Feeding Lotus and Water Lilies
How We Feed Our Plants Naturally
To grow lotus and water lilies with strong leaves and beautiful flowers, you must feed them well. Like any plant, lotus and water lilies need nutrients. But, because they grow in water you must feed lotus and water lilies differently than ordinary garden plants.
Here at Suan Sook Homestay in Northern Thailand, we grow our lotus and water lilies in pots, bowls and ponds. We’ve tried different ways of feeding them, and found that keeping things simple works best for us.
There isn’t one magic fertilizer that makes aquatic plants suddenly produce flowers. What matters is giving the plants conditions that best suit them and then providing nutrients to work with the water, soil and roots.
Feeding Lotus and Water Lilies Is Different
Lotus and water lilies don’t grow like plants in a garden bed. Their roots are down in wet clay soil while their leaves and flowers grow above the water.
This means you can’t simply sprinkle fertilizer around the plant and expect everything to work as it would in a vegetable garden. Plus we prefer not to use any chemical fertilizers anywhere in our garden.
The nutrients need to reach the roots without creating problems in the water.
This is particularly important if you’re growing lotus in a container or a small water garden. A small volume of water can be affected much more quickly than a large pond.
One of the things we’ve learned from growing lotus and water lilies is that feeding isn’t only about adding more compost. It’s about how you put those nutrients into the growing system.
Starting With Compost
When we prepare a new lotus pot, bowl or pond, we like to think about feeding the plant from the beginning.
Compost is an important part of our approach to organic gardening, and we use it as part of the preparation before planting.
The idea is quite simple. Instead of relying on liquid fertilizer later, we start by putting organic matter into the growing environment.
But there is a trick to doing this with aquatic plants.
You don’t want loose organic material floating around in the water. If you’ve ever tried growing plants in a container pond, you’ll know how fast the water can become cloudy or messy when the wrong materials are used.
This is one reason we prepare the compost before adding it to our lotus and water lily pots.
I’ll show you exactly what we do in the video, including one of the simple methods we’ve been using to put compost where the roots can make use of it.
Feeding Established Lotus Plants
Once your lotus or water lily is established, the job doesn’t necessarily stop.
Plants use nutrients as they produce new leaves, stems and flowers. During the growing season, an established plant will need more frequent feeding.
This is where the size of your pond or container makes a difference.
A large pond with plenty of water and established plants behaves differently from a small lotus pot sitting on a patio.
In a larger pond, there is more room for the system to balance itself. In a small container, you’re working with a much smaller amount of soil and water. This means you need to be more careful about what you add.
If you’re growing lotus or water lilies, this is something worth thinking about before reaching for the fertilizer.
A Simple Organic Approach to Feeding Lotus and Water Lilies
One of the things I like about gardening is that we don’t always need to buy something specially made for every problem.
We have compost made from organic material that would otherwise become waste. So it makes sense to see how some of these things can be returned to the garden.
We’re interested in organic gardening and permaculture-inspired gardening. This means we’re always looking at ways to build the soil and make use of resources we have available to us.
Maybe you don’t generate enough organic material to make enough of your own compost. Don’t worry, there is commercial aquatic plant fertilizers are available.
The important thing is understanding what you’re putting into the water and why. It’s also vital to know how to apply these nutrients so your plants will gain maximum benefit from them.
Fertilizer for Lotus and Water Lilies
There are fertilizers made specifically for aquatic plants, including lotus and water lilies. These are available as tablets or discs that can be pushed into the soil beneath the water.
For someone growing a few lotus plants in a container, this can be a convenient option.
But more fertilizer isn’t necessarily better.
Lotus and water lilies have their own nutritional requirements. Adding too much fertilizer can create problems rather than solve them. In a small container, excess fertilizer can also contribute to a build-up of salts.
This is one of those situations where patience can be better than trying to force the plants to grow.
If your lotus isn’t flowering as much as you’d hoped, it can be tempting to add more food. But there may be other factors worth looking at first.
Sunlight, water, soil, temperature, space and the general health of the plant all play a part. This may sound complicated, but it’s not really, but it is a bit different than typical gardening. After all, these plants are growing with their roots submerged in water.
Using Photosynthetic Bacteria (PSB)
Another part of our approach is photosynthetic bacteria, or PSB.
We use PSB in different parts of our garden, and we’ve also been experimenting with it around our lotus and water lilies.
The important thing to understand is that we don’t see PSB as a nutrient on its own.
Instead, we use it as part of a larger system. PSB helps with the breakdown of organic nutrients in the growing environment. PSB makes the nutrients from compost more available to the plants.
It’s another example of why we prefer to think about feeding the garden as a system rather than looking for one product that will do everything.
We’ve been experimenting with different ways of doing this, and I’ll show you what we’re doing with our lotus and water lilies in the video.
Don’t Overfeed Your Lotus
One of the easiest mistakes to make when growing lotus and water lilies is assuming that more nutrients will always mean more flowers.
It doesn’t quite work that way.
A plant needs enough nutrients to grow, but adding too much nutrient can cause its own problems. This is especially important with container-grown lotus and water lilies. Because you’re working within a relatively small, enclosed environment.
With chemical fertilizers, overfeeding can result in salt build-up. Too many nutrients can also create unwanted changes in the water.
If you want healthier water lilies and more lotus blooms, look at your growing environment first before adding more nutrients.
What We Are Still Learning About Feeding Lotus and Water Lilies
Although we’ve been growing lotus and water lilies for some time, we’re still experimenting.
That’s one of the things I enjoy about gardening. You read about what other people do, try it yourself, see what happens and then adjust.
We’ve been trying different organic materials and different ways of getting nutrients to the roots. Some things work better than others.
We’ve even been experimenting with stronger organic nutrients. Although I’m cautious about using anything that might be too strong for the delicate feeder roots of lotus.
That’s why I don’t want to present what we’re doing as the only way to grow lotus or water lilies. It’s simply what we’re doing here and what we’ve found useful in our own garden.
Watch the Video
If you’re growing lotus in pots, water lilies in containers or have a small pond, the way you feed the plants can make a real difference.
In the video, I take you into our garden and show you how we’re using compost and other organic materials to feed our lotus and water lilies. I’ll also show you some of the simple techniques we’ve developed for getting those nutrients into the growing medium. There’s a little more to it than simply putting loose compost into the water.
If you’re interested in how to feed lotus and water lilies, or to see how we’re doing it here in Northern Thailand, the video is the best place to see the process.
Growing lotus and water lilies doesn’t need to be complicated. For us, it’s about watching what the plants are telling us, making use of what we have available and gradually learning what works best.
And sometimes, the simplest methods are the ones worth trying first.
