Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Birmingham Chris

Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Birmingham Chris »

I had a beauty of this in a pot which was grown from a tiny piece last spring and became a stunning 7 feet with about 10 stems over the summer. I brought it in over winter but it has slowly languished and, this morning the last green stem collapsed (I think it may have been a bit too shady and cold for it in the bathroom). I have now cut everything down and put it in the south facing bay window with some more water. Am I being optimistic? Does anyone know if this will come back from a cut-down clump and is there anything else I can do to help it?

I love it and don't want to lose it! :(

in desperation, I have brought a hardy umbrella sedge but know that this will never be the real thing!
weve

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by weve »

They are lovely plants............... but I had no success indoors with one I bought in early spring some years back . I was keeping it indoors until the weather warmed but it declined very rapidly. I kept it very moist, in light and warmth and to try to halt the decline tried it in the kitchen, bathroom and lounge, but all to no avail. All the stems (about 4 or 5) eventually collapsed and it never regrew, so never had the chance to try it outside.

Hope yours fares better but they seem (to me, anyway) difficult in the house.

Hopefully somebody else here will have some better experience with it

weve
nicebutdim
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Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by nicebutdim »

Hi Chris
I've been struggling to keep these alive over the winter for about 6 years,keeping them in a heated water container with an aquarium heater,no success.This was with a temperature of 60 min in a conservatory.This year my clump has survived at about 9 foot tall with about 12 stems,this is in an unheated pot but kept dry,so possibly that's the clue,the temp on the floor was only about 45,so I am amazed they survived.I have watered it in the last month about twice but in the summer it goes in the pond submerged almost.They are a lot more delicate than I thought, cutting clumps off in the hope they will root had no success at all,the theory was that these clumps would survive the winter but they didn't and I took quite a few and kept them warm,it seems warmth without the extended daylight doesn't work.Hope this has been some help.You might try and scratch the bulb or root to see if it's firm and if so I would leave it alone without water for a good few weeks as they seem to do well outside.
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Yorkshire Kris
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Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

I sowed about 20/30 Papyrus seeds last September, about half germinated and did ok. I transplanted them in November and half didn't make it. Then the rest kept getting infested with small blackfly. I now have four decent little plants in 3 inch pots which are putting on growth in the last few weeks.

The reason I sowed them late in the season is that I read that they overwinter easier as small plants.

How big will they get this summer? They are about 6 inches high now with between 2 and 4 growth point each.
nicebutdim
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Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:25 am

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by nicebutdim »

I've read ,they take about three years to get full grown,they grow quite well from seeds but take some long time to get a good size,that's why I've tried so hard to overwinter them
Jo A P

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Jo A P »

Are there 2 types of this plant? One with very fine 'leaves' that has to be divided & the other slightly has wider leaves & can be grown from seed. Sorry, not very good with names & technical words!
I have the 2nd variety & it has been out all winter & is fine. I know we should be warmer than the UK but we've just had a week of snow (20 cm) & the plant is still going strong.
Birmingham Chris

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Birmingham Chris »

thanks everyone for taking the time to reply - I think that I'll hold on for a bit and see what happens (I'm not really in any rush to get rid of it! - at least I know that all may not be lost!).




Jo - there are thousands of types of this plant I think; (my understanding is that this is a sedge and not a grass although I'm not sure what the difference is as I believe that they are part of the same family). The hardy one for the UK is papyrus alternifolius which you see growing wild in Britain and does make a beautiful plant in its' own right but not as large or graceful as the Egyptian papyrus.

Papyrus Cyperus (Egyptian papyrus) won't be what you have as there is no way it would take a frost, let alone snow. if yours looks like an umbrella without the black covering (!) then it's more likely to be alternifolius. Don't bother growing it from seed as small plantlets form in the 'crown' of the flower and will root with almost 100% success by being put in a glass of water and forgotten about.
themes

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by themes »

I'm not really in any rush

:lol: :lol:
Nigel Fear

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Nigel Fear »

This one gets pretty big, don't know the exact form, but it gets to around 7ft. tall [when the wind isn't too strong].
It struggles to stay evergreen outside, and finally dies back around mid-winter, but returns the next year when it warms up.
Not as attractive as Egyptian Papyrus, but very jungly looking.
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themes

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by themes »

why do we only see cryptic pictures of your garden. I like puzzles and have been saving your pics and trying to resize them to see the whole thing but its hard as I am missing some pieces( notice that double entandre? :lol: )
Nigel Fear

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Nigel Fear »

themes wrote:why do we only see cryptic pictures of your garden. I like puzzles and have been saving your pics and trying to resize them to see the whole thing but its hard as I am missing some pieces( notice that double entandre? :lol: )

Are you saying I'm the missing link then mo?
...or just that I,m not the finished article?
themes

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by themes »

Nigel Fear wrote:
themes wrote:why do we only see cryptic pictures of your garden. I like puzzles and have been saving your pics and trying to resize them to see the whole thing but its hard as I am missing some pieces( notice that double entandre? :lol: )

Are you saying I'm the missing link then mo?
Theirs only one hoMO erectus :wink: :lol: and baby its not you
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simon
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Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by simon »

Chris, you've got your genus and species the wrong way around. It's Cyperus alternifolius and Cyperus papyrus icon_thumleft
Birmingham Chris

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Birmingham Chris »

oops! :oops: thanks Simon. I looked at it when I'd written it and thought it looked wrong, but couldn't work out why - I did know, honest! (I got right in the thread title, but had dealt with 80 stressed sixth form students this afternoon....kinda does your head in!).
Jo A P

Re: Egyptian Papyrus (cyperus papyrus)

Post by Jo A P »

Thanks Chris. Mine is the one in Nigel's pic.

What do you teach?
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