A good freind in southern California has been taking care of a very large staghorn (approx. 4' high x 4' wide, free standing) while my husband and I house hunted, bought and moved in to a home in southwestern Oregon. We're driving to southern cal. over 4th of July to see freinds and are going to bring back the staghorn. I have had it for about 20 years but have never really known much about them, now I'm starting to wonder if I am pushing this faithful plant to it's limits by changing climates on it. I have a greenhouse but it's not heated (so far) in the winter and this last winter got pretty cold, mid 20's. It will be a trick to keep it contained in transport without damaging it but we have a van and I'll make sure it gets ventilation and doesn't get too hot. I don't want to bring back any of the nasty argentine ants we had in so.cal. so I'm trying to figure out what I can use safely on it to get rid of any hitchhikers. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Deb
Moving a very large staghorn fern to Oregon - have a few ?'s
With ants, I think if you just submerge the pot in a bucket of water, that'll drive the ants out. Repotting in some fresh potting soil may be beneficial as well if you do find a lot of ants in the pot when you do the bucket trick.
Thanks, I'll try the flooding method. Repotting may be a trick. This staghorn was originally in a 4" pot which it ate and I set it on a 12" plastic pot filled with dirt temporarily which over time it ate also, so that is it's base and I don't think I can separate the plant from the pot anymore.
Staghorn ferns are epiphytic so you don't need to put it into any pot. You can leave it as is just do as ecrane suggests and plunge into water to get rid of the ants.
You'll have to find a way to heat your greenhouse because they don't tolerate cold temperatures. There are a few according to the University of Florida that can survive temperatures down into the mid 20, but that is probably for very short times. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG015
Putting several layers of bubble wrap on the inside walls, placing dark garbage cans filled with water on the south interior wall where they will be heated by the sun, and an electric heater are ways to heat a small greenhouse, one too small for a vented propane heater.
Most platyceriums hate temps under 50F low 40's max.