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Re: staghorn fern

Marcia Franzen wrote:
> 
> I bought one 2 and a half years ago and was thinking it was time to repot
> it. How?? I have looking in my books and all suggest either tying it to a
> piece of bark or a lattice basket. I don't know if these things grow on
> trees (pun intended) in the US, but I can't find it in northern Sweden. I
> did find however a 12" wire basket with a coconut fiber mat but my plant is
> right now in a 8" plastic pot. Wouldn't that be too big? And coniferous
> soil? Does anyone have any experience that they would like to share with
> me?
> 
> Marcia, jack of all trades, master of none

You don't have trees in Sweden? :O)  Any kind of bark will do, really,
as long as it's rough enough for the roots and the clasping frond to
hold onto.  The basket may be too big.  It's hard to tell with
epiphytes, though, as the planting medium isn't usually one that causes
drainage problems if the roots don't fill the space.

Anyway, if you attach it to bark, just wrap the roots in sphagnum moss
and tie the sphagnum moss/root ball to the rough side of the slab. 
Eventually, the roots will dig in and hold on to the ridges and valleys
in the bark and the sterile clasping frond will grow out and flatten
itself down to the slab, holding the fertile staghorn very firmly in
place.

If you go with the basket, use orchid type soil, fir bark or osmunda
fiber.  Remember, this fern is an epiphyte and doesn't want to come
anywhere near regular potting soil, which is way too heavy for it.

-- 
Botanical Name of the Week: Pachystachys - pretty plant, silly name...

If the last fifty years have produced 90% of the laborsaving devices in
the world, why doesn't anyone have time to get anything done?

Jim Gray 
jjg@c-cor.com
Altoona, PA: Zone 6A
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