One of the big issues is humidity. They don't cope well with dry heat. P. superbum is a rainforest plant. If you're frost free then cold shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for the comment. We don't get much in the way of dry heat--perhaps 5 days above 90 F (32 C) this year. From May through October we averaged pretty consistently about 75/55 F (24/13 C). People in San Francisco would think we are dry, but people farther inland would think we are humid. Dew points tend to be in the 50s in summer, I think. If the temperature does rise above 85 or so, it can get dry. But that happens only a few days a year, and even then the nights are cooler and humid.

I checked. Early October was one of our hottest times. 6 days in a row above 80 F, including 2 above 90 F. Humidity dropped as low as the teens 4 days in a row, recovering into the 80s (percent relative humidity) or mid 60s (percent) the two hottest days. A typical heat wave for here, brief and not our usual climate. They do get worse periods of hot and dry in most areas of Southern California than we do here.

I do grow Begonias outside in the summer that most people think need very high humidity. An example is B. brevirimosa, which is typically grown as a terrarium plant. It does fine in our outside summer humidity.

Sounds like you're reasonably covered. But I'd watch when it's warmish and RH drops to 30% or below. It's a sliding scale in reality. As humidity drops you start getting negative but not noticeable effects. With decreasing humidity the negativity increases to where it starts to become noticeable. Further along the scale obvious damage starts to set in. Eventually you reach the point of plant death. There's no one point which separates good from bad. If you can stockpile rain water that would be an advantage. A lot of water, particularly town water, is loaded up with minerals and chemical additives which will accumulate as water dries on the plant.

We are really lucky when it comes to water here. I am in an area (which also includes all of the city of San Francisco) that receives what is called "Hetch Hetchy" water. That's the name of the initial reservoir up in the Sierras. There's a huge controversy, as that involved (decades ago) damming up what John Muir apparently considered the "second Yosemite". However, we get great water.

One of the local Carnivorous plant growers (Predatory Plants) instructs on their website: "Use rain water, distilled water, or tap water with low mineral content (like Hetch Hetchy water in the SF Bay Area.)". The water is that good.

i just found a Platycerium superbum at a nursery in Santa Cruz. The plant is predictably mislabeled "Platycerium grande". It was $18, which seemed like a reasonable price--neither good nor bad. However, today was the first time in years I've seen any for sale, and the first ever for an unmounted plant in Northern/Central California.

My challenge now is to keep it alive. I assume it is better mounted once it warms up a bit? Any tips on how to best water it prior to mounting, and in the winter (when it wants less water)?

No doubt the medium in the pot is fast draining, I'd just put the whole pot in water to let it soak, then let the water run out.

Does look like superbum, but grande does look similar.

They're quite expensive here, despite being a native. See bifurcatum in pots quite a lot but never superbum.

I live in Sydney and they handle the heat pretty well i thought. The problem is wind. Thats what really gets them i believe. Mine are in semi protected areas and only get water when it rains. Even the young ones. We put banana skins in them for abit of extra food.

cheers
Tim

There'd be no problems with them in the northern beaches area of Sydney, western suburbs may be a different story. I lived once just north of Sydney and had a huge one that relied only on rain water. They grow well right up the east coast of Australia and I've even seen them in Madang, Papua New Guinea. Heat's not a big issue, the problem is humidity, especially if the dry is prolonged. Where I am now, near Darwin, they don't cope at all.

I live in Sydney and they handle the heat pretty well i thought. The problem is wind. Thats what really gets them i believe. Mine are in semi protected areas and only get water when it rains. Even the young ones. We put banana skins in them for abit of extra food.

cheers
Tim

Hey tropicbreezant, i recently read somewhere that someone had a problem keeping humidity up around bromeliads hanging on the wall. They put a little fountain underneath them and it worked a treat. However in Darwin you might need a lake system under them hehe. Bloody hot there. Mark, what type of conditions do you have? Can u put other plants around it and out of wind? Giving the surrounding plants a quick hose will help raise humidity around it.

Tim

Hi Tim,

My growing area is tiny, but surrounded by walls, trees, etc., and packed with plants. I don't get full sun anywhere, and I assume the worst of the wind is blocked. Our typical wind situation, besides storms in winter, is a strong breeze that picks up in late afternoon, particularly in the warmer part of the year. I think it cools things down a bit, but usually the fog does not blow in with it. I'm in a very sunny climate, even if I don't personally get that much sun. With all my plants packed into a small area, I'm sure that must raise the humidity a bit as well.

I suspect the problems here are the 5 or 10 very warm, dry days a year, along with a couple months with very cool days (50s F).

Below is a link to our weather for the past year. It's not a normal year, since we usually get about 25 inches of rain, almost all in November through March. I'm not sure their precipitation numbers are complete. It also starts with the severe freeze exactly a year ago, which a lot of people say was the worst since 1990 ("the freeze of the century"). I'm slightly less cold than the location below, which is our airport, a mile and a half away.

Here is a link that might be useful: Last years weather, San Carlos Airport

You can grow many of the Platyceriums. P.superbum is very easy to grow in the bay area. P.lemoinii and its various variants. I think even P.andes can grow outdoors here.

And what I said about variants is good for the whole lot of P.bifurcatums.

I wonder about giving P.riddlyi a chance. But,they cost a fortune.

Stan,

Thanks for the info.

I have P. ridleyi sporophytes, but I think it's pretty certain even summer is too cold here for those. I also have P. andinum gametophytes, but not sporophytes. Good to hear that it might have a chance--that's one I was wondering about. A friend was able to donate P. andinum spores to the AFS spore exchange. So if anyone wants to try it, they can give it a shot. I saw what appeared to be a mature division of that species at Flora Grubb for I think $650 (!).

AFS spore exchange