I got these in Omaha a few weeks ago for $5.99 each. I boughta 6 ft long by 12 inch wide cedar board and cut it up to mount them.The white gizmo in the center is my idea to get the water into the center of the sphagnum moss.Its a piece of PVC pipe with a cap on the bottom.Then I put small holes drilled thru it.when filled with water it slowly soaks into the moss.The wood was so pretty I sanded it down and poly coated it so it doesn't turn gray.
Kyle
another one.
I bought a small one off Ebay and it died promptly. LOL
I think you want the board old and weathered so the fern has a better chance of attaching itself. I like the idea of the pipe but once the fern grows and attaches, the pipe will probably become part of the fern. These ferns are fairly hardy and somewhat drought tolerant. I started mine in a moss lined wire basket. The only thing you can see now are the hanging wires - the basket is totally hidden. Here is mine hanging from a tree last summer.
Very nice plants. : ) Can you take cuttings of them or how can you propagate them. A friend has a big one, and I woudl like to get some of it but we don't know how to do it.
I would imagine you'd have to dig out a small pup - roots and all or grow them from spores.
Growing from spores is slow and tricky (unless you have a very well controlled greenhouse environment), but you can get a gazillion plants that way... however, cutting off sheilds and applying them to sphagnum/board works well, too, and will save years in development.
Here is a huge one at Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami early March of this year. I can't remember if this was hanging by chains or steel links. Then there seemed to be a lot of yards in the area that had impressive ones as well.
I have a few that need to be mounted, Kyle! Do you do house calls?
get me the plane ticket!! ;-)
