How to cut tiger lotus

[genes]

Hi all

When do you know its time to cut out a plantlet of the tiger lotus (will the plantlet grow out of the gravel?) and how do you go about doing it? Pull out the whole plant?

Regards
Gene

[Giant]

I would suggest you wait till the plantlet has 3-4 good sized leaves, before you try seperating it from the parent plant.
Maybe a bit longer if you want play it safe, allowing it to reply more on the parent plant for growth before seperation.

Plantlet will grow along side parent plant, so you will see sort of a mini-me just beside it. My experience is that it won't grow out of the gravel.

To cut, locate the stem that links the parent plant to the plantlet.
This can be found just beneath the gravel surface.
Just carefully dig or scoop into the gravel with your pinchers or scissors to find it & then cut.

Now you can remove the plantlet safety without having to pull out the whole plant.

So far have transplanted 2 plantlets into my dad's tank & a friend's tank. Both doing well.
At the moment, have 2 more plantlets from that same parent plant.
Will be letting one of them grow without seperating & take out the other next week for the office tank.

[d2hpeter]

how could one spot a plantlet.
My parent plant is growing quite fast now, almost a new leaf everyday emerging from the center. At this growth rate, how long would it take for a plantlet to come out?

[mordrake]

mine took about 3 months (slow?)
anyway, the plantlets were growing just above the gravel with the roots exposed.
i didn't do anything and after awhile, the roots managed to "hit ground" and pull the whole plantlet into the gravel. so now i have 2 plantlets growing side by side the parent plant.

[Heuer]

I have a very interesting encounter with this plant. I have it with me for about 6 months but due to some imbalance of the parameters, most of the leafs got holes. Therefore, I cut away those affected leaving just only one leaf think it will still survive but it melted away. I think am going to loose it for good but to my surprise, it started to grow back to live 3 months after it melted. And this time, the leafs have more intense red then before and bigger leafs. Weeks later, plantlets started to grow around it but I just leave them as they are.

So, if anyone have such encounter, don't dig out the bulb or seed or whatever you call it. it will still grow back.

Just to share.

[vinz]

Red or Green tiger lotus?

My experience with the green one is that they seldoms have plantlets. They also tend to concentrate on growing few large leaves rather then many smaller leaves (compared to the red tiger lotuses next to them). If trim away and leave only 1 or 2 leaves... they will usually die.

[d2hpeter]

I have a very interesting encounter with this plant. I have it with me for about 6 months but due to some imbalance of the parameters, most of the leafs got holes. Therefore, I cut away those affected leaving just only one leaf think it will still survive but it melted away. I think am going to loose it for good but to my surprise, it started to grow back to live 3 months after it melted. And this time, the leafs have more intense red then before and bigger leafs. Weeks later, plantlets started to grow around it but I just leave them as they are.

So, if anyone have such encounter, don't dig out the bulb or seed or whatever you call it. it will still grow back.

Just to share.

similar encounter here. The one that i put in my office tank[small one]. When i just bought it, there were only 3 or 4 small leaves. Had difficulty holding down the roots during planting and damage a few fragile leaves. Repositioned and another 2 dropped so, fed up [$8 gone just like that], leave the bulb there. A wk or so later, suddenly saw something emerging. It was a new leaf. Now there are 7 or 8 of them, though did not grow as big as the one in my home tank but ok.

[Heuer]

Red or Green tiger lotus?

My experience with the green one is that they seldoms have plantlets. They also tend to concentrate on growing few large leaves rather then many smaller leaves (compared to the red tiger lotuses next to them). If trim away and leave only 1 or 2 leaves... they will usually die.

Mine is red.

[Heuer]

similar encounter here. The one that i put in my office tank[small one]. When i just bought it, there were only 3 or 4 small leaves. Had difficulty holding down the roots during planting and damage a few fragile leaves. Repositioned and another 2 dropped so, fed up [$8 gone just like that], leave the bulb there. A wk or so later, suddenly saw something emerging. It was a new leaf. Now there are 7 or 8 of them, though did not grow as big as the one in my home tank but ok.

try insert one root monster beside the root and see what will happen.

[blueray]

mine took about 3 months (slow?)
anyway, the plantlets were growing just above the gravel with the roots exposed.
i didn't do anything and after awhile, the roots managed to "hit ground" and pull the whole plantlet into the gravel. so now i have 2 plantlets growing side by side the parent plant.

3 months?? guess that why it more costly

[Giant]

Mine is red also.

Bought from one of the members here, was already quite big & a bargain at $5!
Plantlets spotted after a month.

But in the beginning, I experienced the "holey" as well as melting leaves too.

[genes]

Mine is red too and given to me by one of the forumer. Thanks again Milk!!! Almost everyday or 2, a new leaf emerges. From the 4 leaf plantlet which i started till 8 leafs now and still going...No experience of leafs melting since i planted it.

Still unsure of the plantlet searching, cutting thingy. I suppose i'll just leave the plant as it is an see what happens then, hopefully the plantlet can be seen more obviously then the parent plant.

[Giant]

Hey genes,

Hope this helps.
Its actually quite easy to spot the plantlets.

Parent plants are the ones with the thicker stems.
Plus plantlets have smaller leaves in the beginning.

There are 2 plantlets in this pic, 1 on parent plants left beside the cory & the other slightly bigger plantlet on its right (behind parent plant.)

[kayser78]

yup. look for small leaves with thin stems. they are plantlets that evolved from a new bulb formed from the parent plant.

what i do is to uproot the entire plant with care and cut out the new bulb and replant it. have now about 5 new plantlets. the rest of the huge parent plants has since been sold.

[genes]

Thank you all guys and especially Giant for posting the pic. Its very obvious from your pic the plantlet to the mother plant. Will try to spot mine.

[d2hpeter]

just spotted 2 plantlets yesterday. seems to hv come out simultaneously. Only hv 2~3 small leaves.
Would like to seek advice on what is the correct timing [ie how many leaves or other indication] to cut.

[Giant]

If they have just started to develop, I would suggest you wait a bit.
Cos they are currently relying on the parent plant for growth.
Once you severe the stem connection, the plantlets would have to reply on their own to grow & develop.
So I would wait for a few more leaves to develop (maybe 5-6?). And the leaves should be not too tiny.

Hope that helps

[vinz]

I usually wait till there are about 4 or 5 leaves and most of them are about 2 inches in diameter before seperating them. Following that, it must be planted where it can get good light.