HANGING THE HORN

Remember how I repotted the staghorn fern in a grapevine ball a couple months ago? Because of the renovation to the back room (which has been finished for awhile but I still haven't gotten around to putting everything back in that room and therefore having shown you what it looks like now), the fern has been living in its ball but sitting in a pot.

But last weekend I was able finally hang it up. You may recall that I followed Kylee's tutorial on how to plant a staghorn fern in a grapevine ball. It took me awhile to find a bracket that I liked enough to use. This one came from a seller through Houzz.com. It was my first time ordering through Houzz but all went smoothly and I couldn't find this same bracket available for sale anywhere else. 

I didn't really want the bracket tight up to the door frame, but it ended up there because I wanted it to be mounted into a stud vs. just using wall anchors. Chalk this up to counting my chickens before they hatch, but staghorn ferns can grow to be huge and maybe I might get lucky enough to need all that support that a stud offers sometime in the future.

I wanted it to hang tipped forward just a little, so getting the fishing lines to be in just the right place took a little fiddling, but in the end I got it. I still haven't cut off the excess line on top yet because I wanted to make sure I liked how it was hanging. 

I love how it looks hanging and come summer I'll move it outside to hang in a shady corner of the pergola. 

By the way, the fern seems to be doing OK since the transplant. It does require a lot more watering than when it was in the plastic pot, but that's good. You don't ever want them sitting around in water. I just take the whole thing to the sink and squirt a bunch of water into the ball and occasionally give the fronds a bit of a mist. 

The sterile frond that was bright green when I repotted it has started turning brown (it's OK, that's what's supposed to happen) and another one is growing rapidly off the back. Eventually the entire grapevine ball should be covered in brown shieldlike sterile fronds. 

The staghorn is the only thing hanging in the room (maybe I'll get back to hanging art this weekend), but it certainly makes an impact. 

A NEW HOME FOR THE STAGHORN

The staghorn fern got some new digs for the new year. You may recall that I wrote about how it was doing so well it needed to be repotted, and fortunately Kylee over at Our Little Acre saw my plea for some advice. Turns out she has a great tutorial on her blog about how to create a hanging planter for a staghorn fern.

I was very happy to have found it because, as I mentioned, I had reservations about hanging a wood board on my wall that would need to be soaked when I watered the fern. Hanging will also be much better when it goes outside for summer because I can easily hang it in a nice sheltered spot under the pergola on the deck.

The method was really easy. I just grabbed about a 6-inch grapevine ball that I had (probably from a Christmas decoration or something) and cut a hole in it using my pruning shears. It's always nice to have an excuse to pull out the garden tools in the middle of winter.

Then I lined it with sphagnum moss. Kylee recommends sheet moss, but I found this on Amazon and that seemed way easier than running to the closest store that might sell moss. Someday, when Amazon has taken over the world and created the world's biggest monopoly I will be really angry I gave them so much business, but it sure is convenient to have something as random as sphagnum moss show up at your door in two days.

This moss comes as a very thin square. Cut off a small amount of it, no more than a third, and rehydrate it by soaking it in water and watch it expand. I figured out that you only need a tiny part after I soaked the entire thing and ended up stocking the compost bin with a lot of moss.

I shook some of the soil off the roots and put a little fresh potting mix and worm castings in the moss-lined ball. I also put some banana peel in there. Lots of people out there swear by banana peels as a little bit of fertilizer for staghorn ferns. Normally I ignore those old wives tale kind of gardening treatments but I figure it won't hurt and might just help.

Once I got the root ball in the hole, I just filled in with more moss and that was it. Make sure to check out the full tutorial for more details. I haven't put the strings on it yet because I can't hang it quite yet, so for now it's sitting on top of the pot it just came out of. Now we just sit back and see how it likes its new home.

STAGHORN STAGING

Houseplants are my downfall. I love them but I abuse them. Or perhaps neglect is the more appropriate term. Either way, I avoid buying expensive houseplants because my track record with them is not good.

Flora Grubb greenhouse photo

For years I have wanted a staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum). I think they are the coolest looking plants, with their big, strappy leaves that really do take on a very antlerlike look. But staghorn ferns are expensive and, I though, fussy. They want a moist atmosphere, which is not what my house offers in winter. They want spritzes and soaks and a little fertilizer.

But last year I happened upon a half-price houseplant sale at a nursery and found a small staghorn fern in a 6-inch pot for $5. How could I pass that up?

That was a year ago and that little staghorn has been doing great. It particularly loved its summer vacation outside and has been thriving since. I've done nothing to it other than running its fronds under water once every couple weeks and giving it a full-body soak every three to four weeks. Still, it has grown and has now put out a large sterile frond (the platelike bits at the base) that has far exceeded the rim of the pot and just keeps going.

As it turns out, that's a sign that it's time to get that baby out of its pot. It's common to mount a staghorn fern on a board with a mound of spagnum moss under it (they are epiphytes so they don't require soil) and then hang it on the wall. There are lots of tutorials out there about how to do this and I'll save my opinions on them until I actually try it.

The care continues in the way: frequent misting (or at least some water on the fronds) and a good soak when it is completely dry. And this is where I have questions. Everything I've read suggests soaking the entire thing, including the board (which it is permanently mounted to until it outgrows that home). So I understand that you are to let it dry before you rehang it, but won't the board still be wet when you do that (or at least damp)? How do you avoid damaging your walls?

If you grow staghorn ferns, I'd love to know how you manage this aspect. And I'll take any other hints you have. I've become quite attached to this little guy.