The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual by Barbara Pleasant

Author:Barbara Pleasant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Published: 2005-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

If a fern dries out too much, the peat moss in the soil mixture — combined with a tight mass of surface roots — may make it difficult to reestablish even moisture in the container. To rehydrate a very dry fern, fill a tub or sink with room-temperature water and submerge the pot to just over the rim. Hold the pot in the water for about 2 minutes, until bubbles stop floating to the surface. Remove the pot and allow it to drain until it stops dripping. Never leave a fern sitting in standing water for more than a few minutes.

Soil: When planting ferns, amend packaged potting soil with peat moss. A half-and-half mixture of potting soil and pulverized peat moss is perfect for most ferns. Dry peat moss absorbs a lot of water, so it’s best to mix the potting soil and peat moss together in a pail and dampen it well before using the mixture to pot up a fern. Do not use potting soil that contains fertilizer. Fertilizer that dissolves too fast can burn delicate fern roots.

Repotting: Like most plants, ferns develop more new growth in summer than in winter, so spring is the best season to repot them. If you want to encourage a small fern to grow larger, move it to a slightly larger pot when the roots have filled the container. To control the size of large ferns, remove the plant from the container and use sharp scissors to prune off about a quarter of the roots. Then replant it in the same size container it grew in before. Except for big Boston ferns, there is seldom a need to use a pot more than 8 in/20 cm wide.

When repotting any fern, take a moment to check the health of the roots. Healthy fern roots have light brown to whitish growing tips. If the roots are black, they are dead. Trimming away dead roots will help protect the health of those that remain by limiting the number of fungi, which regard struggling roots as a delicious lunch.

Propagating: Some ferns, such as Boston ferns, multiply by sending out shallow roots, which develop buds that grow into new plants. These ferns can be propagated by division. Use a sharp knife to cut away little plants that grow near the edge of the container, with roots attached; promptly pot them up, and then refill the hole left behind with a mixture of potting soil and peat moss. Alternatively, in spring when new fronds begin to unfurl, remove the entire plant from the pot and use a sturdy serrated knife to cut the root mass into two or three chunks. Also cut back old fronds and discard them. Repot the divisions and be patient as they slowly recover from surgery.

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