25/09/2025
Hi Everyone, this is Bob borrowing Ann’s FB page for a change to talk about fern propagation. I’ve taught myself and it’s really not difficult as long as you keep everything as sterile as you can at sowing stage. After that it’s far less trouble than seed sowing.
Collect pieces of fern fronds when they hold ripe spore ( usually brown dots on the underside of the fronds). Some ferns have different methods of holding spore but start with something simple, then you won’t be disappointed. I store them in a clean white envelope indoors for a week of two until there is a fine layer of brown dust in the bottom. This is the ripe spore. Gather together loam, sharp sand, shallow pots, resealable zip up freezer bags medium size (Co-op are good. Morrisons are rubbish) and labels. Mix sand and loam(we use top soil) 50/50 and fill pot, write label and cover with a robust piece of kitchen towel and pour boiling water all over it and leave to drain and cool completely.
Bring your cooled pot of now damp soil mix indoors or somewhere sheltered and carefully extract the spore from your envelope and sow thinly all over the surface. Make sure your hands are clean and, if you are sowing several pots, wash them between each one to avoid cross contamination. All that remains now is to slide your pot with label into the bag and place somewhere warm but out of direct sunlight. We store ours in an east facing conservatory for the winter. Because of the soaking they will be sufficiently moist for a long, long time so don’t be tempted to keep looking in the bag. There should always be a slightly steamy look to it. After several months you may need to lightly mist inside to keep humidity up and that’s it. After a few months interesting things should be happening. I think our record is 13 months from sowing to having saleable plants but that was remarkable. 2 years is more likely.
Good luck and feel free to fire away with questions
