Red River #136 – World Famous Lotus (Bare Root)

Nelumbo nucifera

This lotus will not let you down! ‘Red River’ (also called Serendipity Red) is an older hybrid of Master Ding at Yileen Water Gardens where it was identified as #136 many years ago. You will love, love, love this heavy blooming lotus! Big red balls of serendipitous joy, these flowers will brighten your garden all summer long. The color starts red and stays red. Sometimes the pistils are petaloid, surprising you with a green and red crown in the center of the flower. Look for lots of blooms!

Flower Color: Bright Red
Plant Height: Medium/Tall, 36″- 48″
Flower Type: Multi-petal, more than 50 petals
Pot Size: 14″ and wider, 9″-18″ deep

HOW TO FERTILIZE LOTUS

For conventional fertilizer (tablets or loose prills) which releases quickly when water is added:

Wait until the lotus plant has several floating leaves or begins to put up aerial leaves before adding fertilizer.
Choose a good fertilizer such as Waterlily World Tablets, Pondtabbs or Landon’s Aquatic Fertilizer and follow the instructions carefully. The amount of fertilizer to use is usually based on the size of the pot and the amount of soil in the pot. For example, most of the small tablets are added at a ratio of 1-2 tablets per gallon of soil in the pot. Once the lotus has started to grow vigorously tablets can be added every 2-3 weeks. Stop fertilizing in late summer to allow the lotus to use up all the fertilizer in the pot before going dormant. This encourages the lotus to form better rhizomes.

For SLOW-RELEASE FERTILIZER like Nutricote 14-4-14, 100 day fertilizer:

*follow amount directions on package. Place fertilizer around the bottom of the pot then add soil. Plant rhizome in the soil at the top of soil layer and let it grow down to find fertilizer. We use slow-release fertilizer but begin adding extra Pondtabbs after 3 months when growth gets vigorous and we continue adding extra fertilizer until late summer.
Do NOT use 360 day fertilizer because it will release fertilizer for too long and the lotus will not form as many rhizomes when it goes dormant.