Misting can cause fungus problems in ferns and also help to spread the disease propagules (spores).

I'd agree, low light and low air humidity. Ideal conditions (indoors) for humans are generally far from ideal for many plants.

for my room the:

- relative humidity using multiple phone apps placed next to the plant (with environmental sensors) was found to range between 37% to 50%

- temperature: 25 deg Celsius (I usually have a small floor fan switched on in my room and the door opened to allow the aircon air from the lounge)

- light (again using phone apps of different phones for comparison): 5 - 8 lux

so definitely agree that light and humidity might be the problem and misting is not going to help, I think I might buy a 6500K White LED globe to fix the light issue but for humidity what specific products (humidifier) do you guys recommend/use?

The upper end of the range of your relative humidity at that temperature isn't so bad but you definitely wouldn't want it any lower. 5 - 8 lux is very low, virtually dark. In museums/art galleries lighting is set to around 100 lux to prevent damage to pigments and organic materials. It makes the galleries quite dim but relies on peoples' eyes adjusting. That level of light, however, is useless to plants for photosynthesis. Somehow your reading is probably inaccurate. On a cloudy winters day lux can be around 3000 or lower, not too bad for a lot of ferns.

yeah the above readings would be inaccurate as its been attained from the iphone6 and Samsung galaxy edge s6+ environmental sensors, i'm thinking of getting a proper humidity reader for the near future.

As others said this is not the easiest indoor plant. I do keep mine over winter indoors but in the cooler part of the house/garage and/or smaller plants in a "garden window". As also said above light and humidity are probably the problem with your plant.....even moreso in that the plant was probably growing under ideal conditions at the nursery and acclimated to higher humidity and greater light. I would get it closer to the window even if you add supplementary light. Humidity is hard to get up around a plant indoors. You could try growing it on a large tray of wet stones and pebbles (so there is always water evaporating around the plant yet the bottom of the pot is raised up out of the water). It may be hard for a plant that big but growing it in a large glass fishbowl type structure also works well. That is the sides are surrounded by glass (but the top is still open for some air circulation keeps the humidity up but you will need to be careful about overwatering in that situationl

Hi Sky High! If you can find a Macho Fern for sale anywhere, they are much more suited for indoor conditions. Mine flourish on the porch in the summer and in the dining room the rest of the year. As long as they don't dry out they'll hold on to every leaf. I've been growing them for many years and divide them to share when they get too big to manage. Good luck!

woodnative - "You could try growing it on a large tray of wet stones and pebbles (so there is always water evaporating around the plant yet the bottom of the pot is raised up out of the water)" - I have tried this previously with my peace lilies and it didn't quite work out for me.

Marcy - I've researched the Macho Fern and I agree that might be the better choice for indoors since I'm not able to amp up the humidity and finding it difficult to set up 6500k lights over it. (personally not a fan of white LED lights in bedrooms)

Since the last post I had a 1.2W LED Desk Lamp set up to be right over the Boston fern, and found it to make no difference (i didn't mist or water as wooden skewer is still wet) --> stems are just bending over and more leaves turning brown, shrivelling and falling.

So I've read some people had great success with BF by placing them in NW areas of their homes outdoors. So I've now done that (the picture below shows the NW shade side from my house)...

Would this location be okay?

Also I feel I need to give the BF some moisturiser (fertilising, misting, watering) but not sure on how to go about?

It was freshly watered on Monday (the day I brought it from the nursery) and today (Friday) the wooden skewer still comes out with bits of the mix stuck onto it, so not sure if watering might hurt it more?

I read some people water theirs "twice a week from the top until the water runs out from the bottom of the plastic pot, and on Sunday they fill a big plastic tote with water and a small amount of miracle grow and let the ferns sit in the water for 5-10 min."

Anyone else do something similar or suggest something else?

I have a BF indoors all the time. It never goes outside. I mist every morning, and I'm in dry desert air, so the humidity is general below 40% in my house. It's near a west window, although never in direct sunlight. I never thought I could grow BF or asparagus ferns here, but I grow both. The Boston is given no special care. It's fertilized in spring and summer, once a month, and when the pot feels light, I water it. Ferns don't like being completely dry. So mine gets watered maybe once every 4-5 days. It's in a 4" pot. It doesn't look as good in fall and winter, but still looks decent. Bounces back in spring and summer. It has no pebble tray either! It might not be as full and magnificent as BFs in other climates that can stay outside, but I've had it for about ten years.

Randi - wow this is the first time i read something about a BF being able to live in a dry climate without some external humidifier source. This is very encouraging as I really wanted my BF indoors. Would you be able to post a picture of the fertiliser you use (brand name and NPK ratio)? Also do you soak them in a tub of water when watering or just water from the top?

Do try one, Sky High! I didn't have one for many years because I had always read I wouldn't be able to keep one alive in a dry climate. I water from the top most of the time. Maybe once every couple of months I'll soak them, but only for twenty minutes to half an hour. I use only Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 on ALL my plants. I did a lot of research, and most successful growers use it. Makes it easy because it works for everything, even cacti and succulents. I couldn't find it anywhere around here, so I order it online. 8 oz. lasts me a long time--a year or more.