A month and 1/2 ago I purchased a 6" georgeous, apparently healthy boston fern; young, full and leafy. It stayed in a plant garden in a room in the house on rocks in a copper plate with a 1" lip filled about half way up with water for humidity. It sat in the plate with a georgeous, healthy well budding orchid whose blooms I was told would last up to 3 mos. All flowers and blooms are gone after 1 month. Don't want to get discouraged about my gardening disability because I love plants...can you help?
Sorry...the leaves have mostly died, it looks dried out even though it has been watered; maybe it did not get enough light during the month but I have a grow light on the wall now since it's not close to a window and a ceiling fan on the wall on low. I repotted it into miracle grow soil that is supposed to fertilize it for 3 mos and mist it each day. It started out with about 75 or so fronds (bushy6) but now has about 6 skimpy looking fronds. Yesterday I let water run through the pot in the sink and it seemed to look better for a couple of hours...should I cut off the remaining fronds and keep watering it or something?
Too much water (probably) is being held in the soil and compacting around the roots, which can't breathe, making it hard to use the water. Peat based soil mixes with no grit are deadly that way (and most potting soil is mostly peat), so either add a lot of grit of some kind to the soil, or find some soil, coarse and with larger particles, that doesn't stay wet forever, but drains more quickly because of the grit.
Place it in a dryer room a safe distance from a bright window. I have a sick maidenhair fern and I did this and I only water it when it is no longer wet, but not yet dry and it is recuperating nicely. Cut out all sickly, brown and old fronds. When ferns are perpetually soggy they rot and die.:(
Thank you. I will try that...I also put some medium sized acquarium gravel in the potting soil which is seeming to help. Have a great day and thank you for responding...
