DG Site Updates: Ferns Forum, 1 by wallaby1

wallaby1 wrote:
OK all you fern enthusiasts, lets get the ball rolling here! I have several ferns, including a couple that I really do not know the names of. They grew in the compost that I mix and use for potting, and some of these plants are in pots for some time so an opportunity for a fern to develop. I do get many fairly common ferns, of which I am still unsure of their ID, and as I have other ferns growing in the ground some could be setting from those.

One of these ferns is really almost like a tree fern. I use soil dug from our water drain, leafy home made compost, and bought moss peat compost. The moss peat one I have been using is Irish, but when I put the plant in the pot where this fern was growing I may have used another compost with sedge peat, so I am unsure of the peat origins, and am wondering if the spore may have originated in the peat.

It is now quite a mature fern and has been growing for possibly 5 or 6 years. The last 2 years I have noticed the most unusual fronds. Every alternate frond is much narrower, as though all the edges have been eaten off. Some look to be midway between the broader and narrower ones. I also noticed the spores are only at the top 1/3 of the fronds, and I believe I remember getting excited because they looked to be rather like my spore grown tree ferns spore, where they start as a hard blackish mound before bursting, and I think their spore is also only on the top 1/3.

I looked earlier this year after having forgotten about them, and the fronds were still there but a little tatty. I took some pics of the spores, they appear to be in singles or pairs along each pinnae. Some look to have a tightly curved 'U' shape.

I have taken the fern out of the original pot recently and repotted it, and if I remember I will be keeping a very close watch on it!