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Post by twoton on May 23, 2008 20:56:46 GMT -10
Almost every single pot in my greenhouse (and some in the tanks!) has ferns growing in it. There must be at least ten different species, and even more sizes (up to three feet tall). Until now, I've never minded them much, as they're indicator plants for high humidity, keep the humidity up and also contribute to the general jungly feeling in the greenhouse.
But today, for some reason it dawned on me that there might be downsides to these ferns: do they steal nutrition? do they attract pests or diseases? anything else?
What do you guys do with stowaway ferns?
Paranoid in Peihsinchuang
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Post by sockhom on May 24, 2008 0:34:43 GMT -10
Hello Hans . I used to let them in the pots because I find them pretty. But I have removed some of them recently because of the HUGE roots system they develop. Incidently, the Nepenthes which are growing with those ferns didn't look so well. Just a coïncidence, maybe? François.
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Post by rsivertsen on May 24, 2008 4:11:50 GMT -10
It also depends on what fern it is; if I know they are going to become monsters and will present problems, might even overwhelm the pots, I remove them, but a few miniature and ornamental ones don't usually cause too many problems. - Rich
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Post by twoton on May 26, 2008 4:42:43 GMT -10
François,
thanks for the warning about the root system. I'll give that a checkup....
Rich,
I have a baby bath-sized pot housing a fifteen-foot ventricosa x khasiana that keeps making basals. LARGE basals, up to two feet across....but you can't see them because they're overgrown by a forest of three-foot tall ferns. It's nature at its best and an awesome sight to behold (well, at least within the realm of my little greenhouse), so even though the ferns keep me from seeing the basals, I can't bring myself to remove them.
Strange, I know...
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Post by rsivertsen on May 26, 2008 5:04:11 GMT -10
A few years ago, I had a N. veitchii growing up the trunk of an Austrailan tree fern, and thought it looked pretty cool. I didn't think too much about it when it went into spore, but a few months later I found myself pulling out thousands of small tree ferns from my other Nepenthes pots! Oh well, could be worse things! - Rich
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Post by rainforest on May 30, 2008 10:57:50 GMT -10
I believe ferns and other "weeds" do play a role when growing with nepenthes. If we observe the photos of nepenthes in the wild, we often find nepenthes growing with a particular fern (False Staghorn Fern) many times. This fern doesn't develop a rhizomatic root system and has very fine networking roots. This helps keep the soil aerated and porous allowing nepenthes roots to grow deep and intermingle with those of the ferns. Possible hypothesis of root fungi associations may also be present also giving the nepenthes an edge of this symbiosis plus the ability to absorb nitrogen from their pitchers. The plants always found growing with these ferns have always appeared healthy and vigorous. But the important factors of light, water and air circulation must be present for even the nepenthes to succeed in this partnership.
M
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Post by vraev on Jun 2, 2008 10:09:07 GMT -10
Just a question...is this because you guys grow your neps outdoors? DO they originate from the moss or the spores in the air? Are the species of ferns similar to the ones you see growing around the general area of the plants?
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Post by rsivertsen on Jun 2, 2008 10:29:47 GMT -10
I have no idea where some spores come from, especially some of the exotic ones. I suspect they wander in from the neighbors. - Rich
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Post by vraev on Jun 2, 2008 10:47:00 GMT -10
Would you have some pics that you can show us Rich? thanks, Varun
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Post by rsivertsen on Jun 2, 2008 10:54:25 GMT -10
I just threw a bucket full into the compost bin! They seem to be the typical ferns that you see in the home and garden centers, also some native giants like Osumunda sp., and the fern called the "Boston Fern" which get HUGE!!" Years ago, I just used to re-pot them, and give them away as gifts; but now in my grouchier years, I say, the heck with them, into the compost they go! heh heh, - Rich
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Post by vraev on Jun 2, 2008 10:56:47 GMT -10
lol! just like me with my utrics and sundews. lol! well..... thats alright. I think I will cheat and maybe purposely get a garden center fern and put it close to my neps and see if the spores colonise the nep pots.
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Post by twoton on Jun 2, 2008 20:29:09 GMT -10
I grow mine outside, a hundred feet from a large forest infested with ferns (small ferns, medium ferns, huge ferns, tree ferns...) so I can't escape the spores.
Michael, thanks for the input on those possibly beneficial symbioses.
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