The day or two before division, deeply water your D. Primo division times include spring – when new growth is emerging – and after the first frost in fall. You can divide whenever you want additional plants, but if the center of your fern is dead or hollow, or if the leaves are smaller than normal, these are other signs that it’s time to divide. Most ferns could stand to be divided once every three to five years. Since autumn ferns have rhizomatous roots, you should utilize rhizome division. Repeat until they can withstand a full day outdoors.Ĭongrats! Your ferns are now ready for transplanting! Via Divisionĭivision is easier than spore propagation, but a bit more involved than simply transplanting. On a spring day, take the baby plants outside, leave them out in full or partial shade for 30 minutes to an hour, then bring them back inside.ĭo the same thing the next day, but add an extra 30 to 60 minutes of exposure. Nine months or so after you sowed the spores, you should have plants ready for hardening off. In two weeks, you can slightly unzip or leave the cover open a crack to start acclimating the plants to less humid conditions. Keep them insulated and humid like you did before, whether it’s with a plastic baggie or a terrarium of some kind. Once they’ve reached an inch or two in height, tease apart the plants into two- or three-plant clumps.Įither put these clumps into their own pots, or place them all in a single tray – filled with the same growing media as before – with the clumps spaced two inches apart. Once the baby ferns emerge, leave them alone until they grow an inch or two tall, while continuing to apply quarter-strength fertilizer every three months. If no sporophytes have formed after 12 weeks, take an appropriately-sized dose (according to package instructions) of houseplant fertilizer, and dilute it down with three parts water to one part of the recommended amount to create a quarter-strength solution. If you remove the pot from the bag to do this, make sure you reseal the bag around the pot once you’re done. Once these grow a quarter-inch tall, mist them to kickstart fertilization. In several weeks, a film of green prothalli should form on the surface of the medium. If you harvested the frond too late or too early, the print will be faint or absent. When you uncover and remove the frond from the paper 24 hours later, you should see a spore-print in the shape of the frond on the paper’s surface. Place it somewhere where it’ll be undisturbed and protected from drafts. Place the frond sori-side down on a sheet of white or waxed paper, then cover the frond with an additional layer of paper. You’ll know that an autumn fern’s spores are about to drop when the sori have turned a deep red and begin to split open.Īt this point, select a healthy-looking frond and cut it away from the rest of the plant with a sterilized blade. The spores of this plant tend to drop in late summer, so you’ll need to be vigilant around this time. Within the prothallus, sperm fertilizes an egg and results in a sporophyte, which develops into a full-grown plant… and presto! The cycle continues. A prothallus develops organs that produce ova and antheridia, aka egg and sperm cells. On the underside of a fern’s fronds are sori, and each sorum contains sporangia.Įach sporangium produces spores, which release from the fronds, land elsewhere, and germinate into small, heart-shaped structures called prothalli. Ready to learn how to grow your own? Here’s what we’ll cover in this guide: erythrosora an undoubtedly worthy planting. Both colors offer a nice change of pace from the green shades seen in other ferns.Īlong with its unique color scheme, toughness, and a compact growing habit make D. Which is fine, because a fern’s green foliage is just what the doctor ordered… most of the time.īut it’s not horticultural heresy to look at a fern, sigh in discontentment, and think: Plain old green again? Can’t a gardener get a different shade of fern up in here, for a change? With the autumn fern, you actually can.Īutumn ferns, aka copper shield or Japanese wood ferns, actually start out their growth in spring with a coppery tint to their foliage, then mature to sport a more yellowish-green hue as the growing season progresses. Since they don’t flower, their fronds are all that they have, ornamentally. Įven among plants, ferns are well-known for their greenery. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products.
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