I can't keep a fern alive in my house to save my life, and I've tried them all. Right now I have a holly fern and a bird's nest, but it will be a miracle if either makes it through the winter. I guess the "cool kids" must live in a greenhouse----or they don't tell you that they're fern-murders when they shop!

I had a maidenhair fern, and it did very poorly, it is definitely a high humidity plant. I kept it for a year, and it just kept looking worse and and worse, fronds drying up, new fronds growing smaller and smaller. Even in the summer, with the humidity up to 60%, it didn't do well. I ended up tossing it. It was totally my fault too, I should have read about this fern before buying it: everything I read after I brought the plant home says it will not do well outside a terrarium or a humid greenhouse.

I have a pteris cretica, and it's doing ok, but does get some dry tips, and it definitely doesn't look as good as its brothers in the greenhouse. But it did grow from a tiny 1.5'' tall seedling into a medium-sized plant, so it must feel OK here. I wouldn't say it's an easy plant, but it can be managed in a home environment.

I also have an Indian Holly Fern, Arachniodes simplicior 'Variegata' -- I'd say it's about equal to pteris cretica in difficulty.

Now my bird's nest fern -- it's one of the easiest plants I've grown. It too grew from a tiny seedling I got less than a year ago, and it now has fronds more than a foot long, no dry tips, new fronds keep growing and only the baby fronds died so far. It sits by the north window, in a 3'' pot with light soil (50% perlite), and it gets balanced no-urea fertilizer, diluted to half strength, with most waterings; I don't let the soil dry out. I haven't had a single problem with it (knock on wood), and it looks terrific. It looks just as good as the ones I see growing in greenhouses, though I understand it will not grow into a huge 4'-tall plant -- and if it grew in a greenhouse, it eventually would. It didn't even mind the low humidity (~20%) in the winter. I see bird's nest ferns in Home Depot all the time, so I figure if neither me nor Home Depot manage to kill these, they must be very easy plants.

Only luck I have with ferns is in terr. Presently I have 4 tiny volunteer maidenhead ferns which sprang up in one of my terrs.

shiver:

Actually, some of them do tell me they're fern murderers when they ask for suggestions. There was a lady yesterday who told me she'd tried Boston ferns (I think it was) three times and killed them die three times. (I said, "Oh, so you're a serial.")

My rabbit's-foot made it through last winter, so I'm expecting it to be okay this winter too; this is going to be the first winter in quite a while that I've attempted a bird's-nest during winter, though.

alenka:

The books tend to say conflicting things about Pteris and Cyrtomium both; they'll say stuff like, this fern is one of the very easiest of all the ferns, and then they launch into a bunch of super-specific care instructions that sound difficult to achieve, which is a lot of why I'm so confused about this whole fern-difficulty question. But still, kudos if your Pteris likes you well enough to grow.

I had to look up the Arachnoides -- never heard of them before. They're pretty.

paul:

I just put a terrarium together yesterday that includes a fern from the greenhouse floor (I think a Cyrtomium, but it's too small to be sure about), so I'm actually a little encouraged to hear that. This is my first terrarium, though, so the fern remains a little bit endangered.

Nephrolepsis (Boston fern and cultivars)
Asplenium (bird's-nest fern)
Davallia (rabbit's-foot, squirrel's-foot ferns)

these ones are super easy for me.

Adiantum (maidenhair fern) I can't grow this one, I don't like them (or maybe they don't like me) the others ones you have posted I haven't tried yet.

I have 2 other ferns I have not identified yet, pretty sure they are related to the Boston Fern.

Of the ferns I've attempted to grow:

Boston--difficult. I kept a small one alive for a while by wick watering.

Bird's nest--very difficult; I've killed 3 or 4. A small one did well in a terrarium for quite a while, but once it outgrew the space, I couldn't keep it going in the open air.

Pteris--extremely difficult. I don't care what "they" say, these do need special care.

Staghorn--very easy. I was afraid of these for a long time. I bought one on sale at Lowes two years ago, and it has done very well for me with basic houseplant care. East window, water when dry. No special humidity, no special temperatures, no misting, no summer outdoors. For feeding, it gets a little fish emulsion every now and then. I have had to pot it up twice since I got it, not because of the root system, which is smallish, but because it has gotten too top heavy for the pots. Currently I have it potted in sphagnum moss in a hanging basket, but I would like to mount it eventually.

These are just my personal experiences. Keep in mind that I am not good with plants that need a lot of fussing. If it needs more than good light, decent soil, reasonably regular watering and fertilizing, and some occasional pruning--it is too much trouble for me.

I've never had any luck with the ruffly ferns, i.e. Boston, Kimberley, e.t.c I've had maidnenhairs, pteris, and a few others which died a slow death. The only ferns that have done well for me are the bird's nest ferns. Actually, I killed my first one, an 'Osaka', by watering in the crown area. The curly edged one is more fussy about humidity than the species. Now, I try to keep the soil moist and avoid watering in the crown area.

Staghorns are very intriguing and I'm sure I'll soon try one. Karen has just given me some inspiration!

I have a Boston Fern... it has been one of the easiest plants I ever grew... I have an west facing window. I put the plant against the wall right next to the window (on the southern side, so it gets sun from the north-west) and it just exploded, doubling in size in less than a month. The beauty of the Boston fern is you don't need to think about what pot to put it in, becauase will cover the pot up, and anything else around it anyway.

Sorry don't know botanical names..
Ferns that grow without problems.

Birds Nest Ferns.
Rabbit Foot Fern.
Kanaroo Fern, really easy
Curly Fern..easy again

Some ferns can be purchased at www.ctterrariums.com
As for the Kanagroo, I've seen quite a few babies at HD for 2.49. If you like ferns, go w/this guy.

Boston and Travellers Ferns do fine if room is cool in winter. And not rubbing up against other plants..

Does anyone know what is with the Crocadile Fern? Anyone have advice? Mr. Sub??? Should I place it in a terarium? Is it a humidity hog? Every wk another leaf dies..any advice? Thanks, Toni

My co-worker in the greenhouse says the crocodile fern is relatively easy too, on the order of bird's-nest or rabbit's-foot. I don't know what to suggest if it's not doing well, though. A terrarium couldn't hurt, I suppose.

So much of "easy" or "difficult" depends on growing conditions. Carlisleliverpool finds "Boston" ferns easy in the UK; I bet folks in Tucson would have a very different view!
Since you're Z5, I'll assume your conditions are similar to mine. Dry air is my ferns' biggest enemy much of the year. As a general rule, the thicker and more leathery the fronds, the lower humidity the plants can tolerate. The commonly available staghorn ferns with their big thick antler fronds can get flat out dry in humidity that's low enough to be uncomfortable for us humans, and they sail right along. (But give one to an Excessive Nurturer - i.e. overwaterer - and it won't last so long.) The most commonly available Pteris ferns, though (and there are something like 250 different species, so this is a generalization), with their paper-thin fronds will tend to look ugly pretty fast when the humidity is low.

I grow in conditions of very good light (including some direct morning sun), humid summers with cool nights, quite cool winters with low humidity, and I let all but the most delicate ferns dry out a bit between waterings. That said, in my conditions, most difficult to easiest, with some duplicate commonly-grown forms separated out:
1) Adiantum (raddianum & similar sp.)
2) Pteris
3) Adiantum (again...hispidulum and similar species)
4) Nephrolepis (Boston types and curly cv's thereof. Not so difficult to keep alive as difficult to keep looking nice. They need a fair amount of grooming & cleaning up after.)
5) Asplenium (Look for the thicker-fronded species and cv's to be more durable than those with thin, broad fronds.)
6) tie- Nephrolepis (Lemon Button or Kimberly Queen - a little messy, but very tolerant)
6) tie- Phlebodium aureum (syn. Polypodium aureum Some of the crested or fringed cv's are a little touchier. I left my huge P. pseudoaureum dry in the dark garage all last winter. It froze, it died back to ground level, but it came back like a trouper this spring.)
7) tie for easiest- Davallia (..and again, there are many species, some of which I find quite difficult, but I'll assume we're taling about the one most common in cultivation, a variety of D mariesii often mistagged as D. trichomanoides. Easy if you're careful not to rot them. If it gets too dry, they'll go dormant, but they come back out of it nicely. It's not a bad idea to let them dry a little in late fall as they're normally semi-deciduous.
7) tie for easiest - Platycerium bifurcatum (They'll tolerate heat, cold, dry, almost anything but soggy poorly-aerated substrate or prolonged cold/wet.

Hey Toni-- how goes it? Still got the large (and beautiful) citrus collection?
Microsorum musifolium (Crocodile) is pretty durable (the fronds are used in flower arrangements, so you can tell they're not overly delicate) but they are vulnerable to leaf spot & die back from overhead watering. I know you like to mist but it's not this particular fern's favorite thing. If you are going to mist it, I'd suggest limiting it to times when you know the plant can dry again quickly (like mornings) and using distilled water.

Mr. Subj & others -- where, would you say, the button fern, Pellaea rotundifolia, would fall on that scale? I thought about getting one at some point, but I got worried that it might be a difficult one. I'm in zone 6, with quite dry winters. Thanks in advance.

Jen...you must have parked the combine for the season? (lol!) (~~~~WAVING HI~~~~)

I was having trouble with the 'Crocodile fern', as well, when I was watering it from above and began watering from the bottom.
This one is also very hardy as an outdoor fern (not here in Z4, but maybe Z6?...not sure) so will prefer fresh air and cool temperatures if available.

Pellaea rotundifolia is one of my personal favorites, but it is a Xerophytic fern, so doesn't care for humidity, though we're often given conflicting information, and it also prefers a lot more light than most ferns.
I water this one from the bottom, too.

Forgot to add that Pellaeas are somewhat touchy about watering....if they dry out too much they're goners.

thanks, nanw!

I've been looking all week for an Asplenium, Bird's nest fern. All of a sudden I want one. After reading Alenka's post about the success she is having with hers, I really want one!
However, I've been to 2 of our larger local greenhouses, Rona and Home Depot, and even WalMart and no one has them. Does anyone know who might likely carry them in my Southwestern ONT area?

They're relatively common, so if you have a greenhouse nearby that's NOT a 'box store', you could ask them to order one for you.
I do that often, and they're always happy to oblige.

Thanks Nan.
I called all the garden centres and greenhouses in my area; including the 2 that I checked on last week. No one has them in, but they are predicting some Bird's nests will be available in a month or so.

Not certain what kinds they are [put a post on the fern forum... perhaps they can give me an ID] but these are the volunteers in my terrs:

? maidenhair ?

{{gwi:101457}}
{{gwi:101458}}

?a Pteris ?

{{gwi:101460}}

absolutely no clue

{{gwi:101461}}

But thus far all are growing happily

Ferns I really like to have around the house:

Asplenium (bird's nest)
Microsporum (kangaroo fern) and related epiphytic polypodium
Staghorn fern (blanked out on its latin name)
Davallia (rabbit's foot)
Tree ferns (Dicksonia and its Australia cousin)

The trick to keeping many of them alive in the winter is keeping them somewhat cooler than most houses are in the winter. I've had great luck with most of them in an unheated "Florida" room where winter temps averaged in the low to mid 60's under very humid conditions. (With the Australian tree ferns--never, ever let them dry out whatsoever.) Can't say Boston ferns do anything for me and seem to eventually die.