Lotus plants bloom into the most beautiful flowers with vibrant colors. The nation of India was so captivated by them that they made them their national flower.
You may run into a few issues while trying to grow these stunning flowers.
Want to know why your lotus flowers have stopped blooming? There are several reasons this can happen, and various ways to get your flowers blooming again.
Keep reading to find out more!
Why Did My Lotus Stop Blooming?
Don’t feel bad if you have followed the proper instructions on getting your lotus flower to grow, and they have stopped blooming!
Lotus plants are notoriously difficult for new gardeners to get right. They have specific conditions that you need to fulfill for blooming to be consistent and efficient.
Multiple factors can influence the growth of your plant, including:
- Sunlight
- Water level
- Nutrient levels
- Wind
- Type of fertilizer
All of these factors may have an impact on whether your lotus flower is blooming correctly.
Read Why my Lotus Seeds are not Germinating?
Reasons Why Your Lotus Has Stopped Blooming
Here are a few common reasons your lotus won’t bloom or has stopped blooming.
A Lotus Needs Direct Sunlight to Bloom
A lotus needs at least 5-6 hours of direct, uninterrupted sunlight every day to grow and bloom.
One common problem new gardeners have with lotus plants is that they position them inadequately lit environments.
If your lotus plant is getting some degree of shade throughout the day, or it is only getting late afternoon sunlight then it might need to be moved to receive better sunlight.
Late afternoon sunlight is not strong enough to give your lotus flower enough energy to bloom.
If you’re growing a lotus plant indoors, you will run into a host of additional problems.
Lotus plants need a full-spectrum light system to grow, and it’s more challenging to achieve this in an indoor environment.
Read Why Are My Lotus Leaves Turning Black?
Improper Container
Lotus plants don’t thrive in containers that are too confining but need large amounts of extra space. You may not be accounting for the space a lotus needs to bloom appropriately.
A lotus plant produces many leaves before it starts to create buds for its flowers.
If your lotus container doesn’t give the plant enough room to create its sugar-producing leaves, you won’t see many buds for flowers to be produced from.
The amount of space that a lotus plant uses will be the difference between seeing two flowers versus thirty flowers every year during blooming time.
Always opt for wider containers for your lotus plants. Deeper containers are not as helpful since lotus plants need to maintain a certain submersion in water to bloom effectively.
Make sure you look up the recommended dimensions of your particular variety of lotus plant containers.
Each lotus plant has a minimum recommended width and a maximum height in which it can thrive.
Improper Use of Fertilizer
Your lotus flower will require fertilizer, such as pond tablets or other aquatic fertilizers, to ensure that it can flower adequately during the blooming season.
To ensure proper nutrition, you should fertilize your lotus plant consistently every three weeks. Without enough nutrients in its environment, a lotus flower could refuse to bloom, even if it has already started developing bulbs.
Along with proper fertilizer timing, new growers often get wrong using improper types of fertilizer.
Some aquatic fertilizers have a high nitrogen content, which may be suitable for some plants but is not good for lotus plants.
Fertilizers are classified by the ratio of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium content that they possess.
Many aquatic fertilizers have a higher nitrogen ratio than phosphate or potassium, but lotus plants need the opposite.
Lotus plants need a low nitrogen ratio and a high phosphate and potassium ratio.
This ratio is necessary because, unlike many aquatic plants, lotus plants need phosphate and potassium to flower to bloom brightly.
As a general rule, flowering plants need less nitrogen in their diet than phosphate and potassium.
Read What Kind of Soil Is Best for a Lotus?
Water Depth
Lotus plants are shallow-water plants. You want to plant your lotus flowers in shallow water when you are just starting.
After they have been given time to mature, you can move them into slightly deeper water if your goal is to have them in a pond or other similarly deep water areas.
Each type of lotus plant will have a different optimal water depth.
If you have a bowl lotus, you will want to plant them 1-3 inches below the water’s surface.
Bowl lotus plants are the shortest variety of lotus, so they must be close to the surface.
A dwarf lotus is the next tallest lotus plant, and they are best planted 2-5 inches below the water’s surface.
A medium lotus is any lotus plant that grows between 36 and 48 inches tall. Medium lotus plants need to be planted between 2 and 7 inches below the surface.
A mature medium lotus can handle between 5 and 10 inches of water if necessary.
Lastly, a giant lotus needs to be planted 3-8 inches below the water’s surface, and a large mature lotus can handle 8-15 inches of water.
Water depth is significant because the plant’s roots can float up in the water and away from valuable nutrients if you don’t place them in adequate shallow water.
Read How to Germinate Blue Lotus Seeds
Winds and Fans
Lotus plants don’t thrive around wind or fans. If your lotus plant starts to get exposed to high amounts of air, it can get blemishes on the flower and begin to turn dark pretty quickly.
These marks will ruin the beautiful color of your lotus flower, but it can also start to kill your lotus flower prematurely.
If you want your lotus plant to have longevity, you will want to avoid a lot of excess air around your plants.
Lotus flowers will start green on the outside, and you can peel layers to see the color changes that they will undergo even before they start to bloom.
If you notice that there is no start to the colors when you peel your lotus, you might need to change the wind or fans in your environment around your lotus.
Frequently Asked Questions
Before you go, we’ve put together a few commonly asked questions about lotus blooming.
Can a lotus bloom more than once?
Lotus plants are unique compared to many other plants. They can bloom continuously every morning by being submerged every night into water.
Plants often have a particular blooming cycle where they bloom for a certain amount of time before stopping. Most plants don’t continuously bloom and rebloom as lotus plants do.
How often do lotus flowers bloom?
Lotus flowers bloom every day during the daytime. They open their bulbs early in the morning and then start closing them by the middle of the afternoon.
By night time their bulbs are entirely closed and ready to submerge underwater for the process to begin again.
This unique blooming behavior occurs continuously throughout their lifespan, which is only around 3 to 5 days.
How do you keep a lotus flower alive?
To keep your lotus flowers alive, you will want to make sure your plants are kept at an optimal temperature that is not too cold.
You will also want to avoid getting water on the open petals, so they don’t get blemishes. Cut excuse stem length to ensure the lotus is submerged at least ⅔ of the way into the water.
Can a lotus grow indoors?
Lotus flowers can be successfully grown indoors, but you must make adjustments to ensure your lotus can thrive properly.
You must use a large container to house the lotus roots while also providing a water depth that is not too deep or too shallow.
Lotus plants are shallow water plants, so care will need to be taken so that your lotus flower stays at optimal depth for blooming.
Lotus plants also need full-spectrum light to grow. If they are indoors, they need to be positioned where they are getting a lot of natural sunlight.
Can a lotus grow without soil?
Technically a lotus plant can grow without soil but it’s more challenging to do so. If you want to grow your lotus without soil, make sure it has enough water, adequate heat, sunlight, and nutrients.
We highly recommend using soil because it weighs down the roots of a lotus plant and keeps these plant parts from rising to the surface.
If you don’t use soil, you will need a stricter fertilizer regimen and a way to weigh your plant’s roots and tuber parts down.
You may also like:
- How Does a Lotus Plant Adapt Itself in Water
- How To Propagate Lotus Plants?
- How to Plant Lotus Bulb in North Florida
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re new to lotus planting or an expert looking to tweak your technique for maximum efficiency, these tips should help you accomplish your goals.
A lotus is a beautiful flower when it blooms, and getting that bloom is not as easy as it seems. If you plant your lotus correctly and give it love and nutrients, you will be rewarded with a gorgeous flower that will brighten any growing space or room.
I’m Elsa, and I love gardening. I started GardeningElsa.com as a resource for other gardeners, and I offer expert advice on gardening topics such as plants, flowers, herbs, and vegetable gardening. On my website, I share my latest tips and tricks for creating beautiful gardens. When I’m not working on my website, you can find me in my own garden, tending to my plants and flowers. Read more about me.