Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Tog you have any pictures of your Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns?

Anyone growing these?

http://amerfernsoc.org/AFS%20Fern%20...uperbum%20.jpg

They look awesome. You grow them on a board? Crazy!

Platycerium Price List

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

This is how my friend who is a Platy Nut grows them in Bkk.


Hi Michael, now you started it! The Platyceriums are one my favs. I have a decent collection of them and I still am collecting them. They are very easy to grow and does best on an organic fert like fruit skins or just rotting fruits.
You can grow them on wooden boards, plastic drain covers, concrete pillars, trees, on the top of pots, you name it!

This is how I grow some of them at my nursery. I just hang them onto a Nangka tree. Some are tied to the trunk and branches till they are established.


Lovely group of Platycerium holttumii at my Bkk friend's yard.


These two clumps of P wilinckii (top) and P bifurcatum (bottom) are grown on a concrete pillar right in front of my porch. They both started as a single pup. I feed them 'naner skins and rotten 'naners like crazy.


The P alcicorne from Madagascar gota be the most elegant species. My absolute fav.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Those are beautiful Tog. I have one little pitiful one. Hope mine improves over the summer summer.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

They are just awesome Tog. I was doing a search on superbum and these popped up. They can get to 100 pounds? Holy cow! So how do you mount them. How do you water em? Tell us more Tog! lol It looks almost like the roots are put thru a piece of leather and nailed to the board. What is the growing medium?

thanks for the great pics and info!

Michael

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Hey Michael,
The P superbum is quite common here now and you can get one of 8 in diameter for about $15. I had 10 of them and had to give them away at the time I gave up my earlier nursery. I kept 1 which grew quite big and it ended up on one of my friend's tree.

To grow them as a small sporeling the best way is to tie the plant onto a fern bark. Then when they get to at least 9in in diameter in size, you can mount them with a thick plastic coated wire onto just about anything. It may be a tree branch, trunk, concrete pillar, a metal pole, whatever you can think of. Watering is simple, just shoot the pipe right into the crown! From my experience, it helps that the fronds are kept moist with constant watering. Besides organic feeding, I foliar feed mine with Alaska fish emulsion.

Most species would want it wet while a couple like the P wallichii from Indo China and P quadricostatum from Madagascar must have a dry dormant period. If watered during this time, they will go bust. I killed 50 of the P wallichii because of the rain here.

It is interesting that once they are establsihed with a good rooting system, they will pup all around. You can cut the pups out with an inch of the root and they will do fine. If you leave them on, after awhile they will do a 360 degree wrap around. I like to grow them on plastic drain covers as they are aesthetically pleasing and the plant can grow out from the back, later forming a complete 'ball'. Moreover, plastic drain covers do not deteriorate like wood or fern bark over time.

In total, there are less than 30 species in the world and I have at one time or another kept all except the P madagascariensis and the P quadridichotomum, both from Madagascar. I was given a couple of P madagascariensis but I haven't taken them back from Bkk. They have been there at my friend's place for 6 years now! :ha:

The most common one found in M'sia is the P coronarium which is abundant in old rubber estates. They are very cheap and you can get a big 2ft x 2ft one for less than $2 from the Orang Asli. I find that the most visually desirable one is the P ridleyi found from Northern M'sia to Thailand. Its fronds are erect like that of a deer's antler. The main plant is like a big round ribbed cabbage.

I hope the info helps! Sweet Platy dreams....:ha:

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Great pics man! I always loved the ones that look like fallow deer antlers. Never tried growing them though. I'd guess they require super high humidity to thrive indoors here during winter, even more than bananas.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Hey Bob, give them a shot. You can try something tough like the P coronarium. Their humidity requirement is simpler than 'naners as all you have to do is to mist them every now and then and keep them warm. They go very low light though they can be grown full sun too. They don't seem to suffer from any diseases or pests whatsoever. The fun thing about them is that if you live in the tropics, the spores will germinate if the condition is right and you will be having hybrids or little sporelings near damp places. :ha:

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

I've noticed some brown scale on the two that we have in the greenhouse on campus. It doesn't completely infest the fern, but there always seems to be a few little buggers on them. Not anything to worry about. Now, the Tabernaemontana that grows right next to it...that's a whole different story, LOL!

:0517:

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Frank, the scale got to the Platy cos of the lack of air flow. My cycads at home have the problem most of the time.

I guess the only pest we have here for the Platy if you don't water it well is rats making a nest in the crown area. Birds love to nest there too. When rats get into it, it's a big mess as they tunnel into the root area sometimes killing the plant. The only prevention is to water heavily into the crown.

In the wild, the collectors often get a shock as the big ones up the trees are known to be nests for the Civet Cats and also snakes like to hide in there. It is often you get snakes' eggs and birds' eggs in the crown area. It has the perfect cool perfect environment for incubation.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

I don't know anything about the plants but had read this and don't know if its the brown spots your seeing.

at:

Staghorn Fern, Platycerium

NOTE: Don't think your stag is sick or has a disease when you see brown fuzzy patches appear on the bottom side of the tips of older larger fertile fronds. These are the spores. Leave them alone :-)


http://mgonline.com/staghorn03.jpg

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Mike, just maybe the scale bugs got onto the Platy from the Tabernaemontana. You how these bugs multiply when the air flow is bad.

Coming to your fuzzy brown patches, if you walk under a big specimen, careful that no one knocks the fronds or you are gonna have a spore rain coming onto you! :ha:

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Very nice pictures, Tog Tan!! I've been very interested in Staghorn ferns for some time now. I have yet to buy one and start growing them. I'm kinda waiting till I have my own place to go crazy with plants. Space is kinda limited right now.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Bryan, grow them on a plastic drain cover. You can winter it indoors easily. Start now so that by the time you get you own place you will have a decent size plant and you can just tie the plant and mounting onto a pillar and let it wrap around.

There's a house near my place who grows only the local species, Platycerium coronarium all over the front of the place. Looks cool. I will take a pix tomorrow and post it. Now it's 2.19am and I won't want to drive over to wake the poor bugger up and get him to put the lights on for me to take a pix even if I tell him I want to show it to you. :ha::ha::ha:

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Any suggestions on where to buy them for cheap? I was looking on ebay. Also, any suggested species? Just looking for something that looks nice, and will be easy to take care of.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Bryan, you can check out the link at the beginning of the thread given by Michael. All the best on your purchase!

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Hi Tog Tan or anyone else who may know,
I just recently bought a Staghorn fern - Platycerium Bifurcatum. I brought it home Sunday, in which it looked perfectly happy, and today found a part of one of the fronds has a damp brown patch area about an inch and a half long. I have it in part shade to shade not receiving any direct light and havent watered it since I brought it home - the moss is still a bit moist. There is also a spot on another leaf similar to it except circular. I live in Oceanisde, CA close to the coast. Would you happen to know what this is?

Thanks,
Angelikie:0519:

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

I'm no expert, but I have read that staghorn ferns have spores on the ends of their fronds which are brown in color. If the brown is on the tips of the fronds, that's probably what it is (and it's perfectly normal). If that's not where it is, I really can't help....sorry.

Oh...and PS....sadly Tog Tan has passed away. See his signature for a link to the thread about it.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

Thanks LilRaverBoi for your input, but I'm fairly certain that the brown spots are not spores. I have seen spores before, on other ferns species, so i have a general idea of what they look like. Other than that, I am sorry to hear about Tog Tan's death and wish his family the best...
Angie

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

I'm sure if you posted some pictures some of the experts could give you some feedback. I'd kinda like to see it myself just for the sake of knowledge.

Re: Platycerium - Staghorn Ferns
 

My twist on growing a Staghorn Fern...