# Nymphaea lotus



## greenfish4 (Nov 7, 2005)

can a Nymphaea lotus bulb be grown again if all of the leaves fall off? I had a beautiful one but the leaves began to develop a deficiency of some sort and it also began to grow a strange algae. I would love to clean it dip it and try again. If anyone has any idea's they'd be apreaciated i hate to lose this beautiful plant because they are hard to get were I live.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Does the bulb look rotted in any way or still look solid? I wouldn't know for sure, but if it was me I would leave it in the tank and see if it would grow again -- like a barclaya longifolia for example -- when conditions are better. Are the conditions in your tank improved now from when it 'melted'?


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## CrownMan (Sep 12, 2005)

When my Lotus started to develop roots that went around the bulb and into the gravel, I pulled the plant, seperated it from the bulb and replanted the plant. I moved the bulb to another tank and it is developing a new plant. Both plants are doing great. If it doesn't grow any new leaves within a couple of weeks though, it might never do so.

Mike


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## williamst (Nov 24, 2005)

For these bulb plants, as long as the bulb has not rotted, it should be able to sprout new leaves. If it has already started to rot, you could still salvage the bulb by cutting away the rotted side, until your knife reaches the fresh part. 

However, if the whole bulb feels spongy and smells bad, most probably it can't be saved.


William S.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

if the bulb is rotted or rather soft its dead, but if its hard like the other posters mentioned you can regrow it.

actually i have found that if the bulb goes into a dormant state you can trick it into growing again by removing it from the water and drying it out for a week or so. then place it back into the water and it should sprout again. if you leave it in the water until it sprouts again you could be waiting for an extremely long time as i had one bulb that didnt sprout again for over half a year in the water!!

this dry period does 2 things. 
1: it keeps the bulb from rotting in the water while it waits for conditions to change, and 
2: it stimulates its growth due to the wet-dry-wet change the change stimulates the bulb to sprout new roots and leaves as it thinks the environment has drastically changed and is willing to try growing again.

dont worry about hurting the bulb since if you remember back to when you got it, it was probably a dried out bulb in a packet from walmart. as long as there are no growing portions like roots or leaves on the bulb it will do no harm.


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