How to Grow Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum)

By Matt Gibson

Though Maidenhair Ferns are popular houseplant , they have gotten a bad reputation amongst gardener for being very exceptional , difficult to please plant life that need a high humidness environment at all sentence to execute well . While maidenhair ferns do command some specific care to expand , they are not as problematic to please as their warning recording label advise .

One matter is essential in caring for maidenhair fern , and that is keeping the soil fully and evenly moist at all times . The second the top level of soil feel slenderly ironic , it ’s time to water again . If the potting soil in the container holding your fern go so much as midway ironic , all of the frond on your fern will turn chocolate-brown and crumbly overnight .

maidenhair fern houseplant

Fortunately , this drastic downfall is not a destruction sentence for your fern , but save it at this point is going to require intensive care . You will want to cut back all of the browned fronds , reinvigorate the grease with a right soakage , and put the container in a spot that gets a full cover of vivid , indirect lighter .

If this approach is able to encourage a few young fronds to sprout up , you have a chance to get your fern back to its former glory . Continue to provide the needed amounts of urine and collateral light picture for the next few months and you wo n’t be capable to notice that your fern was once bump on heaven ’s doorway .

So , in short , Maidenhair fern are not unsufferable to please , they just need body and tending . Direct sunlight photo is welcomed as well , but you will need to bear closer care to the soil wet levels when your fern is sunbathing , as the grunge can dry out much quicker in direct light .

adiantum with text overlay how to grow maidenhair fern

Maidenhair Fern belong to the Adiantum genus which consists of over 200 fern from all over the domain . The fern ’s delicate , lover - like leaf segments repel piss . Leaves spring up in bunch on stringy fateful prow . Despite their demanding nature , maidenhair ferns are a very popular houseplant .

They are also discover in the wild , grow naturally in position where most plants never be given to produce , such as between rock crack , where they can drink from the wet provided by pee seepage when necessary , or on rock walls , where establish a delay with roots is tough for most plants . Maidenhair fern are slow - growing ornamentals , which can take upwards of three years to reach full maturity .

Growing Conditions for Maidenhair Fern

Place your maidenhair fern in a location that gets a niggling scrap of shade and a picayune bit of indirect Light Within . Avoid abrasive light or direct rays , as they can burn your fern ’s sensitive leaf . Maidenhair ferns will develop best underneath the canopy of trees or other large plant that allow only dappled or filtered sunlight to pass your fern .

Maidenhair fern appreciate constantly and evenly moist soil . Amending your potting soil with moss or well - moulder compost will avail with weewee retention without allowing your soil to become doughy in the cognitive process . Ideally , your fern should be kept in temperature above 70 degrees F and should be protected against cold wind and temperature drops that dip beneath 60 degree F.

How to Plant Maidenhair Fern

Maidenhair fern are typically purchased as young plants in a small charge card pot . When you get your maidenhair fern fern home , you will require to plant it into a magnanimous credit card pot with drainage maw , or , if it still has tidy sum of elbow room to grow into it , keep it in the plastic container that it is already in and place that container into a more cosmetic out pot , as long as the outer pot has a overnice - sized drainage hole . Do n’t employ Henry Clay pots for maidenhair ferns , however , as the grunge inside clay pots tends to dry out more rapidly than other containers . When the filth dry out , maidenhair frond will start to shrink up and die pretty quickly .

Maidenhair fern need to be repotted whenever they become root - bound . Once your fern is root - attach , await until spring , and repot into a larger container using a rich , gamey - quality potting soil that carry lot of constitutive issue , such as well - rotted compost .

Care for Maidenhair Fern

Never give up the soil to dry out . In the absence seizure of pelting , water daily or every other day . Ideally , maidenhair ferns should be keep open in a location that is very ardent and humid . Mist your fern with warm water system several times per day or keep the container near a humidifier or sitting on a tray of wet crushed rock or pebbles .

Keeping your maidenhair fern fern in the can so that it is exposed to humid conditions on a regular basis is another great path to get the humidness that it bed . If you have a greenhouse , your fern will delight the warmth and humidness created there as well . If you see your fern ’s leave of absence curling up or getting dry lead , or catch parting devolve off on a regular basis , it ’s probably because the air is too dry and you need to increase the irrigation and humidity levels .

Maidenhair fern do not require fecundation , but ply an extra cost increase by add nutrient will help your fern acquire more voraciously . Apply a diluted balanced fertilizer that is low in nitrogen once per calendar month . Feeds with excessive sum of nitrogen can burn the plant ’s leaf crown . Pruning and bring down back brownish leaves and spent frond will also help to promote new foliar emergence .

How to Propagate Maidenhair Fern

There are two ways to circularise maidenhair fern plants : with class or by using their spores . Unless you ’ve circulate ferns before , spore propagation may be unfamiliar , and division is incredibly well-fixed .

Your maidenhair fern fern must be well install before you may successfully divide it . Use your hand or clean , sterilized garden shear to separate the fern ’s etymon chunk into two half . Then set the two sections in separate containers and begin caring for them as two separate plant . Do n’t be alarmed if you notice some leaf give-up the ghost off before the newly divided fern get settle .

Because maidenhair fern plant life do not bring forth flowers or seeds , the spores are how the plant life reproduces on its own . When your fern creates spores , you will notice the chocolate-brown dots look at the tips of leave on the back side . Use uninfected , sterile shears to cut off a few pieces of foliage , then place these cuttings between two weather sheet of paper and put them away for a workweek . When the week is up , the dots ( which are the fern ’s spore ) will have break from the leaves , and you ’ll find them resting on the newspaper publisher .

Place the spores on the Earth’s surface of the grime in a container replete with unfermented potting commixture . Then use plastic wrapper to cover the container , simulating a greenhouse environment . Find a warm , secure location for the container that is out of direct sunshine , which can get too hot for the minuscule spores . apply a atomizer nursing bottle to keep the soil in the container consistently hydrated , and you could watch the plants come along from spore through the gametophyte point , eventually suppurate into their sporophyte form — the fern plant you ’re familiar with .

Garden Pests and Diseases of Maidenhair Fern

Maidenhair ferns are susceptible to many of the same insect and disease threats that can be an yield when you ’re work fern of any kind . However , if you take a few prophylactic measures and inspect your fern on a even ground so problems are noticed rapidly ( and therefore handled chop-chop ) , these issues are realizable . Below we ’ve listed the most mutual pests and plant diseases that nurseryman of maidenhair fern ferns should be familiar with .

If you have an outdoor garden , you ’re stick to to mete out withslugs and snails . They feed at dark , chew holes in plant leaves or bulldozing seedlings completely , leaving silvery slime trail where they ’re been . If you see a slug or snail in the garden , remove it and drop it in a bucket of soapy water . you may encircle vulnerable plants withdiatomaceous earth ( DE ) , which smart the mollusks ’ flimsy body , so they wo n’t hybridize it . DE is also effective fordeterring caterpillars . If a tougher defense is postulate , our clause How toProtect Seedlings from Slugs and Snailswill distinguish you how to make an electrified roadblock using pig tape and give other options for keep slugs and snails off your works .

Other insects that can infest maidenhair fern plants includeaphids , mealy bugs , scale , andspider mites . Mealy hemipterous insect take care like bit of bloodless cotton plant , scale resembles bumps on plant life staunch , and both aphid and spider jot hang out on the undersides of leaf . All these insect will feed on your plant , leaving the leafage coil , sere , or falsify .

Wiping the plants down with a cotton ball doused in rubbing alcoholic drink is effective against most of these insect . If you postulate stronger stuff , consider treating with horticultural oils . you’re able to play along the inter-group communication for each type of dirt ball to get more entropy about spot them in the garden , strategies for preventing plague , and more way to agitate these bugs off if they colonise your plant .

The most common plant life illnesses that afflict maidenhair ferns arepowdery mildew , putrefaction , andfungal diseases . You ’ll be able to tell apart fuzzed or powdery evidence of fungal disease or powdery mould if they expunge , while rot tend to affect the solution of works , reach them diffused and slimy and darken their colour , while the plant above flat coat eventually starts to droop or exhibit scrubby growth .

All these disease are most often due to excess moisture , so you could forbid them from happening in your garden by doing what you could to keep things on the drier side . Resist the impulse to overwater plants , check that their container have drain holes and the dirt provides good drain , and always piss plant at the base instead of from above . you may also take measures to improve air circulation around your plant and refrain from working in the garden if it ’s wet due to recent watering , rain , or good morning dew .

Maidenhair ferns are endearing planetary house plants that require a bit of surplus attention . If you may keep their dirt evenly moist but never soggy and provide a warm , humid environment with lots of indirect light , you will have lots of success keep your maidenhair fern content and well - nurture . Their tough - to - grow report is prosperous to overcome if you know how to keep them happy .