papyrus
one of the top reasons i find friends and family kill their indoor plants is that they show them too much love and attention. the second reason is actually the complete opposite, like forgetting to water them.
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most houseplants cannot bounce back from overwatering. the pots that most folks use indoors don’t have good drainage or any drainage at all so water pools at the bottom and can cause the plant to actually look droopy like it is underwater. the root rot that occurs often looks just like under watering so it’s important to know your plant species and their water requirements. check how the soil is doing before you water until you get the hang of that plants needs.
one indoor plant option that you can’t overwater is papyrus, umbrella grass or Cyperus alternifolia.
another benefit of the plant is it is so fun and easy to propagate! that’s right, i said fun! you’ll see! it is oddly exciting to cut a piece of a plant off from it’s life source and watch it take control and grow a whole plant from that little piece!
start by always asking permission to take a cutting if you know someone with this plant growing in their pond or yard. if it’s growing on public property, then the world is your oyster, but please be respectful.
next cut a few pieces from older stalks, i find that those root better than new growth. you want to cut about 2 inches of the top off.
next you will want to trim the leaf bracts back a little, too much leaf and it will just turn brown and start to get funky, technical term. but you still want to leave some so that it can photosynthesize for itself while it works on setting out roots and shoots.
the next step is to place the cuttings into water. i like to mix in a plant vitamin called SUPERthrive. it looks like something straight out of the 1940’s because it is. if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it i suppose. when I first started using this stuff it still had a metal cap, they’ve upgraded to a tighter fitting plastic now. progress!
the important thing once you place your cuttings in water is to change out the water every few days to keep it fresh. or else it starts getting slimy and can harbor bacteria and then you won’t see any roots develop.
you can place your cuttings in a bowl, or a shallow dish of water, i used small jars on my kitchen windowsill because i like how it looks.
you place the cutting upside down in the water and wait!! in a couple of weeks you should start seeing both roots and shoots starting to develop.
once you start to see a healthy root system a couple of inches long where the main roots are developing secondary root hairs, you are getting close to being able to transplant!
now remember what i said at the beginning about they don’t mind overwatering. papyrus plants grow in semiaquatic regions like pond edges or river banks. they are actually a dependent of what the Egyptians once made their paper from, so you can see why it’s called papyrus!
so don’t be shy about over loving this plant and try to have a little fun watching it grow too!
also this will be totally fine indoors or outdoors. so happy gardening, wherever you do it!
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