Cibotium schiedei does fairly well as a house plant. Though when well grown it will get quite wide.
I don't believe you would have much luck with a trunk cutting of any Cyathea species.

Thank you! Interesting I hadn't heard of trunk cuttings. Actually I have no access to ferns that I could butcher up, but in the even of an over grown fern indoors, I would keep that option in mind.
Cibotium schiedei.... I haven't heard of this one and will look it up right now. Thanks!

Hi
How about some from the genus Blechum?? The Brazilian
fire fern is a beauty. Stays under 5 feet both ways. Don't grow it in the house but is VERY tolerant. have never been able to keep any tree ferns in the house due to whiteflies.
In a weak moment I bought an Angiopteris evecta which I understand can get over 30 feet in dia.!! and it's not even a tree lol. The little one foot specimen looks wonderful right now in the shadehouse but what will I do if I actually get it to grow ?? lol gary

I agree that Blechum is a good choice (red Brazilian is a gem). I had one for a while but I just couldn't keep up with its demands for constant watering--so just don't let it dry out or forget about it! Cyathea cooperei is also a strong grower if you remember to get it watered and also keep in on the COOLER side in the winter home. I repeatedly lost this species until I discovered that they do much better with the heat turned down. I think the real problem with tree ferns is that most Americans overheat there homes and excessively dry out the air--fatal to these guys.

Yeah, Gary. If grown well Angiopteris can get really big. A good friend is setting up a rainforest conservatory within their home, so I gave them a Cibotium schiedei and Angiopteris evecta that were getting to large for me to manage during winter + 6ft x 6ft.. Blechnum gibbum is really sensitive to lack of soil moisture, but the size would be fine for most homes.

Hi
Since the shadehouse only has a ten foot ceiling and my entire grow area is only 30x75. Angiopteris was probably NOT a good choice Especially when I have 5 kinds of understory palms which get over 20 feet both ways.
Oh well, amybe I'll kill it before that's a problem??
The palms are soo slow growing it'll be years before that's a problem but the angiopteris??
Gee it was only 6 bucks"" how could I pass it up??
gary

Hey Dirtslinger,

Like you, I live in USDA hardiness zone 5 and I've had very good luck with C cooperi in my house during the winter and outdoors during the summer. However, I dote on the thing when it's indoors, as you'll see. I keep my house on the cool side during the wintertime (63F [17C] in the daytime, 55F [13C] in the nighttime). Humidity in my house is normally quite low, so I augment the humidity with a Sunpentown dual warm mist/cool mist humidifier (model SU-4010), placed directly beneath the fern. I only use it on the cool-mist setting. I use a slow-blowing fan to disperse the mist upwards. I normally maintain the relative humidity in the fern room between 55 and 65 percent. To accomplish that, the humidifier runs on an intermediate setting 24 hours a day. The water vapor is taken up by furniture, carpet, condensation on the windows etc, and also disperses into other areas of the house. Therefore, the reservoir needs to be replenished every twelve hours on the setting I have it running on. See the fern pics I have on flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/anderse79 The fern room doubles as my family room, so I spend a lot of time in it. At first I didnt care for the moist air, but I got used to it! The walls are plaster-covered lathe and I havenÂt had trouble with condensation or mold or anything like that. When I bring the fern inside, I stake the fronds and train them to grow upright; otherwise the fronds get in the way of foot traffic. The fern is in an east-facing window and gets bright light in the morning and afternoon. I always let the fernÂs pot stand in a centimeter or so of water, and the soil is therefore always wet. I almost never water from the top, and I mist the fronds whenever I think about it, once or twice a day. I move the fern outside into a sheltered, mostly shady location in April and bring it inside in mid- October, before the first frost. I fertilize with a weak fertilizer every watering during the warm months, when the plant is outside. The plant grows faster outside than it does inside, but still I would consider these plants troopers overall. Our summers here are humid and mild, with comfortable daytime temperatures in the high 70s F [~25C] and nighttime lows in the 60s F [~16C]. However we sometimes have hot spells and the temperature can soar to 90F [32C]!! The fern takes the high temperatures well, probably because it has acclimated to the warm weather by that time and the humidity is also high.
As I said, this treefern specimen hasnÂt given me much trouble, and IÂm sure anyone living in the Great Lakes climate would have success with them if similar allowances were made for their care! It seems the key requirements for overwintering indoors are to never allow the plant to dry out and maintaining constant high humidity. As you know, these arenÂt unusual demands as far as ferns go! I don't know how much $ you want to sink into keeping your tree fern as a houseplant... As has been mentioned in other forums, any plant can be made to grow anywhere, the question is whether the benefit is worth with the cost. I think the benefit is worth the cost, because tree ferns make striking winter houseplants and guests never fail to be impressed by them! ItÂs up to every individual gardener to decide if a $22 treefern is worth a $75 humidifier, plus ~$3/month in electricity. If you are interested in obtaining a tree fern and you live locally, I bought mine some time ago from GilmoreÂs Greenhouse in Warren, Ohio. Briefly, this treefern specimen is more robust than I thought it would be, and should survive and grow slowly indoors in the wintertime if conditions are as indicated above. Good luck and post questions if any!
P Anderson
Cleveland, Ohio

A question...Has anyone had any success growing ferns and mos indoors with a mist bowl. I am more interested in moss, but a fern would add to an indoor landscape.
Any suggestions?
Milkweed(Lee)