Growing lotus from seed is a fairly easy gardening task and you should not hesitate to try this. It will more than pay for the effort in quickly increasing the number of plants you have for all backyard ponds.
Hard Seed Coat
Lotus seed is very hard and we generally like to carefully chip away a tiny portion of the hard seed coat so that water can penetrate. This can be done with a knife or small file – I prefer the file.
Ensure you only cut through the outer coat and not into the white section within the seed.
Note this is not strictly necessary (nobody does it in nature)
Soil
Fill flower pots with regular soilless mix to within a half-inch of the top of the pot and lay the seeds on top of the soil.
Cover the pots with a quarter-inch of clean aquarium gravel (or similar small gravel that you have thoroughly cleaned) to prevent the soil from washing away.
Aquarium
- Set the pots in an aquarium (rainwater is touted as giving the best results) and use the aquarium heater to ensure the water temperature is kept between 15-20C. (72F)
- The water level should be kept within an inch of the top of the pot (pot submerged an inch).
- Germination should be within 30 days.
- The plants will grow very quickly in this heated water.
Grow until they have several true leaves and then transplant outdoors.
It is much easier to grow one or two seeds in a pot rather than transplant or try to thin out seedlings.
Thinking of growing lotus from seed? You can buy lotus seed here