in the 10g about 3 weeks ago. Actually I have 3 of them in there. As you can see, there have been no leaves put all the way up to the surface. At lower light it stays low, and makes a nice hiding place for bottom dwelling fish.

 

[tiptoptank]

Those plants suck. There way to time consuming. KILL IT I SAY!

Or let it live and trim it every single day of your life. Even christmas! 8)