You don't mention the climate you're in or which type of Lotus you're trying to grow. There are some water plants often called Lotus which aren't.

I'm trying to grow the large species of nelumbo nucifera (pink lotus), in a tropical climate.

Can't understand why there'd be a problem in a tropical climate. I start mine off just in a container of water. Once they've put up a few leaves and start to send out runners I put them into small containers/pots with a sandy organic soil which go into larger tubs. They're only anchored on top of the soil, not down in it. They then send roots and runners through the soil. When done in the wet season the leaves stay fairly small right through much of the dry season. Leaves don't last long but are replaced rapidly. Always lose some of the small plants but never all of them. Late into the dry season the leaves start getting larger although they still die off the same as earlier on. By end of dry season some aerial leaves start to develop and there's less leaf loss.

All mine are started from seed. This is a white cultivar.

A pink that's a native here.

My most recent still only has floating leaves but is supposed to be a naturally occurring double pink. It's still a bit off from flowering.

Wow those blooms are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. Hopefully one day I will have some photos to share as well.

Unfortunately my seedlings never make it past 6 months to aerials. I've done some research and I think the growing medium I'm using needs to be more nutritious. This time I'm going to try top soil with composted manure and see how it goes. It's difficult here to get heavy clay, which I see many persons recommending.

I saw that you use sandy organic soil...where do you get that from?

I have a swamp on my place which has sandy soil with a lot of organic matter in it.

Do you have fish in with them? Fish will eat the roots. Also, lotus do not like to be transplanted or moved. I only start them in container they will live in from then on.

If you need heavy clay, use cat litter. The cheap stuff, it is clay.

Thank you for the advice! I only put guppies in with my lotus so I don't think they do much damage.

Kitty litter is a great idea. My new seeds have just arrived so I will be trying this project once again.

Nandita R,

When I plant my lotus (from seed as well as from tuber) I use Black Kow compost with garden soil from HD or Lowes, and use recipe from this link: recipe from this link https://www.houzz.com/discussions/lotus-barrel-pix-and-other-bowl-lotus-pix-for-rodney-dsvw-vd~1548701

Not sure what zone you are in, but I am in zone 6.

Thank you so much! Your advice was incredibly helpful. I have two seeds which have now sprouted.

I am in the tropics (Caribbean). I would love to use Osmocote, but it seems that the release of Osmocote will be accelerated due to our higher temperatures. I am very concerned that my seedling will be burnt by that fertilizer.

Would you recommend foregoing the osmocote entirely and planting in compost and garden soil, or simply planting my seedling with a reduced amount of osmocote?

in your case, I would reduce the amount of osmocote.

When I grew mine, I put the osmocote on bottom, compost on top, garden oil on top of compost, then 1/2" thick layer of sand to keep water clear. If you can access to clay soil, it's even better.

I got a few blooms on first year, growing from seed, due to the temperature in New England.