Staghorn Elkhorn propagation?

[kg5]

New Platycerium's spore germinating area. It is the bottom shelf in the bush house. Plastic containers on top of heating matts. It has been a very cheap way to germinate spore.



This image shows extra propagation tray on top of heating matts because for some reason these 2 matts are very hot ones. Timber & bricks are to keep the containers lids tightly sealed.



Container on normally hot heating matts. Humidty moisture hanging from the top of the lids.



An electric cut off safety switch box that stops an electric currant fault killing a person or animal.



Simple plastic container to keep the safety switch box dry.

[kg5]

Have been looking for P. Dwaf superbum spore which is another protected plant in Australia. Have been looking for some time now with no luck. It is still just so rare. But have been able to find and have purchased 7 plants that are just large enough to produce spore. Will mount 2 on trees on my block of land here as a source for spore as they only grow from spore and grow on the other as plant stock. Really think this is something.

Common name Dwarf Cabbage Staghorn.

1st plant

Image of Dwarf Platycerium Superbum.



2nd plant

[kg5]

Just had to share the definition of the common names to Staghorns & Elkhorns that has come to me!

Staghorns can not have little ones.

Elkhorns can have pup or grow buttons.

After years of searching have just found the best Platycerium grower with many different types that also have other Platycerium contacts. Can now get the Elkhorns to grow on as mother plants at last with Staghorns for spore harvest as well. Plus they live not that far from me here. How great is that!

[kg5]

It makes sense that a nursery grown Platycerium would be a hybrid or non Australia Platycerium as all Native Australia Platycerium's are protected plants so hybrid spore would be a better growing option than growing the lic number needing types.

Platycerium compacta still growing very nicely over the colder months.

[estación seca]

Does everybody in Australia need a license to grow any native plant?

[kg5]

All Australian plants in the wild are protected. The Australia epiphytes are very much so protected because they are so easy to harvest from the wild and sell.

All Australia native orchids and Platyceriums sales are monitored especially from collectors that are environmentally switched on. Selling wild harvest plants is not a good idea in Australia.

Many plants are crossed so as to not have to go through getting a lic # to grow the native plant.

Another point of interest is I can not sell plants to Western Australia, Tasmania or the Northern Territory. I can get the paper work to be approved to treat plants so that they can be sent to these states and Territory but it is a something to be done still. If it is not a nightmare.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by kg5

Just had to share the definition of the common names to Staghorns & Elkhorns that has come to me!

Staghorns can not have little ones.

Elkhorns can have pup or grow buttons.

I either disagree or totally misunderstand what you're saying here.

My staghorn - Platycerium bifurcatum - produced plenty of pups. It started out as a single growth in a coco-lined basket, and every time the roots reached the surface opposite the plant, new shield fronds would form, ultimately growing the fertile fronds. Ultimately, by overgrowing itself, it became a "ball" about 4 meters in diameter.

[kg5]

Thank you for your question Ray.

Will try and be a bit more clearer. As an Australian we speak a little differently which does cause some issues with sentence structure.

An elkhorn naturally grows other elkhorns that I call pups or grow buttons. They can also grow from spore. A Platycerium bifurcatum is an elkhorn as it grows other plants from itself. Elkhorn grow into mass of individual plants.

A staghorn can only be reproduced naturally by growing from spore. It can not grow plants or pups or grow buttons. Like P. superbum or P. grande. Only one single plant grows into a large plant.

[Ray]

Well... I apparently understood you correctly, so that suggests that we are simply referring to the plants differently.

I have always heard of Platycerium bifurcatum referred-to as a "staghorn fern", but by that definition, it's an elkhorn.

[kg5]

Stags and elks have always been interchangeable "common name" terms.

And people have a right to call all Platyceriums stags or elks as they are just common names.

If buyers do a search for Platyceriums they are far more likely to search for stags or elks.

As I am looking at them to grow in numbers and many different. Platyceriums seem to be a male type and a female type. Stagshorns can not have babies and elkhorns can have babies.

Am looking at doing these plants seriously naming becomes very important to me. So I have put a definition to these common name terms that sound like their original intent. Anyway for me it just puts things into an orderly manner.