Fern Care
A Quick Guide To Fern Care
You might find these suggestions for proper fern care helpful, since ferns are not always the easiest of plants to care for, and keep in good health. The following four topics cover the basics for maintaining the well-being of your pet plants.
Ferns do best when temperatures are kept within a fairly constant range. Most ferns grown indoors prefer slightly cooler temperatures than are comfortable for most people. Even ferns from tropical regions often grow in the shade, and in areas of high humidity, providing the cooler temperatures the ferns thrive best in. Ferns prefer daytime temperatures remaining below 72 degrees, and nighttime temperatures in the vicinity of 60 degrees. If ferns are taken outside during the summer, they need to be placed in deep shade, or cooler areas of a garden or patio. In any event they must be kept out of the direct summer sun.
Humidity is very important when it comes to fern care. Ferns are humidity lovers. They will thrive in a room in your home which is both cool and humid, but few houses have such a room today. Our homes tend to be uniformly heated, and because of this, the air tends to be dry. Growing ferns in the house can therefore be a challenge. An electric humidifier will often do the trick, providing a degree of humidity not only good for the fern, but good for the people living in the house as well. One can also place fern containers in trays filled with gravel and water. The gravel is used to keep the fern pot, or container, out of contact with the water. The water adds humidity to the air in the immediate vicinity of the fern. This approach is not designed to humidify an entire room! Moist sphagnum moss can also do the trick.
Whereas maintaining correct levels of humidity in the interests of fern care can be difficult, providing an adequate source of light usually is not. Medium light, somewhere between dark and bright (if you can figure that one out), will generally suffice for most ferns. Placing ferns near a north-facing window is a safe bet. In any event, they should not be placed where they would get direct sunlight. One exception to this is the asparagus fern. Not a fern at all, but a member of the lily family, the asparagus fern not only thrives in direct sunlight, but requires bright light throughout the year to remain healthy.
Like most other members of the plant kingdom, the amount of water needed and the frequency of watering can vary, sometimes considerably, from type to type. If you err on the side of over-watering, you will probably do fine as far as most ferns are concerned. As long as they have proper drainage, a little excessive watering should not hurt them, especially during the growing season. Container-bound ferns can be watered at the surface, or placed in a tub of water. The plants themselves should not be covered with water. If after awhile, you begin to notice that a plant is shedding its fronds, you may have to change your watering pattern. This shedding of fronds can be caused by either over-watering or a lack of sufficient water. A little trial-and-error experimentation on your part may be needed.
Temperature, humidity, light, and water are the four things you need to take into account to provide proper fern care. To make life a little simpler, you can always choose varieties which share more or less the same needs in these four areas. Of these four requirements, maintaining the proper level of humidity is apt to be your greatest challenge.