How do I keep my stag horn fern alive?
by
Fbgirl1961
I am well on my way to killing my second staghorn fern mounted on a piece of wood. Unfortunately that's not why I purchased them. The instructions read to soak the plant for half an hour when the base felt dry. And to give it bright indirect light. So I have been soaking it about once a week and it hangs far enough away from a window that no sun falls directly on it but seems quite bright. When the plant arrived it had 5 leaves and now, after my careful attentions, it is down to 2 leaves. The gone but not forgotten leaves just kind of fell off from the base. Can any one help me to get this plant to thrive?
You don't have to soak the entire base. Keep the moss damp with a spray bottle. Keep in mind staghorn ferns grow in trees in tropical forests. They like to be moist, but not soggy.
It is somewhat like air ferns, even orchids in that they need a lot of humidity, keep giving the root ball a good misting so that the staghorn gets the humidity that it needs. Like orchids, they like bright indirect light like a south window gives. They live in the canopy of the trees in the rainforest attached to the trees and stay healthy with the rain that reaches them, but the humidity is what really keeps them going between what rain water they get to feed the roots.