Can you teach an old plant new tricks; or, is it too late to train this red tiger lotus?

[Rube_Goldfish]

I have a red tiger lotus that I thought would grow big, bushy, and most importantly, low, as a red colored focal point slightly off center in the foreground of a 55 gallon low tech community tank.

While it hasn't really gone as red as I'd like, that's okay; my real concern is that it's so tall. I didn't know when I planted it that you can train lotuses to stay low. Now that the lotus has spent the last eight months or so growing tall leaves and sending up lilypads (which I've been slowly pruning), is it too late to train it to stay low and bushy?

[Sarina]

In my experience tiger lotus can come in a wide variety of colors, and some just don't have the red color that we are used to seeing. Some will show more red under higher lighting, and some will be pure green with red speckles. I have one outside in a pond that is basically solid green aside from one or two speckled leaves that it throws every once in a while. It's just the way that plant is, it's under full sun for 3 hours a day and it's still not red. 

You can sometimes encourage red growth with high light and CO2, and low nitrates, but this isn't a guarantee. If the genetics of the plant don't contain the proper variegation, you aren't likely to get the bright red leaves, but they will probably show some nice bronze/orange tones. You can certainly train your plant to stay low, but again, that usually requires higher lighting to maintain long-term. 

I've been keeping tiger lotus plants for a long time, and honestly all of the plants I have ever kept are a little different, and they can change over time, as well. They are super interesting plants, even if they don't turn as red as you might like. 

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 8/2/2023 at 5:09 AM, Pepere said:

I can’t imagine you wouldnt be able to train it to grow shorter…

it may take a bit, but I would bet it is still doable…. Plants tend to optimize for available conditions.  When conditions change, the plants respond to it…

 

 

Yeah, that's a good point! I guess I'll have to take a slow and steady approach, just to be safe? I know some plants can tolerate being hacked back almost to the ground and others are more fragile. This lotus has always been a fast grower so it's probably fine, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to play it safe.

On 8/1/2023 at 5:50 PM, Sarina said:

In my experience tiger lotus can come in a wide variety of colors, and some just don't have the red color that we are used to seeing. Some will show more red under higher lighting, and some will be pure green with red speckles. I have one outside in a pond that is basically solid green aside from one or two speckled leaves that it throws every once in a while. It's just the way that plant is, it's under full sun for 3 hours a day and it's still not red. 

You can sometimes encourage red growth with high light and CO2, and low nitrates, but this isn't a guarantee. If the genetics of the plant don't contain the proper variegation, you aren't likely to get the bright red leaves, but they will probably show some nice bronze/orange tones. You can certainly train your plant to stay low, but again, that usually requires higher lighting to maintain long-term. 

I've been keeping tiger lotus plants for a long time, and honestly all of the plants I have ever kept are a little different, and they can change over time, as well. They are super interesting plants, even if they don't turn as red as you might like. 

Thanks for this thoughtful advice! I was initially hoping for a "pop" of red, but the lotus ended up being a very nice green-with-red-variegation (if I'm using that word correctly) that I've really come to appreciate, at least on the submerged leaves. The lilypads* tend to be a sort of maroon-y purple. It's a very cool plant!

*Can I still call them "lilypads" if it's a lotus? Should they be lotuspads...?

[RedPots]

I’ve pulled up to this Tiger Lotus training thread with my own maintenance questions. Mine is in a 14 gallon cube and what a Beast. 3 months in the tank and it’s a total boss. Now that it’s playing the lotus pad game my concern is the low lying plants - Monte Carlo and Red Flame sword in particular. 🪴 💬who turned the lights out ?

a little strategic pruning is surely in the cards. slow and steady removal is the advice ? 

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 8/3/2023 at 12:51 PM, RedPots said:

I’ve pulled up to this Tiger Lotus training thread with my own maintenance questions. Mine is in a 14 gallon cube and what a Beast. 3 months in the tank and it’s a total boss. Now that it’s playing the lotus pad game my concern is the low lying plants - Monte Carlo and Red Flame sword in particular. 🪴 💬who turned the lights out ?

a little strategic pruning is surely in the cards. slow and steady removal is the advice ? 

I'm obviously no expert, but yeah, basically slow and steady seems to be working for me. For a while there, I'd prune all but one pad, and prune any beat-up looking leaves, but now I'm trying to slow-and-steady retrain it to be low and bushy, as referenced above, so I snipped all the pads and the tallest leaves to remove about a third of the height. My plan is to remove leaves over time to try to retrain it to stay low. We'll see how that works, I guess.

By the way, the best method I've found for pruning the lotus (and my Aponogeton crispus) has been to trace the leaf I want to remove with my hand as low to the base as I can, then pinch it, cutting it with my thumbnail. Scissors were just too unwieldy for me and I was never sure I was snipping the "right" leaf.

[CJhilljack]

On 8/3/2023 at 9:51 AM, RedPots said:

Now that it’s playing the lotus pad game my concern is the low lying plants

I have a 14g cube tank with one of these in it. They definitely block the light over time, but I love everything about these plants, so what I've been doing is keeping them trimmed to about 5 lily pads, depending on size. I don't run co2, so my low lying plants are minimal  and not spreading much - they probably still aren't getting enough light, but they are holding their own. I'm ok with that and I think, overall, it's working out for me. Maybe you can find the right balance for your tank of lily pads, to help your low lying plants, while still enjoying the full effect of the dwarf lily.

 

[Cinnebuns]

Disclaimer:  I didn't read all the comments

Tiger lotus comes on different colors so that's why it's not as red. 

Yes, to my knowledge you can still train it to grow short. I'm no expert but I would start by cutting 50% of the tallest leaves. I've been told never trim more than 50% so dont do all of the long leaves.  Over time it will get shorter and shorter. 

[River]

Have you ever had a dwarf aquarium lily? I have two and they’re both a beautiful silky pinky-brown.  The first year or so they sent up long, huge leaves, and with time they have chilled out and are more bushy. I also have some ludwigia (I don’t know the species) that have always stayed shockingly red. Highly recommend.