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Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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Posted by arjo_reich 6 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 26, 07 at 15:24
| I have a bathroom with a large garden tub and I would like to mount a staghorn fern in the shower area.
It would be mounted high and on the far way from the showerhead so the likelihood of it getting water or soap on it directly is very low. It would however benefit from the humidity.
Care will be taken to keep direct drafts from the HVAC vents from coming near it as well...
My biggest concern is lighting. During the daylight hours it will be in a partly - mostly shade area except when the bathroom lights (florescents) are on which is typically for about 30-60 minutes every morning and every night with periodical "bursts" when the bathroom is utilized.
I know their natural habitat is on tree trunks which seems to be a similar lighting condition, I just wanted to run it past a reality check here for opinions first.
I'm really hoping this works out because it will be the final piece that ties everything else in the room together and gives it that real "living room" feeling. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| An interesting question. I have grown 7 species and several cultivars of stags in many different settings, but always outdoors. To expand my horizons I will move one of mine indoors to see how it does. In general, staghorns are NOT a low light plant, and they require good air ciculation, as in a fan. Some cultivars of P. hillii may tolerate less light than some other species. Good luck. |
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| thanx, I'll look into that. |
Ferns in bathrooms without natural light
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| Absolutely impossible! There is no similarity whatsoever between the light levels a high-light epiphyte would receive in the wild and a windowless shower cubicle that has only a weak fluorescent lamp turned on for '30 to 60 minutes a day'. It's also a bit of a myth that bathrooms are significantly humid during the hours when nobody is showering - if anything they are one of the driest rooms in the house and that's why your towels don't stay soaking wet on the heated rail. A high-light fern like a Platycerium grown indoors under artificial lights (yes, it can be done) would require at least 12 hours of intense illumination - some indoor growers would consider pushing that to 18 hours a day. |
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| Lighting is the 1st problem, as the stephenpope said...the other is absolutely the humidity level, which does not to remain pretty constant. shower on /off for such a short time(s) during the day won't be enuf to sustain it. Just my 2 cents worth. :) |
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| I guess that idea is out then. Ideally I was hoping the lighting from the skylight that will be installed down the road in the bathroom would provide enough light but i didn't realize their humidity requirements were so stringent. Living in Nashville, I fell in love with my mother-in-law's plant (miami, fl) and was hoping i could snag one of it's pup's for this purpose. |
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| Beg to differ.. I have grown Stags in my bathroom several times over years.. I had a grow light in what was an infrared socket.. left it on all day.. After my shower I had a rubber tub about 8 inches tall and filled it with water.. I left the bath fan on most of the time as well. I live in Western Washington. I just bought a very very large stag and am going to do it as I always have.. with success.. I will hang it from the North side of the house in late spring for the summer and early fall. |
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| Y'all might try growing a "Bird's Nest Fern" in the bathroom. They're much cleaner and less demanding. BTW keep a look out for scale on both. |
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| That's a really cool idea ario. If I were going to try, I'd mount a small grow light above and wire it to the bathroom light switch such that it comes on when you turn the main light off. Then you could hide a little ultrasonic humidifier next to it and put it on a timer. That would be really neat to have a plant in the shower like that. |
RE: Staghorn Fern - Bathroom...
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| HoustonPat, I wasn't going to say anything, but when you said "keep an eye out for scale on stags and birdnest..."....well, I just could not hold my peace. Boy are you right!! I was keeping my collection of young stags and birdnests on my south/east/west side sunporch last winter, with a fairly large scheffelera. First thing I know, sticky mess everywhere. Oh yeah, it was scale. I ended up murdering the scheffelera as a scale magnet, and then I went to work saving my ferns. I have some that I dearly love. So I totally concur with what you say about scale. And, I put several of my stags in a north facing bathroom, which had clerestory windows giving constant bright light for this winter period. I spritzed them down, and they did fine. But then I tend to rotate things instead of leaving them always in one spot. I also immersed the entire stag fern to deep water the inside of the board and moss, or in a couple of cases, the SOIL. Then this spring I moved them outdoors where they have been flourishing very well, with some supplemental watering during our dry spells. If you have a plant in such a location as a bathroom, it will not be a "set it and forget it" matter. |
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