TREE FERNS
The Fern House
The Fern House
My name is Mark Longley and welcome to my website which is dedicated to tree ferns and other exotic plants which I enjoy.
I live in Christchurch, New Zealand and use this site to document my travels and discoveries while out hunting for tree ferns in habitat or in cultivation. I hope you enjoy reading and feel free to contact me by email longley74@yahoo.co.uk
Bellbird
Going back nearly 2 years now, one of the the very first articles to appear on this website was of our trip to Mount Kinabalu in Borneo.
Quite apart from the postcard scenery and marvelous trek up to the summit there was one plant which absolutely took my breath away - Cibotium arachnoideum.
Pictured here on the right with yours truly for scale, this fern is quite simply the most stunning I have encountered with its 3 metre long black stipes and lacey drooping fronds which are equally as long again. It is a giant of a fern matched only by the the likes of Angiopteris evecta but far more attractive.
Having retieved some spore of this fern and returned safely home I have made it my main propagation mission to get one of these beauties into my collection but far from being a breeze, this fern is proving extremely difficult to raise.
The initial stages of propagation went quite smoothly with good sized sporophytes after around 4 or 5 months of sowing as below.
However, a look at this species in its environment quickly shows us that it almost always grows on extremely steep banks.
In fact I never spotted a single one which wasn't literally hanging off of an almost sheer drop. Just look at this image below which shows it hanging on for dear life.
The Kinabalu reports have been moved to the 'Around the world' section at the top of this page
I'm not quite sure how one is to cater for a tree fern which likes to grow on sheer faces. Clearly the factor which is important here is drainage. This fern will be used to regular tropical downpours with large volumes of water washing down the hillside but absolutely no standing water around the roots atall. Is this what we call ultra-free drainage?
This one below is my most advanced of the spore sown over a year ago. Having been provided with ultra-free drainage it recieves copious misting several times per day and appears to be in good health. The biggest problem now is that the fronds are already taking on fairly large proportions for a young sporophyte and are growing quicker than the roots which is causing the plant to become top heavy and lean. My theory is to let them lean over and the plant will root on its side as it surely must do when growing on sheer faces. Whether this theory proves correct we will see in a few months time. I'll keep you posted!
"The forest abounded with beautiful objects; among which the tree ferns were, from their bright green foliage and the elegant curvature of their fronds, most worthy of admiration"
