Heya! In addition to terrestrial plants, I keep a pond. And you know what looks amazing? Lotus.
So I have myself some lotus seeds. They have quite hard shells that need to be exposed to water & light without hurting the delicate endosperm inside. To open the shell it seems most of the lotus growing guides have you:

  1. Dremeling
  2. Filing or Sanding
  3. Sawing
  4. Drilling
    And it looks like a LOT of work. With room for finger injury.

So anyway, there’s this one guy online that’s like “I just lightly hit them with a hammer” and I’m 100%, SOUNDS LIKE VERIFIED FOLK WISDOM.

So here we are, a week later, with lightly smacked lotus seeds, and by golly they are all sprouting.

  • SchmidtGeneticsEnglish
    4·
    4 days ago

    I mean hitting your finger with the hammer is also a possibility.

    How is this supposed to happen in nature? Does the water current ablate it enough? Get eaten and dissolved by a fish?

    • David From Space@geostationary.orbiting.observerOPEnglish
      4·
      4 days ago

      See, it’s a good question! I looked it up, but didn’t find a firm answer. As far as I could figure, they:

      • eventually freeze, crack open, and thaw
      • get stepped on by a heavy animal (they are eaten by ducks & beavers)
      • clunking around the bottom of a river/pond, letting the sand wear it down.

      All conjecture, but I don’t know!