I just got 2 very small staghorn ferns. I mounted them on a slab of wood (actual tree slab). But now I don't really know how to care for it....as far as lighting and water. I live in zone 5a, so this is a houseplant here. Can anyone give me growing instructions/tips from *personal experience*? Thanks! Jenny
also posting in the Houseplant Forum
Staghorn fern
I have a small one in the house, but it's in a 6 inch pot. I keep the larger one in the greenhouse. It is mounted on a wire basket with some sphagnum moss. They need high humidity. Indoors you would have to mist at least once everyday. Water more frequently also. The frond color grays out a bit when it needs water. They need bright light, but not direct sunlight. They grow best summered outside under a tree.
Thanks for your growing tips. I'll try moving it outside under a tree this summer. Right now I have it hanging in my sunroom with all my other houseplants. I do have a humidifier I run constantly in there, so I'm sure that will help with the humidity requirements of the plant. When you water, do you simply soak the plant....mount and all? Jenny
Mine is in a wire basket, it's made babies all around the basket. I keep it under the lath covering on the patio and mist it every day or two. I water it with the hose when I think of it and two or three times during the summer I give it plant food(I just mix it in the mister bottle and spray the leaves and base with it)
My great aunt's neighbor had a huge one also mounted to a slice of tree. :) She would just set the whole thing in a sink full of water from time to time and then let it drain. She kept her's hanging on the wall in the rec room right in front of a sliding glass door.
Stags like banana peels. Wedge a piece of peel between the fern and the backing every now and then for a boost..