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Hi all,
I have a question about transplanting ferns. These ferns are growing at our cabin in the Sierras. they are growing under some pine, fir and redwood trees. We want to move them into a 'blank' area on our property to encourage more growth in that area.
I tried to transplant a few of them this week. The root system seems to be all one big long root with shoots off it that form a new plant. Does anyone know what type of fern this is and how to transplant them?
I have successfully transplanted things with a root system like you describe. Just make sure you get as much of the roots as you can from right under the piece you are digging and cut it from the long runner root. After you put it where you want it, baby it for a while and it will likely survive. I don't know the ID of your fern but I'll bet some of the experts over in Moss, Fungi and Ferns forum could help you out there.
what do you mean by baby it? water daily?
I'm askin cause I moved these, then left to come back home. we wont be back up there for 2 weeks... so If they need alot of water to establish them, I may need to wait and transplant in the spring instead.
If you have enough ferns, try transplanting just a few--water them well and mulch heavily and just see if they make it. If they don't, then you could try again in the spring, but if they make it, you'll have a few started in their new home.
yay! thats what I tried to do this weekend :o)
I'll go check on them in 2 weeks and see how they are doing. It might be better to transplant them in the spring cause we get more rains then. summer is really pretty dry there. :o(
But I also want to see if I can transplant some of these ferns in my city home garden as well... may try to bring some back in 2 weeks and see how they do here where I can watch and baby them .
Sure hope they make it for you. I love ferns. I just dug some up from the woods that grow out of the sides of steep bluffs where it's very dry. I only took four to start with because I didn't know if they would make it this time of year. They never even wilted! I have a place down by our creek that's a high bank where they should feel right at home since it's dry too. I think they will be the perfect fern for this area.
That looks like a pretty woodsy setting, so I suspect they like shade. And since I assume they're not growing in an irrigated area, that means they are able to survive only on the rainfall. Since that's north of here, they probably get a bit more winter precipitation than we do here so you may need to give them a bit extra water beyond what rain alone provides, but I think as long as you can give them an area that mimics the summer temperatures and amount of shade they had up there they'll get by on pretty minimal irrigation once they're established.
I think I'll have to watch them to see what they like. we thinned out the trees pretty drastically, so I'm not sure if they liked sun and dwindled because of lack of sun, or because they didnt get enough water? also we had lots of snow the past few years, so between snow and mulch cover...that may have led to their low numbers this year.
Are they wild ferns that have been there all along, or are they things that you planted up there? And were they doing fine before you thinned the trees? If they're wild ferns, then they should be able to get by on however many inches of precipitation that area of the Sierras gets every year (which may be more than what we get here). And if they were happy before you thinned the trees then it's a pretty safe bet that they like shade. You could also try posting on the Plant ID forum, I bet someone there will know what they are. Or if you don't mind doing some research yourself, go to [HYPERLINK@www.calflora.org,] register if you're not registered there already, then on their search page you can put "fern" in the search box and then select whatever county your cabin is in, and it'll bring up a list of all the ferns that occur in the wild there (native or not) and you can look around and see if you can find a match.
oh yay! thanks! I'll go search it tomorrow. House is in Tuolomne county so I'm sure its listed.
Yes they are native ferns. The tree overgrowth happened gradually, but about the same time my DH stopped clearing the ground because of health issues. so thats why we arent sure if its the shade/sun element or the build up of pine, fir and cedar droppings that did them in.
I'll go do that search and I'm sure that will answer lots of questions :o)
I would love to have some of them here in fremont :o)
