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Tips & Techniques

Make this fern grow better?

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

A few years ago, I transplanted many clumps of a fern to a slope under a pine tree where I thought they would look nice. Only a few survived the first summer and since then they seem to be barely hanging on despite (or maybe due to) my attempts at care (weeding, and when very dry watering). Elsewhere on my property, the same fern thrives. In a different place where I had not noticed any ferns among the weeds, in the fall 2014 I dumped oak leaves over a foot deep trying to choke the weeds. The packed down leaves were still very thick in the spring, but a few weeks later ferns (this same type) had somehow punched through and were taller and healthier than elsewhere. So random luck or a thick leaf cover helps? Late fall 2015 I put about 3 inches (most the slope could hold without slipping) of packed wet oak leaves where the ferns I'm trying to encourage were. It is hard to believe plants could punch through what is left of that now. Do I just leave that and hope? What else might improve them? They thrive in other spots on my property in places ranging from slightly more to much less sun, from slightly less to much more water, and in some spots a similar slope under a pine. Why do they fail where I put them and succeed where they landed by accident? (Eastern Massachusetts).

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Comments (3)

purslanegarden
8 years ago
Since it looks like an area that has been mostly untouched for years, I wonder if the large amount of pine needles that have decomposed over the years has caused the ground to be more acidic than the fern likes. You may want to do a soil test of that area.

The other thing to consider is what the original conditions and your current conditions are that are different where the fern is thriving.
John Fine
Original Author
8 years ago
Thankyou but: One of the places on my property where that type of fern did very well was in a giant pile of pine needles that had been added to and decomposed in place for several years. Then spring 2015 the ferns popped up through the 2014 pine needles rooted only in the mound of decomposed pine needles from previous years. Since it grows well in pure decomposed pine needles, I doubt the much smaller amount that stuck to that slope would bother it. I haven't tested in years, but most of my property is too acidic for grass (acid loving mosses grow well) and these ferns grow well in other spots that are at least too acidic for grass.

Is the picture good enough for someone to say which type of fern it is? Maybe that would lead me to online info. Also, any experience on what thickness of last years wet leaves ferns can sprout through? I don't understand how other ferns sprouted thought thicker leaf mats last spring, but I wasn't watching closely. I'm sure the heavy leaf cover I put on this bed after the ferns turned brown last fall hasn't hurt yet. But is leaving all that there now helping or hurting?
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kitasei
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Try posting this question on the fern forum.

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