Update: Lotus and Pitcher Plants

White Pitcher Plant

That grass like thing that I showed a few months prior is still here with no change. However I have noticed something with the other 2 white pitcher plants. I see a little green stem coming out in both compartments, one of them also has a seed attached. I tried to take a picture of them but they are too small. Hopefully in a few weeks they'll be big enough.

As a side note I will be spraying the pitcher plants and Venus fly traps with my homemade fungicide.

Lotus
One lotus plant already has one leaf that has opened completely. The other plant, the leaf is almost completely open. Both plants appear to have second leaves coming in.

Lotus Leaf

Lotus Seeds Planted

I put some garden soil in 2 buckets and filled it with rain water that I collected. I waited a few days but the water has not settled yet but I went ahead and dropped the seeds in. We'll see in a few days how the seeds are doing.

The soil I used is store bought garden soil. Online I saw some people just dug some soil out of their backyard. Unfortunately, my backyard is full of grass. If these seeds fail, on my next attempt, that is what I'll be doing.

Growing Water Lily Seeds

I went online and bought some Hardy Water Lily seeds.
The colors are

• Pink
• Hot Pink
• Sensation Pink
• Blue
• Yellow
• White

I'm trying to grow them in a rather unconventional method.
I'm using one of my 12 compartment seed trays. I filled each compartment halfway with gardening soil. Then I slowly flooded the compartment with rainwater. I let the soil settle overnight.
I grew 2 seeds of each color, one seed in each compartment. According to the person who I bought the seeds from, it should take 3 to 4 weeks for the seeds to sprout. Since this method is not your typical method it may or may not work but if it does, it is easier for me. We'll see how things go 3 to 4 weeks from now.

Update: Lotus seeds

There's not much to update except for that now my other lotus seed is lumpy too. So I should be seeing a green shoot within a few days.

Growing Lotus Seeds

I went online and bought 5 lotus seeds. I'm currently growing 2 of them.

Lotus seeds needs to be scarified in order to germinate. Online I found 2 methods. One is to use a knife and cut a slit until you see the white parts. Another is to file the outer coating until the white part shows. I tried the filing method, I gave up after an hour. Cutting a slit is tough but much easier than filing down. (In nature lotus seeds spend 50 to 100 years at the bottom of a pond before they germinate. You can see how tough that coat is)

To get the seeds to germinate you're suppose to soak the seeds in distilled or rain water. I put the seeds in a jar and covered them with rain water that I collected. Place the seeds in a warm location and change the water every few hours when it gets cloudy.

My Seeds

My Seeds Scarified

It's only been a few hours since I started the seeds but I have noticed something. From what I read online the outside coating gets lumpy due to water absorption. That happens after a few days. The one that I filed down is already lumpy. We'll see if that speeds it up in a few days.