Brian, this might be kind of a long shot, but if you can travel to Forty Myers, take a look at the enormous staghorns hanging in trees at the Edison Mansion and grounds. I've certainly never seen anything like it-these things are huge!

It's much better for the tree if you attach the staghorn directly to the trunk or a large limb. Hanging it from a chain is popular and easy, but if the limb breaks you have a massive staghorn, a bunch of chain, and a broken branch lying on the ground.

The 75lb one is definitely going to need a chain, it's too large to tie to the tree, but the smaller ones can be tied to the tree with heavy cotton or jute rope. It will take a while, but the rope will eventually rot away. By then, though, the staghorn will have attached itself permanently to the tree.

thanks, but fort myers is 5 hour trip from here... Still hoping to get some ideas about possibly drilling into the trunk and putting in a heavy duty hook that the plant can hang from..

Here's a newly attached piece of staghorn on a Royal Poinciana. That's butcher's twine holding it in place:

Here's a more established one - around 12 years - attached to a triple Foxtail palm:

And here's a large Elkhorn fern literally stuffed into the old boot on a massive Raffia Palm:

fawnridge, there are no branches on these trees within 40 or 50 feet from the ground... The only way i can see to hang it is to put a heavy duty arm/hook into the trunk of the tree... (oak tree i believe)

A photo of the tree would help.

The branching of the trunk is about 20-25 feet up..

Nothing but trunk for 35-40 feet

Brian - I don't think the second tree is going to work unless you want to spend a lot of money on chain AND have a long chain hanging down! I believe the second tree is a Cypress and not an oak.

For the first tree the solution is quite simple and will not harm the tree.

1. Get two 10' sections of pipe. At least 2" in diameter and stainless steel if possible. Galvanized will work, but I would rust coat it. These pipes go into the two crotches.

2. To prevent the pipes from falling, you will need to build a box frame out of more pipe. The frame has two parallel top pieces resting on the other two parallel bottom pieces. Drill holes in the corners and use 1/2" bolts to hold them together. Connect three pieces on the ground and the last one once you get up on a ladder (with help) at the crotch. This frame goes UNDER the pipe and the pipe is connected to the frame at two points with 1/2" bolts.

3. In the ends of the pipes, drill holes to hold a 1/2" eye bolt.

4. S hooks and chain down to wherever you want the staghorns to hang - one on either end of each pipe - four in total.

I make a wire "pocket"...........I use a piece of garden wire fence....like the 2"x4" mesh..........and fasten the fern to the trunk with screws holding the wire........I'm using a split fern.....

Just hold the piece of fern against the trunk and thread the fronds thru the wire mesh........twist the corners of the fence to make a "hole" and insert a screw into the trunk.......wrap the wire around the fern/trunk and attach again.....leave a little slack and add some leaves or compost or bark between the tree and fern........

The sterile frond will cover the wires attaching to the pocket.....making a 'unit'

doug

Are you sure you want to put it on the tree up here in Gainesville? People are great at telling you how, but do you realize that it will likely freeze to death outside in the winter here? This is another case of the "Zone 9" misdirection. Zone 9 for staghorns is more 9b than 9a. They are only cold hardy to 30 degrees for short periods, according to UF/IFAS, and it gets colder than that regularly here.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg015

that's why i'm looking for a solution that includes the ability to easily take it down from the tree and move it into the garage... I'm thinking of a oversized 90' hanger, or an arching 180' large hook which would be fastened into the tree. the hook would stay permanently, the plant would be moveable..

is that 1 bar high and 1 bar low ? not sure tell from the pic...

Cliseup of hook. You can see bark has partially grown over screws. Also notice hook has bent a little from weight. I don't plan to change any time soon but realize I will be needing a Plan B

I made a cover out of fleece, shaped like a large pillow case and cover hanging basket that way. It has been adequate winter protection during regular winters. Last year or year b4 I didn't cover at all as we had no freeze days. It just got a little ratty. In my area, most people just throw a blanket around their large stag horn ferns, but some kinda protection definitely a must in z9

I would not encourage you to damage your bark by putting in huge bolts that will grow into the tree bark eventually. It makes places for disease and insects to get in.

fawnridge (Ricky), your suggested non-intrusive support frame is lovely. Even I (after a couple of tries) can picture it.

Not only that^....but some day, somebody will be running a chainsaw through the wood of those trees, unaware there's metal buried inside. That's the recipe for kickback on the saw and a nasty gash across the face for the poor slob running the saw.

I mentioned the Edison estate grounds for numerous extremely large staghorn ferns suspended from trees. I only mentioned this because they did so much of it there. In truth, when I saw it, I thought it a bit strange of a practice. Not saying I recommend the practice.

I put my staghorns into hanging baskets like this one (not mine). When they dry out they only weigh a few pounds, so I can move them into the house or garage when it's going to freeze.

Very nice Dchall

while I agree mounting on a fork in tree or against trunk with twine or whatever is ideal, it is not practical for those who may need to bring in during winter.

HST, it is an overreaction to get excited about putting nails or screws in a tree. Trees are VERY resilient and heal over. If not, we'd have no trees in our planet. Think of damage from deer, woodpeckers, wind, rain, pruning, etc. There is a risk yes, but I can't think of a single risk free activity in our world, can you?

You've managed to completely miss my point, bossy. If you read more carefully, you will see that my concern is for the unsuspecting person who runs a saw (some day) into a tree with metal in it. Think I don't know what I'm talking about? I ran power saw for thirty years on the job-and thankfully, don't have to do that these days.....but metal buried inside of wood is a real threat-not for the tree, but for the tree feller.

Also, trees do not heal. They compartmentalize wounds. Completely different process. A wound in a tree remains there for the remainder of that trees life and even beyond, since we can later see these defects in lumber. But the tree-growing like a child's toy where one piece fits over the outside of another, like nesting toys-eventually covers these wounds up with new layers of wood. But that's not "healing".

Sorry Tom, I posted w/o ever reading your post. I wasn't riveted on what you had to say. You offer a perspective that I had not considered when posting and that is cutting with nails, etc. in the tree. We once had to cut a tree where somebody had had the great idea to fill a hole with concrete to slow down rotting (I guess) and when it was our time to cut, it ruined DHs saw, some concrete debris hit his face and removing the big chunk of concrete was a big chore. Sounds like you might have been in the lumber biz or in a situation dealing with trees/lumber freq. I am not.

In my area, residential trees are (unfortunately) rarely used for lumber and typically go to a burn pile or hauled away. In a residential case like that, there is far less danger than in the situations you describe but yes, danger nonetheless,

I don't argue about trees, I was simply posting what I do, and what has worked for me. In the cases where my action turns out to be monumental mistakes, I am never too proud to post accordingly, assuming the tree didn't fall on me...

I don't know if anyone remembers in the 70s (and even sometimes today) when the environmental "activists" (more like terrorists in this case) in the PNW hammered huge spikes into old-growth trees and loggers were getting killed and maimed when they tried to cut them down. This isn't a joke. Even a small nail or screw can grab a chainsaw and throw it back at you. Loggers now have a guy who goes ahead and runs a metal detector across trees before they start to cut them. He marks trees with red paint for not safe if he finds any metal.

dirtygardener, that reminds me of the many metal spikes that were used not long ago, following Hurricane Ike, to save really old trees in my area. DH and I were noticing recently that the spike in a tree very close to our subdivision has all but disappeared. Given that a lot of tree removal is done by untrained personnel, I doubt they use a metal detector. What a great and safe idea. I hope it is adopted in my area before many, if any, accidents occur. The spike used in the tree I'm talking about was about 1"diameter, running thru the entire trunk and fastened with large hex nuts at each end. You can no longer see them. The tree was saved and is beautiful but I hope nobody has to cut it.