Sadleria cyatheoides grows in company with Cibotium glaucum in its native Hawaiian habitat, so that's an indication of its semi-tender hardiness characteristics. But Sadleria also has more tolerance of full exposure sites and can even colonise bare lava scree where no other ferns have a foothold. It does seem to benefit from quite high light levels by fern standards - so that could be a clue as to boosting its California winter survivability. Glasshouse only in the UK. Direct sun in winter, against a sheltered south-facing wall, together with very free drainage indeed - that would be the key to pushing the winter envelope that little extra bit. In summer you could maybe move the plant to a shadier and damper spot - after all, they stay so small it's convenient to keep them tub-grown and move them around to suit yourself. As for soil: they are strictly acid-lovers and should, like all Blechnum types, be grown in ericaceous compost bulked up with something like composted bark or orchid chips to open out the structure. Although you want to keep them continuously moist all summer, daily watering must flood through fairly quickly - not hang around and get claggy and sour. Both Cibotiums and Sadleria are sensitive to over-feeding with inappropriate chemical fertilisers - use only ultra-diluted nitrate based feeds and be very conservative indeed. Too little is fine - too much is fatal.

Yup, that sounds like scale. Aspleniums (including bird's nest ferns as well as various others) are very sensitive to it, and I haven't figured out any feasible way to keep them under control. Apart from toxicity problems, pesticides don't seem particularly effective. Picking them off by hand can work if you do if often and thoroughly. I don't know about staghorn ferns, but ficus certainly can get bad scale infestations. Also, for what it's worth, the sori (clusterings of spore-producing sporangia) on a bird's nest fern would look like straight dark lines starting near the center of the leaf and extending about halfway to the leaf margin. Here's a picture I took of the underside of a leaf of a large bird's nest fern with sori: Patrick Alexander

Dan, when they start to crack and shrivel, they are fantastic. I eat them peel and all. Here is some of the history and I really want to see how it performs for those who have it: ---me asking--- Would you happen to recognize this fig? I call it the Los Lunas Fig. Actually, I got it from a gentleman that rescued it from a 100+yr old building that was torn down. Los Lunas, NM was a very famous train station town so if I had to guess it would be Italian/Spanish.Many of the inhabitants of Los Lunas were result of Spanish coming thru New Mexico. We have Catholic Spanish churches here that are hundreds of years old that are made from mud bricks! The figs are very tasty and if you look at the pictures we were collecting figs until November! ---the reply--- I think this fig, it is from the "Alacantines" group. It is very similar to "carabasseta". The "carabasseta" fig was and it is growing in the Balearic Islands.These figs types was used to dry also to fresh. The monks that populated the churches, they came mainly from "Mallorca".

If the natural predators are not controlling them, and insecticidal soaps are not very effective, the next, least toxic, step is to spray superior oils carefully on the scales. Follow label directions carefully and do not spray if predators and parasites are around.