# Short Cyperus helferi?



## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

OK, here's a weird one. I did a search on C. helferi, and the consensus seems to be that it is TALL. They keep growing short for me, though. Is is light, substrate or the position of the stars? I'm confused, or perhaps, the plant is really confused. 

First one I got was from an LFS that receives plants from Karen Randall. The only plants in the tank were labelled Cyperus helferi and java fern. Well, I knew which ones were the java fern, and the C. helferi was new to me, so I tried it. I do not run CO2 or ferts, and use a soil underlayer, low tech. It was medium tall when I got it, and as it settled into my tank, it stayed short (barely taller than a Bylxa japonica w/o stem showing) and soon started throwing out lots of daughter plants. I kept getting curious about references to it being so tall. 

Over the summer, I lost nearly everything in that tank when I was away and it became overrun with floating plants. 

Then, I got several beautiful Cyperus helferi from a high tech grower who uses CO2, ferts and strong lighting (thanks Dennis). Having now seen tall C. helferi in person, I chalked my experience of C. helferi up to a mis-labelled plant, and who knows what I had, but I decided it must not have been C. helferi, or possibly it was a dwarf variant (KR brings all sorts of interesting stuff to this LFS). 

So, I placed several beautiful tall C. helferi into my tank where their tallness would add to the layout (doesn't really qualify as a 'scape, lol) Also, the older, longer leaves have gotten some algae, so I've trimmed them back. But, these are now growing in thick, lush.... and SHORT! I can't really see the new growth, as its behind a stand of Rotala 'green', and I only see it from the side of the tank, or from above. In another thread about C. helferi height, Dennis said that the daughter plantlets come in at nearly the height of the mother plant, but just with fewer leaves. So its not like grass, which will keep growing taller? These leaves do not look like they're planning on getting any taller, but the plant has gotten much bushier. It looks really healthy, new growth does not appear to have any algae, but its short.

They look just like the Yes-it-Is, No-it-Isn't plant I had before! Any ideas on what's going on? Could it be the light (at or less than 2 wpg), or the soil underlayer, or do I have an aquatic gremlin?

Thanks!
-Jane


----------



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I have imported plants that were two feet in length, in fact the ones I have now are close to that. Without the addition of C02 and strong light, it grows very slowly for me, and its also probable there may be a nutrient difficiencey that either stunts it or slows the growth down. That is one of the dis advantages of "low tech", you are not able narrow down specifically what the limiting factor may be. For some people this would not be a probelm. I have read a few posts where people complain that Cyperus helferi grows to be too tall for their liking, and would welcome a stunted version


----------



## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

How strange. I doubt if it's the soil as I have it growing in a low tech tank with a soil underlayer and the leaves are about 2 feet long. Lighting is moderate with a bit of morning sun (when the sun isn't buried behind clouds). No CO2 and I only fertilize when it looks like there is a deficiency. Mine has not chosen to produce daughter plants, but the plants themselves are very healthy. It took a while for them to start growing really tall though - several months if I recall correctly. 

Perhaps the parameters of your tank are such that it reproduces rather than grows tall. It does seem odd though.


----------



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I wonder if Janes soil is older than yours and become more depleted in nutrients?


----------



## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

My setup is about 2 years old and I used bark heavy potting soil by mistake. Its worked quite well, but I doubt if bark shreds are really high in available nutrients. I do have a lot of fish and subsequently a lot of fish poop for fertilizer. 

I think this is one of those Aquarium Knowns. You have a plant with a known growth habit, put it where that growth habit will look good, and immediately the plant changes that growth habit to something unsuitable. Or maybe that's a Murphy's Law. 

I just checked plantfinder and it says Cyperus helferi will grow from 8-20 inches. Maybe in your tank it is just destined to stay short.


----------



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Lots of the imported stuff is grown emersed and can be quite long - even over 2 feet as Robert has said. Jane, I'm guessing it's just your lighting. CO2 would probably speed up the growth, but maybe not change the shape. Even with CO2 it's pretty slow as plants go. IMO the particular shape/size that a plant chooses to be depends mostly on lighting.


----------



## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

my C. helferi is about 2 feet long. When I got it, it was 6" long.

The sad thing about this plant is that it is incredibly prone to algae.


----------



## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Well, Banderbe, its good to know there's a chance of it eventually getting long. The first time I tried it, the plants I got were also about 6" in height, but they then got shorter as they settled in.

Robert, I don't think this is a deficiency - this is in a newly setup tank, with Soilmaster Select over a soil substrate. And with my increasing experience with soil underlayers, I mixed a soil low in organic content that I'd used before with some that I'd rejected as being too high in organics (composted manure). Other stuff in the tank is doing surprisingly well. But, you're right about the down side of low tech - one can only be sure of a deficiency if and when a symptom shows up (like pinhole K+ deficiency in Java Fern that I've seen in the past). 

Also, the new leaves are the same apple green as the original plant, and there are no visible signs on the leaves to indicate a deficienty. Oh, and Bryce, this was from Dennis, so it wasn't emersed grown. 

AND, just to add to the mystery, I put one in a 10 gal re-scaped tank, which DOES have an older soil substrate (if anything is deficient, this would be more suspect than the newer setup) and that one seems to be staying TALL! This is the same tank, and the same substrate that about a year earlier grew the short C. helferi which sent out so many daughter plants!

Could excess nutrients at the root cause stunting? The Kasselmann book says its a marsh plant, but all the pictures of it growing emersed show it even taller than when submerged. Could the soil substrate be triggering a seasonal re-start, with shorter growth that will eventually grow taller?

CS, I think you're theory of the Aquarium Known / Murphy's Law may be at play. Actually, since you're also using a soil substrate and yours took several months to grow tall, perhaps this is how the plant expresses shock in changing from a high tech environment to a low tech one.

I'm going to leave it there and see what it does.
Thanks for all the input!
-Jane


----------



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Keep us posted. I'd guess it's just taking it's sweet time adjusting to the conditions. C. helferi doesn't do anything in a hurry except collect algae.


----------

