This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Monster Staghorn Fern


In the category of be careful of what you wish for, you just might get it
-- my aging Australian aunt finally decided to give me that Platycerium
bifurcatum (Staghorn fern) she brought from Australia so many years ago
-- the one I've admittedly had my eye on for a while now. A
two-and-a-half-hour drive and a few sore muscles and bruises later, I got
the beast home and onto the back patio.

When I say "beast," I mean it. This thing is just about too heavy to
lift. It's four feet tall and more than six feet wide, with
three-foot-long blue-green "staghorns" projecting in all directions. When
my son and I attempted to hang it up from a nail under the lath
structure, the plywood backing -- hidden and almost indiscernible under
the innumerable forked fronds -- came off and we had to abandon the
project.

A professional appraiser valued this plant at over $400 a year ago. My
aunt suggests that I cut it up and give away or sell the scores of
staghorn offsets, some of which are quite large. That seems to me like
cutting up the Hope Diamond.

On the other hand, as it is this staghorn fern is way too large and
unwieldy, and would be a lot easier to control if it were smaller. But
I'm not sure how to remount it as is, or how to cut it up effectively and
then mount all the many smaller staghorns that would create.

Incidentally, I've been growing individual staghorns in hollowed-out
driftwood for a while now, so I do have some experience with
Platycerium....  It's just that this one is such a monster. 

Any ideas?


Victoria 

Rabbitsfoot Farm
Benicia, CA

rabbitsfoot@juno.com

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index