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How To Mount A Staghorn Fern In A Basket?

A staghorn fern is one of those graceful, elegant ferns that can look truly spectacular when mounted up high, so it can trail its unusual fronds. If you are looking for how to mount a staghorn fern in a basket, you are in the right place! We have some great ideas for you to maximize the beauty of this plant.

How To Mount A Staghorn Fern In A Basket

how to hang a staghorn fern

These creeping ferns do like to be up high – it mimics the way that they like to grow in the wild, where they grow by hanging onto trees.

Mounting your staghorn fern in a basket is not actually that difficult, although you may be intimidated at first!

You only need a few bits and bobs, and a bit of space to hang it, and a tiny bit of innovation. We can help with the instructions, so let’s get started:

  1. Take a hanging basket that has wide gaps between a mesh base. This will allow your staghorn to dangle and trail out of the spaces, in its preferred way of growing.
  2. Half fill the basket with sphagnum moss, peat moss or bark chippings – this will mimic staghorn fern’s favorite growing conditions.
  3. You can snip holes in the lining of the basket, to encourage your staghorn to peep through and have its antler shaped fronds showing through.
  4. Place your staghorn fern into the mix, with the roots well splayed out to allow them to attach to the medium.
  5. Cover the roots with loose, well draining potting soil. You won’t need much of this; just enough to keep the roots covered.
  6. Water it in well when you first plant it, then hold off on the watering. These plants only need a drink around once a week when it’s hot, and even less in the winter!
  7. Give it a little feed of a well balanced fertilizer during the growing season – once or twice in summer is fine – then leave it well alone while it is dormant.

How To Hang A Staghorn Fern

Hanging a staghorn fern is a great way to grow these interesting plants – it is the type of situation they like most, plus it will be a really interesting talking point!

All you will need is:

  • A board
  • 6 x 1 1/4” nails
  • Fishing line
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Sphagnum moss

Here’re the steps:

  1. Pick the place on the board where you want to mount your staghorn, and draw a large circle (about twice as large as the root ball) in that position.
  2. Place the board on a flat, even surface, then hammer in the nails so that they are evenly spaced around the circle – only hammer them in about halfway, so there is plenty of nail left to tie the fishing line to.
  3. Remove your staghorn from its pot, turn it upside down and gently peel apart the root ball to flatten it.
  4. Place the root ball inside the circle, splayed out, and cover the roots with moistened moss.
  5. Attach the fishing line in a knot around one of the nails, then run the line over the top of the moss to the other side.
  6. Wrap the line around the opposite nail, then move onto the next nail and repeat the process.
  7. Continue weaving until the fern is totally secured onto the board, and won’t move if you turn it upside down.
  8. Tie the fishing line tightly to the final nail, and you are all done mounting your staghorn!

Here’s a good video which will take you through the steps of mounting your staghorn fern onto a board, for those who like their instructions visual:

Where Is The Best Place To Hang A Staghorn?

Hanging your staghorn is great for it, as this mimics its favorite conditions in its natural habitat.

Wherever you decide to hang your staghorn, it will definitely need a few very important things:

  • Indirect light. These plants will not cope in direct sunlight, so placing them where they receive diffused, indirect sunlight is the most important thing.
  • Not too much water. Staghorn ferns do not like to get too soggy, so watering them sparingly is the best way to keep them healthy.
  • Good support. Although they will cling on pretty tenaciously, your staghorn will need to be held onto its board or basket, to ensure it doesn’t fall.

Wherever you place your staghorn, and whether you grow it indoors or out, you can be sure that it will be a very interesting and attractive addition to your plant collection!

Does A Staghorn Fern Need To Be Mounted?

You may have seen young staghorns being sold in pots, and you may have transplanted one into a pot yourself.

It is true that these plants CAN be grown in pots during certain times in their lives, but this is generally when they are still very young.

Mature staghorn ferns do need to be mounted on boards or kept in hanging baskets, in order to thrive as well as they possibly can.

This is because staghorn ferns are epiphytic plants, meaning that they attach themselves to trees or other plants in order to grow their best.

These plants are known as “air plants” – not because they grow in air alone, but because they appear to be floating in mid air.

Staghorn plants can get truly enormous, given the right conditions, so you will need to make sure that you have enough wall space – and a big enough board!

Staghorn ferns, when mounted up high and free to trail and dangle, look absolutely gorgeous and are a great and elegant addition to your home.

Now that you have some ideas on how to mount a staghorn fern in a basket, you are well on your way to your very own indoor jungle!

2 thoughts on “How To Mount A Staghorn Fern In A Basket?”

    • You can use just about any container you like to hang your Staghorn Fern – though a dedicated plant basket is the best bet. You can get them with or without liners, so you can encourage the fronds to poke through and trail down, or you can just have it trailing over the top.

      Reply

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