Staghorn Fern

[Dorothy]

Wow! and mine is so small, sweet and innocent
Just waiting to grow into a beast!
I hope he knows what he's in for ...

I have no idea so it must be a NOID .. All it says on the pot sticker is 4 inch Staghorn Fern ..

Look at all those 'flamingos' in that photo!

[Ross]

OK, D. My turn to educate! Platycerium are Staghorn Ferns, Elkhorn Ferns, Antelope Ears. There are 18 species in the genera. All need the same cultural requirements and differ in fertile leaf shape, mostly. All want humousy soil or leaf mold (but Sphagnum is OK also.) Some of the spp include:

+andinum (deeply divided grayish green shield fronds, 2 feet or more long, with deep green lobes on upper halves and with heavy veins.

+bifurcatum The most commonly grown species (and most certainly yours.) Shield fronds are kidney shaped, Fertile fronds are grayish green segmented into 2-3 lobes, and often hang down 2-3 feet from the shield frond.

+coronarium Very wide shield fronds, fertile fronds can be as long as 12 feet. Certainly not yours! Hopefully

+superbum Shield fronds can achieve widths of 5 feet or more! Fertile fronds relatively short (thankfully!)

+veitchii A smallish species, the shield fronds are deeply segmented (unlike yours). Shield fronds can grow to 18" wide. Fertile fronds to 24" long, much divided and covered with silky hairs.

I'm betting on bifurcatum for yours.

[Dorothy]

Thank you Ross
Sounds good to me

[flhiker]

Nice healthy plant D. He will love it. They love potassium I give mine banana peals every now and then. I use miracle gro for my yard plants and give it some once every month or two. And its very happy. It gets morning sun and shade the rest of the day. They get big, real big

[Dorothy]

Dave - How do you 'give it banana peels' ?
Do you attach it in small pieces or just lay a slab of it over the medium ?

[flhiker]

The round leafs at the top are open and I just drop pieces in there and when it rain or I water it the nutrient trickle down. Your seem to be grow up mine is attached to a tree and grow outward. Does that make sense?

[Dorothy]

Yep .. I gotcha

[bonsai1504]

i have the bifurcatum and it seems to be growing faster than my orchids!

[kavanaru]

...and so far I remember from my sister, when she was in the staghorn ferns, and filled her house with more than 20 plants (they looked all different to me at that time - I was a child -, but could be they were all teh same species) They are extremely sensitive to Tobacco smoke... she used to say the y HATE it!

...but maybe it was also her argument to stop the smoking habit of my brother-in-law!