Fern Hunting

[Dorian]

Had a tallish (~6 foot trunk) tree fern in the garden with bright yellow-orange trunk and petioles. One of my favorite plants, featured in a few great pics taken by visitors at my last garden show.

Well, I killed it. Discovered way too late that it was the fertilizer that was doing it. Even small amounts of slow-release Osmocote was enough to do it in, given how shallow and fine the roots were. Pretty sad about it, and looking to replace it another. (Ideally, a few.) Unfortunately nobody seems to sell ferns retail around here, and few trade in rare stuff. So I'm seeing if anyone on here knows anyone.

The fern was bought as Cyathea princeps, although it seems it's been renamed a few times, and also goes by Cyathea bourgaei, and Sphaeropteris horrida. Attached a couple shots of a younger one (I think that one was ours actually, ten years ago) and a more recent one of the crown.

Not a palm, I know. But hopefully still okay to ask in here.

[palmsnbananas]

Ooh thats pretty

[Josh76]

Wow - sorry to hear that you killed it. It was amazing!

[Pando]

Ouch, it was a pretty plant, so sorry!

But thanks for the post and the warning - I'll need to be careful with using fertilizers on ferns.

[Palm crazy]

I hope you can find a replacement that was such a beautiful tree fern. BTW the best fertilizer for tree ferns and all ferns is fish emulsion hands down. Never have to worry about it burning the plant.