PlantFiles: Common Staghorn Fern, Elkhorn Fern, Antelope Ears
Platycerium bifurcatum

I LOVE my Staghorn. I bought in 1978 and I don't remember where from. It was in a little 2 in. pot. I immediately put into a little bigger basket, and kept putting in larger ones until eventually we just put a metal dow rod threw the middle with a screw eye and hung in under an oak tree. I cover it in the winter when there is a threat of hard frost or freeze here in Central Florida. I used to put it in the back of the pick up truck and haul it into the barn, but no more...it's just too big. I throw bannana peels in it, and once in a while share some of the diluted orchid fertilzer with it. I water if we are in one of our dry spells. The black snakes love to hang out in it.
It is one of the easiest plants I've ever grown. (other than it's HUGH) but that just means giving it lots of blankies in the winter. It's move with me to a new home 7 times!!

Mine is about 6 ft x 6 ft and needs to be divided so I can bring it for the winter. They are easy to grow, started with two small 4' inch pots from a retail store, and in four years, it's huge. Just hose them down, when it was smaller I used to submerse the base in a pot or the bathtub, occasionally some fertilizer or liquid seaweed. It doesn't mind neglect, but will burn even in a light frost or strong sun.

If anyone has good information or a resource on how to divide them, please let me know. I'll even send you a pup or two.

Chuck

This fern started in a small hanging basket 30 years ago. Now after moving from larger basket to larger basket, it was finally so heavy the chains snapped and it took 2 or 3 people to try and lift. So we cut the wire basket in half, along with the fern mass, and placed each half in a wooden half Wine-Barrel. Now they are out-growing that.
They are pretty much neglected, sprinklers hit them a bit, I hit with hose when in that area and an occasional banana peel tossed on top.
Originally in partial shade, now mostly in shade.
When I first started asking about cuttings I was told not to try, it wouldn't work. Then I met a man at a plant fair who told me go ahead and just stay 3" from the center sprout. I did half a dozen onto wood planks with moss and fishing line. They all eventually have taken off, though it took some time for them to adjust, but now they look great! :)

One plant i have(about 5'x6') is 29 years old. Totally defoliated in 1990's low 20's freeze, it has not lost a frond since. They are no doubt zone 9b plants-even lower with some effort to protect them outdoors.Bay Area care is to hose them down everyday, feed in summer lightly and allow some sun.They are high light level ferns. When they attach to trees makes for fascinating viewing on how the sheilds wrap around the tree trunk..they become "one" with their host tree.

My plant is in a hanging wire basket filled with spaghnum moss and it is thriving quite well in this climate in Mississippi. About every two weeks I water it thoroughly and let it dry out by the water dripping out of the basket. I have only had it through spring and summer here and I don't know what to do with it this winter. I am thinking of putting it in a protected area of my porch and covering it with a cloth when freezing temperatures arrive. I hope it survives.

I purchased a small fern a few years ago at a local garden store, over the years I'd been unsucessful keeping one alive. They definately didn't thrive indoors. The one I have now is quite large, its potted and judging by its size quite happy. I bring it outside in the early Spring and do not bring it in until late Fall. Though it looses a few fronds in the Winter, it immediately recovers outdoors.

I left my staghorn fern out last winter, unprotected except for some hay stuffed around the base, and it survived temperatures as low as 28 F on a few nights. It did suffer some leaf burn from frost and freezes. It is still small enough that I can move it easily into my greenhouse and I plan to do that in future freezing weather.

I bought my Staghorn about 2 years ago as a single plant in a 4" pot from Home Depot. I potted it up into a wire basket filled with soil, dried leaves, and peat. I didn't think my plant was growing much -- it seemed to remain just one plant with a few leaves. But this Spring, when I was checking the plant for winter damage, I found numerous new growths on the BOTTOM side of the wire basket. It seemed to be growing best in the area that was not receiving direct sun. I worked with its growth habit by capping another wire basket to the large opening in the first and filling the resulting "ball" basket with a soil mixture as before. I've seen HUGE Staghorns growing as potted plants at friends' houses in my area. I'm hoping to continue to coax my Staghorn to rival all others in size and exotic flamboyance..

This fern does not grow in my area which is in the desert. I live in Tucson (right in the middle of the desert) and I am always trying my hands at different types of tropicals. My parents live in Port St Lucie, Florida and they have quite a large one that they attached to a Live Oak tree in their backyard. I doubt that they water it at all, it is ignored and it is beautiful.

Our three foot by four foot stag lives on our patio with a south exposure in the filtered light during the summer (Sacramento) and in our potting shed Dec through March due to frosty temperatures. It is board mounted and grows vigorously. I shower it thoroughly once a week, and if it is very hot here, I mist it daily. You need to watch for scale and mealy bugs infestation; other than that, it has been trouble free.

My staghorn is some 15-18 years old . It came to us as a single emerald frond wrapped in sphagnum and popped into an empty coconut-husk "shell". Exotic! The shields thereafter just kept wrapping themselves around the coconut-husk core. The whole arrangement has always hung from the same branch of the same tree, and the mass of overlapping shields just keeps growing in girth. Gorgeous long fronds all year round. It's hosed with water everyday (except when the rain does the needful), and the excess simply trickles off. For a plant that looks so weightless - in a strange way - it weighs a tonne; we've occasionally had to replace the chain that keeps it suspended from its tree.

I just fed my two staghorns a bananna and gave them a good misting. I have never checked to see if there was information on them on the web. They basically thrive on neglect. I give them the occasional spritz of water when I'm in the yard and feed them a bananna or diluted Peter's plant food when it's around. Most of the time they live off the leaf litter that showers down from the sweet gum tree they hang from.

My one stag is too large to move for frost/freezes any more. It had come to the point of a neighbor and I moving it suspended by a chain on a pole and the two of us carrying it like natives. Now I improvise a "tent" around the plant with a canvas drop cloth and put a lightbulb inside the tent and hope for the best.

I have found that they don't grow very much in the very hottest months (I'm in Orlando). A neighbor kept his staghorn in a greenhouse and it was quite stunted. It seems to put out the most growth in the spring and fall. The oldest of the two plants came from a charity plant sale in a two inch pot. It is now more than four feet in diameter.

I want to get brave and cut off a pup and start a new plant, but I haven't got the nerve up yet. It is a very unique and interesting plant.

My grandma has this plant for many years, but now that she can´t see very well, the parasites are taking over it. It seems to be pretty vulnerable to aphids and fungi. I tried to grow it once, and failed miserably.

Edgewood, Washington
The Staghorn Fern is such a wonderful fascinating plant. I have tried them several times and usually lose them to my own neglect. I first saw them growing high in the trees in Southeast Asia (Vietnam) while laying low on my belly. Often thought if only I could get some down and send them home. Good luck and wish I was where I could have one outside.

I just bought a staghorn and it's beautiful. It has about 8 fronds on it. I live in New Port Richey, FL but I decided not to take any chances and brought it inside. Tonight it will be about 39 degrees. No pictures yet. I can't wait until it gets warmer outside. I have a wonderful spot for it.

I am a fern fan & have several. I live in Jacksonville, Florida & have found them to be quite hardy even in the cold, although my neighborhood has large oak trees & I'm sure that helps. This past winter we had 19 degree weather. My neighbor has a huge one & kept hers under a sheet with a light. I only draped a piece of fabric over mine & mine fared the cold as well as hers did - they all did beautifully.

I have 2 staghorn ferns in Pensacola FL. and both have a white waxy substance on the leaves.

Here in So Cal there are many species of Platycerium, the most common which is P bifurcatum. It can become a huge plant. I find it best to 'mount' this plant either onto a redwood board, or just find a sturdy, shady tree and support it in a 'Y' shape branching until it roots into the tree and is supported on its own. To mount onto wood, just take the base of the plant (the 'shield) and get some moistened sphagnum moss, put it on a flat piece of wood, set your fern onto the moss, and then secure it to the wood. Most secure by wrapping fishing line around the front of the shield and around the wood multiple times. You can also put some nails or tacks into the front of the wood near the edges as anchors and wrap the line through them and back and forth until your fern feels secure. The advantage of raising them on a board is they can be carried around easily, moved, and very hard to overwater (a common problem if kept in a pot). Underwatering in summer is then a problem, though, so most growers set up a drip so the fern (or sphagnum moss backing) is watered daily. Others just toss the fern, board and all into a pot or pond of water and leave it a few hours to water it, then hang it back up. I personally prefer the nook in the tree method (again, using sphagnum moss, line... or stocking hose works nicely to tie them up- just remove in a few years when the fern is stable).

Wasn't sure that 10a was the correct zone for this palm as many people grow this in 9b... but discovered soon what happens when palm sees temps below 28F... fried to a crisp! Rare freeze here in Los Angeles killed one of mine, and did a lot of damage to all the others.

My husband loves this plant and we have one but it is very difficult to deal with. I have it in a wire pot with dirt and it seems like it is taking forever to grow.

Just to add; here in Florida most people grow their Staghorns outside year round. This is fine as long as there isn't any frost, as they are very "frost tender". Even here in St. Augustine whenever there is a frost/freeze warning everyone wraps their Staghorns in blankets or brings them inside. They can grow to be quite large, and in the central and southern parts of the state they are a common sight hanging from tree branches. I think for them to get that large in the northern part of the country they would have to be grown in a greenhouse situation.

The staghorn fern is a very intersting plant. In the wild it usually will be found attached to a tree, not a parasitic plant but a self sustaining epiphyte. Propagation is the same as with most ferns either from spores or removal of pups growing from the base of the parent plant. Most staghorns purchased will be growing in a pot this is fine yet overwatering is a problem, but for a more dramatic and healthier plant it should be mounted on a piece of wood such as cedar,redwood, etc. Direct sun is not beneficial to staghorns and will burn them, filtered sun light to shade is best. Allow the soil to dry in between waterings to avoid rot of sterile fronds and mount.