I think that part of the complication could be that several ferns of the Asplenium family are referred to as 'Mother Ferns.' Indeed I have an Asplenium Viviparum that is also quite often called mother fern. Though I cannot pass on information ideally catered to your particular variation, I can say that mine has done splendidly in the house! I keep it in a north facing window in part shade and water it only once every 7-10 days. The most important thing is that it is consistent really. My local gardening guru actually suggests watering it by feeling the weight- with the goal of always keeping it the same. These kinds of ferns also do really well with a water misting on the foliage. I do mine only once a week- and it seems quite happy- if you live in a drier climate, however, misting more often would be more important. I don't do anything else in the way of feeding it. I really love having mine indoors. I hope that this helps!

Not all MG has fert in it, but I would agree, also worrying it might not be evenly mixed or too strong for house plants - or I'll forget and fertilize when fert'ing other plants. If all your plants are in that, the last wouldn't be a concern for you. The issues folks can have with peaty potting soil usually take more than a few months to manifest, so, worst-case-scenario, you won't like it and can change it again in the spring. Compared to having its' roots crammed/with no soil, the fern would probably pick the MG even if something else might be preferable. Ferns aren't that picky, IMHO/E. FWIW, I put a few plants in the ground last spring and they stayed evergreen, through a winter-low of 25 here. Same thing at my Mom's house a few miles away. They seem to be much more concerned about not drying out.

Japanese and other Asian maples - also vine maple, Acer circinatum - have non-aggressive, rather well-behaved root systems compared to western maples. They make fine companions for a variety of other plants. But.....the root systems are sensitive and resent disturbance. In fact, too much disturbance in the root zone can lead to some rather severe problems. If you choose to underplant, select something that will not need a lot of attention in the way of cultivation or dividing - small shrubs, groundcovers, a few colonizing perennials are good choices.

I'm struggling to grow my Japanese holly fern in my hot dry 1 bedroom apartment. I can water it twice a week and still find it practically dead and severely wilted. Today is one of those days. I'm desperate to save it. In a fit of panic I broke through the dead root ball and replaced some of the soil, but I really need a better mix. I'm so frustrated because this is 2nd generation to one of my first houseplants that I've had since the late 1990's. That one thrived in the basement but died as soon as I tried to grow it in a room similar to my apartment. I was lucky to find sprouts from the basement that I grew it originally. I got one of them to grow when I lived with my grandma and had a basement. But now I don't. I don't want to lose this plant, but it's not thriving and never has gotten as great as I had when I could grow it in a basement. The main problem I see is the soil drying out. I'm also noticing lots of brown burned areas on the leaves. I suspect because of the dehydrating/hydrating cycles. I wish I could get the plant to stop wilting so I stop getting those brown marks/spots. What type of soil should I use and will the act I did kill the plant? There are spores on the leaves. As a last resort, how should I go about propagating those? This post was edited by fieldofflowers on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 1:19