Many indoor plants have such a decorative look that they seem artificial. If you want to have a real “corner of the forest” at home, you should get one of the oldest plants, the ancestors of which still remember dinosaurs - fern. Appearance and undemanding content led to this plant the love of flower growers. And now we have an indoor fern, which is easy to care for at home.
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Indoor Fern: Home Care
In the homes of Russians from ferns, nephrolepis is most often found. It easily adapts to room conditions, looks spectacular. Saturated green color, elegant rosette, carved leaves - up to half a meter long. Even if the fern is the only plant in the house, after a while it will grow so much that it will look like a piece of the garden and will attract the eyes of guests. But in order for the fern to live well, a number of conditions must be observed.
Soil requirements
It would seem, what can be the care of a fern growing in a forest shade? Who irrigates it, fertilizes it, carefully grows it? But no, there are requirements, and a lot.
First of all, it is worth remembering that it is precisely the forest land that flower growers go, trying to provide their plants with the best soil.
What is the land in the forest? Fertile, peaty and light. That is, there are enough nutrients in it, and the water does not stagnate. If you have purchased a fern and are going to transplant it, then you can add a bit of overripe foliage or old needles to the soil purchased in the store.No matter how fern loves dampness, stagnation of moisture is strictly contraindicated for him. The storefront soil over time “cakes” and becomes dense, so adding foliage will be very helpful.
Lighting and temperature
Have you ever seen a fern in a meadow? And you will not see. Bright sunlight does not like the plant. Therefore, it is undesirable to place it on a window or loggia that faces the south side.
In general, since the fern grows large, the window sill is not its place. It is best to place a pot on the bedside table, which will be located - depending on the illumination of the room - closer to the window or further from it.
With regard to temperature - a person can offer a plant only that which is maintained in his home. But in the woods in the summer it’s cool and damp. Therefore, it is good if in the hot season - in the room where the fern "settled", air conditioning works, or at least there is an air humidifier.
In winter, it is undesirable for fern leaves to “burn” a draft from the window leaf. Over-dried, as a result of steam heating, the air is also unfavorable for the plant. It is often necessary to ventilate the room, the batteries can be covered with a damp cloth, or several containers with water can be installed so that it evaporates, providing the fern with the necessary humidity. The optimum temperature for it is + 18-20 C.
Watering and spraying
Pet owners should get a small sprayer. Watering should be regular, but moderate so that the pot does not stagnate. Depending on the air temperature in the room - watered 2-3 times a week. You can spray it regularly, the plant is only good. It is only necessary to look so that the sun does not get wet leaves and the fern does not get burned.
Consider the situation when, for some reason, the soil in the pot is completely dry, but the plant is still alive. In this case, it would be a big mistake to immerse the pot in water, or pour plenty of water on the ground so that the water seeps and fills the pan. With almost 100% probability, the roots of the fern will rot in this case.
It is better to moisten the ground several times in a row from the sprayer, and then gradually moisten the soil a few days. Treat the fern in this case, as a starving person, who also begins to feed little by little.
It is most preferable to use settled water for watering the plant. In winter, you can successfully use melt snow; in summer, if possible, it is worth collecting rain fluid.
Fertilizing and fertilizers
Overfeeding the fern with fertilizers is also not worth it. There is a widespread opinion that it is impossible to “overdone” the land. With regard to potatoes, this may be true, but it does not apply to fern.
If cow manure is used as fertilizer, it needs to be bred and watered a little by little, no more than once every 2 months. More often, you can use fertilizers that are sold in the Nature store: every 3-4 weeks, breeding them, according to the instructions. Another option is to add some peat from time to time in the pot with fern.
Plant transplant
The fern is transplanted, like other indoor plants, in the spring, picking up a pot for it 4-5 cm larger than the previous one. It is best to transfer the fern to a new place, without clearing its roots from the old earth, but preserving, if possible, the entire earthen lump. That is, "toss" it from place to place.
If the earth in the pot is moist, no additional watering is required. The fern is carefully removed, you can use a shovel designed to care for indoor plants, and, together with an earthen lump, lower it into a new pot. Then, from above and on the sides, add the missing soil, crushing it slightly.
Transplanting is an appropriate time for plant propagation.
Propagation of indoor fern
If someone still believes in a beautiful fairy tale that tells that fern blooms one night a year, and at this time indicates treasures, perhaps this “someone” may start looking for “fern seeds”.
In fact, a plant can reproduce by spores. Sporangia are on the underside of the leaves. But if you do not possess the stubbornness of Michurin, you will hardly succeed in mastering the most difficult process of reproduction of fern through spores.
It is best to divide the adult bush during transplantation - that is, carefully separate young root rosettes, "children" from it. They are planted in separate pots, or in a common container, under the film.
Conditions kids need the most, no matter what the greenhouse. But even in this case, not all “children” can survive.
Diseases and Pests
Of course, if ferns were sissies, they would not survive on Earth for millennia. So, diseases, in principle, are not characteristic of them. But in the case of stagnation of water - or, conversely, excessive drying out, the leaves become covered with rusty stains, and then die.
Another misfortune is the nematode. These parasites appear when watering ferns with cold water, for example, from a garden barrel. It is extremely difficult to breed them, as they nest literally everywhere: both on the leaves and in the roots. You can try to urgently transplant a fern, but not the fact that you can get rid of the infection.
On the contrary, when the air in the apartment is excessively dry, the pests can be chosen by aphids or insects. A faithful spray gun will come to the rescue. The plant must be sprayed with a solution of malathion.
Thus, with the advent of fern in your home, the microclimate of the home will also change. The cool, humid and clean air that the plant requires will be beneficial to humans. Let the fern please you for many years.
