Not Joyce, but you needn't go to all that trouble.
Simple garden soil/clay for your lotus.
Then once a month plant tabs (or Jobes tomato spikes)
you can't go wrong, they'll be fine this way.

fred

As I am not sure how to link you to Joyce's post on planting recipe, I will just post it here. You might also be able to do a search and it should pull up. Type in 'Joyce lotus recipe' or 'lotus barrel pix'.

BY JOYCE
Here is my planting method, which for me, gets blooms by mid summer through fall, no matter what kind of lotus you start with.
I fill my wine barrels about 3/4 with composted cow manure, but plain old compost can be used too. Before putting the compost in, put one cup of Osmocote (Veggie Formula) or Multicote (Veggie Formula) at the bottom (these are NOT your typical water soluable fertilizers...please read the entire label on the container to understand exactly how they work). I do NOT recommend any other kind of fertilizer with my lotus in a barrel planting method. You will NOT get the same results as I do unless you follow my instructions precisely: PLEASE NO SUBSTITUTING!
Gently lay the lotus tubers on top of the compost. (you can make a little depression and nestle the tuber into it) Then gently cover the tubers with about 1-2" of pea gravel, keeping the growing tips above the gravel. Gently, slowly add water until 3-4" of water covers the gravel. Then do nothing but top off the barrel(s) when the water gets low, and watch the lotus grow and bloom. DO NOT ADD ANY MORE FERTILIZER...at all. Osmocote and Multicote are time released, and will last through fall.

Remember, besides the Osmocote/Multicote, compost is LOADED with all sorts of micronutrients which your lotus will devour.
Regular potting soil or clay, or topsoil does NOT have all the micronutrients that compost has.
That is why composted cow manure is the best, with regular compost coming in second place.

Thanks hardin but i have the recipe. it sounds to me like she just puts the composted manure straight in but the home depot lady tried to fight me on it lol. I just wanted to make sure she put it straight in before I did and killed everything:(

hey guys thanks for your input I just went ahead and did 1/2 garden soil & 1/2 composted manure, with osmocote in the bottom. I'd rather be safe than sorry and I tend to be impatient haha. If you want to check out their progress just click the link. any advice is welcomed:)

Here is a link that might be useful: lotus experience

Theres been a trend to use compost in ponds ever since barnyard animals and ponds existed. Needless to say, theres a lot of messy ponds out there

Some very very messy outcomes, with excessive pollution which can and does trigger fatalities among animals and people when toxic algae is triggered

Perry documented well some 'recipes' for specimen planting positions, his recipes usually involved less than 25% compost and all sorts of other fertiliser supplements

Which makes sense for hot climates, big ponds, where there is a lot of competition for nutrients from other plants, native plants.

On smaller ornamental ponds in gardens, such 'hot' recipes and inconsistent materials like compost may have volatile results, excessive algae and blanketweed being the more obvious, plants killed by root burn another

It does not take much of an overdose from materials like ammonium nitrate to create toxic, caustic water quality issues

Feel free to google 'msds ammonium nitrate'

I just used the recipe as joyce explained. I had excellent results with no issues with it being 'too hot'. I used 1/2 of a 55 gallon barrel which I sunk down into the ground. I received the tubers last spring and had lots of foliage and blooms the same summer. I was pleasantly surprised. The lotus are still in there and have already sprouted 7 leaves in the past week. I don't have my lotus inside my pond, although I have thought about growing some in it, but I think my pond is a bit too small.

Yes all my lotus are in individual 18 gallon tubs seperate from the pond. Guess we shall see how my mix does its only been two days but so far so good:) at least no sudden deaths.

Good luck on them. They are beautiful plants. I think yours will do just fine. Enjoy.

A few years ago, Consumer Reports did an article on Composted Manure. According to their report, even the expensive brands had little or no manure in them. It isn't likely it would burn anything. On the other hand, home composted manure may very well burn unless it is aged several years.