I have an elkhorn and I would think they take similar conditions. I water twice a week with rain water. I soak it in a tupperware dish and use a turkey injecter to get water into the spag. Fertilize with fish emulsion every 3 months. I'm no expert, but mine is thriving.

I've had mine several years. I soak it up to its 'neck' in a bucket of tepid water overnight, then hang over the bucket to drain for half a day or so before re-hanging in its spot, which is on the greenhouse wall in very bright indirect light. A couple of times a month I add Miracid and Superthrive to the water.

I have a staghorn fern for several years, but I potted it up, and the thing surrounded the rim of the pot and sealed itself in there. I leave it outside in the nice weather and don't do anything to it. It grows and grows. Enjoy.

Bananas! My Mother, in San Diego, has a gigantic staghorn and the only thing she feeds it is bananas! It got so large and heavy that it started to take down the wooden patio cover it was attached to!

I live in New Jersey and have a couple of it's babies. Any suggestions on indoor watering would be appreciated. Elvis's watering method sounds good but my little ones are so large that they are difficult to move around.

My staghorn has gotten horrible black spots on it and when I went online to find out why, I found that I was overwatering. University of Florida website says to water only when the plant starts to wilt. It supposedly will recover immediately but if you overwater it will rot and die. Mine did wonderful when I left it outside ( neglected ) all summer but I brought it inside before we got a little cold weather and that's when the problems began. I 'assumed' it was drying out too much with the heat on, but now I think I was overwatering it, making the matter worse. I'm now hoping for the best... sr

Here is the link to University of Florida that I thought was very helpful. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG015

Here is a link that might be useful: University of FL/staghorn

kands52, the horrible block spots may not be from overwatering. Typical overwatering problems are a fairly sudden rot and complete collapse of the plant. Black spots can be caused by sunburn, freeze, physical damage etc. Also, if the stag is grown under an oak tree there is a black spot that may occur. The "Oak Tree Black Spot" was first discribed by a nurseryman near Mobile Alabama. The exact cause is unknown, but clearly not from one of the above mentioned causes. It is presumed to be a type of burn caused by the acid in the oak leaves.

Dear MontesMom6 How do you feed bananas to a staghorn fern? Do you mash it and push it into the spag moss? I find that idea fascinating!

I feed mine bananas too. I cut the peel up into small peices and stuff them under the sterile fronds.

Stags are extreemly easy and they say the bannana peel was a myth but it's nice to keep things out of the landfill. So it will just mulch down. You really don't have to do much. Here in florida they pretty much get watered when it rains unless it is extreemly dry. My family and I have plants my mom has many the size of volkwagons. My dad liked to mount them on metal egg crates you fill the inside with lawn clipping leaves from the yard whatever and wire on pups to the outside. Then attaché heavy chains and hang on a very strong branch. I have had to use plastic crates and one day will need to upgrade the chain to heavier one and go across the bottom of the plant. They will get cold damage if it goes below freezing too long and it will get sun burned. If your fetilizing other things you can give it some even lawn fertilizer. Just throw it in the top. They are very cool.

I accidentally left my staghorn fern in the blazing hot sun for 2 1/2 days after watering. The round infertile fronds were burned and the fern was partially submerged in water. The fern also has black spots on one of the fertile fronds tip. The fern is a baby only a couple years old and I was just about to mount it before this neglect happened, so I have two questions.
Question #1 Can I save this beautiful fern?
Question #2 If it can be saved,How long should I wait for the fern to recover(Signs and symptoms?)before I should complete the mounting process?

Any and all that are interested in an expert presentation/demonstration on growing all species of staghorn (Platycerium) should consider attending the meeting, this Sunday, of the Texas Gulf Coast Fern Society (TGCFS) in Houston. www.tgcfernsoc.org/Newsletters
Above link to the newsletter
Barbara Hoshizaki will be the guest lecturer. The primary topic will be identification. Many species and cultivars will be available for inspection. And of course there will also be much discussion on culture of various species. I'll provide a couple for the raffle as may others.