Indoor fern - species for growing at home

Indoor ferns are highly decorative, as do home-grown palm trees. Their crown is lush, thick and high, and variegated leaf plates can have various bizarre shapes, depending on belonging to a particular variety. Indoor fern is a compact plant that can be grown as an ampelous flower in hanging pots.

Indoor fern - what kind of plant is it, can it be planted at home

House fern is a gymnosperm plant that is one of the oldest on the planet. Grows in the form of a shrub. Its stems are collected in a rosette. The fern is 50-70 centimeters long. Cirrus small leaf plates on the reverse side form sori, where spores are formed, with the help of which the plant can subsequently reproduce.

Indoor fern gets along well at home

The main types for growing at home, a short description

The Fern class includes more than 11 thousand species, but only about 20 of them are popular in indoor cultivation.

Nephrolepis

Fern nephrolepis is the most famous and demanded in home floriculture, it is called "the king of all ferns". Due to its delicate foliage, this plant has become popular since the Victorian era. In addition to its high decorative effect, the plant is in demand due to its simple and unpretentious care. However, it has become relatively recent to rank it as a separate species of ferns, since it used to belong to the davallia species.

Nephrolepis is characterized by simple and easy reproduction and quick adaptability to any external conditions. It is grown as an ampelous houseplant, since the spreading leaf plates tend to hang down. The long but narrow fern leaf has a jagged and slightly curly shape and a rich light green color.

Asplenium

The decorative fern asplenium is popularly known under another name - kostenets. There are two indoor varieties of this species and they are very different from each other. The nesting asplenium has long xiphoid leaves, while in another variety, the feathery plates are strongly excised.

One of the most characteristic features of Asplenium is its unusual rhizomes, which are intertwined and look like a nest at the base of a bush.

Platycerium, or Deer horns (Platycerium)

The houseplant fern Antler or Platitzerium is also called Flathorn. It's all about the leaves, which are very similar in shape to the antlers of deer. They are solid at the base, but separated at the ends.

Platycerium has two types of leaves - sterile and spore-bearing, their difference lies in both appearance and morphological structure. Sterile plates have a round and wide shape, and the free upper edge tends to accumulate humus.Spore-bearing leaves are erect and grow on short petioles, it is they that have the shape of a deer horn. These plates are responsible for the formation of spores, their top is colored reddish-brown.

The bush has a very powerful and branched root system, there are also aerial rhizomes, which are located at the level of the lower leaf plates.

Curly fern has double-plumose leaves

Adiantum, or curly fern (Adiantum)

If you grow a fern at home, then it is better to purchase a maidenhair. This beautiful plant tends to release liquid from its leaves, which roll down in the form of drops, without wetting their surface.

The plant itself has a fairly compact size, its branches bend down, which makes it better to grow the shrub in hanging pots. The double-plumose leaf plates of the maidenhair form sori at their ends, which are covered from above with small feathers.

Pteris (Pteris)

The species of this fern in its natural environment grows in an area with a subtropical climate. The shape and color of the leaves of the shrub changes slightly when grown in conditions with different climates, so the plant adapts to a new place of keeping.

The fern has an average length of about 1 meter, and their entire length consists of 6 main segments. Those that are closest to the root system have a more dissected structure. There are a lot of stems in the root outlet, so the bush looks very dense and thick at the base. Pteris has a different color and shape of its foliage, they can be variegated, two-colored, jagged or wavy.

Pelley (Pellaea)

The homeland of the distribution of pellets is Latin America, New Zealand and Africa. The presence of unusual leaves is characterized: the oval plates separated from each other have a waxy sheen on their surface. The color of the foliage is also different from the rest of the ferns, it has a rich dark green hue and glistens due to its smoothness.

Davallia is a fairly diverse species of fern

Davallia

Hare paws or davallia are famous for their slightly curly thin leaves that look like feathers. But its most characteristic feature is considered to be airy rhizomes that hang down from the pot, forming a bizarre shape in the form of rabbit legs, in honor of which it was nicknamed in this way among the people.

Blechnum

Blehnum has a high crown, reminiscent of a palm tree, in length it can reach up to 1.2 meters. The plant grows slowly, so annual transplants are not needed for its normal development. Long leaf plates are collected in a thick basal rosette. But the foliage does not have such a density as that of a pellea or davalia. The petioles on which the plates grow are almost invisible, since they have a very short length. The leaf plates are dense to the touch; when pressed, they quickly break.

The fern is not capricious in care and adapts well to negative conditions

What conditions are needed for growing indoor ferns

Household fern care at home primarily consists of creating a comfortable environment for keeping. First of all, a comfortable place for growing is chosen. Ferns are unpretentious in care, but they cannot stand the stuffy and dirty air. This criterion should be especially taken into account for those who want to purchase a plant that looks like a fern. The room for its maintenance should be fresh, which can be regularly ventilated without difficulty. It is better to choose a room whose windows do not face the street, otherwise the exhaust gases and smoke that enters it can cause negative reactions in the flower: they will begin to dry and fall off.

It is worth avoiding windows on the south side of the house, as the plant reacts poorly to prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. Ideal for a fern will be diffused light on the east or west windows. But the fact that the bush loves shade is not true, with such lighting, the houseplant loses the beauty of the leaves and stops growing.

Fern care involves creating optimal moisture. It should not be allowed to increase by more than 60-70%, otherwise the risk of fungus or mold will increase, but dry air is also harmful to the health of the fern. The optimal performance for growing is 40-60%.

Soil and fertilizing

Another important condition for growing a fern at home is the quality of the soil. It requires a special composition of the soil mixture, so it is better for beginners to choose ready-made nutrient substrates in stores, designed specifically for fern plants.

At home, you can prepare the substrate yourself, it should consist of:

• compost or humus (the mixture should be almost half of rotted foliage);
• soddy loose earth;
• peat;
• river sand or perlite;
• drainage, which is covered in a separate layer at the bottom of the pot, can be: expanded clay or brick chips, crushed pebbles, coarse sand.

You can feed the shrub with both mineral and organic fertilizers. It is necessary to carry out this procedure twice a month, preferably in liquid form, dissolving the drug in water. Organic matter can also be applied in liquid form by dissolving bird droppings or mullein with water. The first and last feeding should be carried out with the help of organic matter and mineral preparations. Do not violate the dosage indicated on the package.

Caring for a plant consists in the correct and regular implementation of certain procedures.

How to care for a fern at home

Fern home care consists of regularly carrying out the following procedures:

• Watering. Should not be abundant and frequent. A moderate frequency of this procedure is the key to the healthy development of the shrub, without fungus or mold. During the growing season, the fern should be watered when the upper soil dries to a depth of 2-3 centimeters; in winter, during dormancy, they are gradually reduced to once a month.
• Transfer. The procedure is carried out annually in the spring in the first 4-6 years of life. After this time, one transplant is enough every 4 years. For planting, you can also use plastic containers, for example transparent ones, they will look beautiful with a plant with a high crown.
• Disease and pest control. At the first signs of problems with a flower, you need to immediately take measures for treatment. Starting a problem means putting the plant in serious danger, because some diseases or insect parasites can completely destroy the shrub.
• Pruning. The procedure is carried out for both sanitary and bush-forming purposes. In the first case, every spring or autumn, dead leaves and shoots are removed. The second method of pruning is carried out at will, to give the shrub a certain shape or to thin out the crown in dense varieties.
• Spraying. This measure is of great benefit to the leaf plates of the bush, as it refreshes the fern and cleans its leaf plates from dirt and dust.

To grow a flower at home, you need to create favorable conditions

There is a wide variety of indoor ferns. They all differ in shape, size and color. Their care is equally easy to perform, the shrub takes root perfectly even in the harshest environment. There are many convenient and simple ways to reproduce it. Once you have bought a fern for your home, you can save it for a long period of time, constantly updating and propagating yourself.