I don't think you are giving your plants enough water.
I would water heavy every day. It will not hurt them.
Check the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow boston ferns

Thanks for the advice...I have watered more and they are looking greener, but some of the ends are turning brown on the tips...any idea about that? One person emailed me and said it could be too much light and they are getting burned, but a neighbor of mine(I'm at an apartment community) has the same kind of ferns hanging in the same local on his porch and they get the same amount of light as mine, and his look fine. He says he waters his every few days and just leaves them...I also see them looking uneven now, as in one side of the basket is looking damaged and less full, while the other is looking better. The are on chains so they turn round and round constantly in the wind, so all sides are getting light, I don't know...

I have the fern growing as a weed in my backyard. It is exposed to full sun for much of the day. I only water it weekly.
Some of the patches I spray down only to help push up local humidity for the bog/moss plants I grow. Otherwise the plants in shade are greener than the ones in sun. Also they tend to lose leaves if they get really dry or as parts of the plants age and die back to the bare leaf stalk. Being in Georgia you should have no problem with humidity though with the drought ??? You may want to vary your watering schedule to offset weather conditions and watch local humidity and react with misting or watering when it drops below 60%. Otherwise with the changes you have made and will be making give the plant some time to adjust.

I'm quite new to fern also, but I'm beginning to like them a lot. In my previous home, I killed a lot of them to make way for my vegetable garden. In my present home, I decided to save a lot of them and plant them in hanging baskets. Now they're hanging under my huge Oak tree and they do give a soft touch against the concrete building. Here's a link to the pictures I posted.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/crypto/msg0423260619752.html?2

I found out the name of the first one, the second one I don't know what variety. The third one is not mine (just a picture I got off the internet).

In any case, as regards to your question about your Boston fern not looking as good, I'm wondering if it could be the same thing with my ferns. When I first transplanted them in the hanging baskets, they weren't looking good. They were a lot healthier in the ground. I decided to check out care for ferns on the internet and it suggested to feed it with liquid fertilizer and epsom salt. I don't remember that link, but here's one that is also helpful.

http://www.essortment.com/all/howtocarefor_rdny.htm

From this link, they also suggested: Water-soluble plant food applied once every two weeks during the warmer months is recommended by "Boston-type Ferns". During winter, it says fertilizer should be applied monthly. To help achieve a rich, green color, the Boston fern can be given a mixture of two tablespoons of Epsom salts per gallon of water. The same article says this mixture can be applied two times per year.

So, back to my experience with my ferns. I began feeding miracle grow and epsom salt in the proportion that is recommended. Though I didn't feed them as frequently as has been recommended, I'm already beginning to see a huge difference. Their fronds are now longer, greener and more dense. Compared to a couple of them which I neglected in my backyard, those being fed definitely look far better in terms of color and density.

Hope you're able to find out how to help yours look heathier too.

Thank you so much bananafan for your post...the info you gave is exactly what I was looking for in terms of trying to green them back up and get them fuller, as I have definitely noticed a change in the number and fullness of fronds.

If you don't mind, what kind of miracle-gro did you use, as I want to get the exact same kind as you since you are having better luck with your ferns. And with your miracle-gro, are you dilluting it at all?

Also, what kind of watering do you do with your hanging ferns? I can't really feel the soil in my baskets too well to determine if they are drying out, so I am just keeping them watered every few days...do you think this is enough or too much, as I am in Marietta, GA but we haven't hit any hot weather as of yet. It just seems every few days the baskets are noticable lighter when I lift them, so I figure they need water...what are your thoughts?

Sorry to bombard you with so many different questions, but you are helping me already!!!

-Krys

Krys,

I'm glad the info is of some help to you. Your question about Miracle Gro, the one I use is Liquafeed, but I also use Vigoro all purpose plant food. The Miracle Gro Liquafeed bottle actually came with the waterspray I bought from Home Depot. The waterspray was hard to operate for me, so I got rid of the waterspray and just use the liquid feed from the bottle for all my potted plants. I use a cap or two to mix in a 2-gallon water pail. With the Vigoro feed, I use a capful to 2 gallon of water. Both of these seem to have helped my ferns as well as my other potted plants. As with frequency with watering, I must say I'm embarrassed to answer your question because my ferns do take a lot of neglect from me. I try to water them as reguarly as I can remember, but sometimes they do get neglected for as long as a week. Good thing the rain helps them get all soaked up once in a while. Nonetheless, I think the ideal watering would be to wait until the dirt is dry at least an inch or so before I would water them again. I do have the same problem of not being able to feel the soil surface. Recently I bought a moisture testing stick and that makes things a lot easier.

By the way, I'd like to ask you what kind of hanging baskets your ferns are planted in. All my ferns are grown in metal grill hanging basket lined with some kind of fibre. In the past, I've bought ferns in plastic hanging baskets. After a while, they thinned out and eventually died. Alll my ferns now seem to have liked the fibre lined metal grill hanging baskets. Some of their roots actually have pierced through the fibre and are hanging outside of the pots. It doesn't seem to have bothered them at all and I'm guessing perhaps they even like it that way because they get some kind of a breathing space? One thing with the fibre lined hanging pots is that the water actually drains out very quickly from the pots. Maybe this helps the ferns from sitting too long in the water which might not be good for them as in the case with plastic pots? These are just some speculations from observations with my own ferns. Perhaps some other people here in this forum who are expert in ferns can offer more info?

I do hope I have answered your questions and wish your ferns to appear all green and healthy soon.

I read the instructions on my Vigoro all purpose feed again and would like to make some corrections here. It says to put 1/2 cap to a 2-gallon pail (and not a cap as in my previous post) for outdoor plants. For house plants, mix 1 tsp (tea spoon) to 1 gallon of water.

Thanks for getting back to me with what kind of plant foods you use, as I am going to definitely get some this Saturday...

Unfortunately, I do have my ferns in the green plastic hanging baskets that they were in when I bought them, as I have been scared to remove them and repot them. That was the first thing I thought they needed when I bought them because they were SO huge and full that I couldn't get my finger in to feel any soil at the edge(I couldn't even get to an edge back then, although with the thinning now I can) I know of the metal baskets lined in fiber( I think its called coco fiber) and I actually have two of them that I was planning on planting some easy-to-grow flowers in, but maybe I will just repot these and see how they do.

In the case of repotting...What type of potting medium did you use when you repotted? I have read that they need well-draining, and some peat moss mixed into the soil. However, I also asked a guy up at a nursery and he told me just to use regular potting soil(don't know how reliable he was) but what is your opinion?

Again, thank you so much for having concern and posting on here...your input has been valuable and has steered me in the right direction. I am hoping some experts with ferns will post, but we will see!

-Krys

For me, I think the regular garden soil is too heavy to use in hanging baskets. I would use peat moss mixed with perlite and humus. If you get the Miracle Gro potting mix, that should be good too. The idea is to allow good drainage and high moisture retention.

This is a message to everyone out there with Boston Fern trouble. I have a Boston Fern that is over 6 years old. I have tried to kill it numerous times. I have roasted the poor plant out in the summer sun and left it out in the freezing snow and ice. The plant comes back every year in the same pot it has been in for years. Every time it looks sad and turning brown...one green leaf left on the plant I feed it lots of nitrogen. Ooooo does it love it! Right now the plant is thriving and looking better than ever! Just remember to give it lots of love, nitrogen, water in well drained soil, warm temperatures (65-85 degrees) and indirect light (medium or high)and the plant will live happy.

if the ends of your fronds are turning brown you are watering too much. ferns should go about 28 days between waterings. You also may be getting root rot if you are watering from the top. Your hanging fern should only be watered from the bottom. Set them in a pan and pour in enough water to go up about 1 inch. Your fern will suck this up within about a half hour. Then mist them periodically throughout the 28 days. Good luck

Boston ferns are my favorite. I'm not a professional, but this has always worked with mine (I lived in Buckhead for 47 years). Boston's do best when underpotted - hence the full pot making it hard to feel the soil. If you water as with other plants, the water will run right through without the roots getting enough. Try sitting the plant in water for 30 minutes at a time and let it soak up what it needs. Also, no full sun and they do great in the house if any air movement. I do use Miracle Gro on mine, full strength in the summer and heavily diluted otherwise. If ends of fronds are brown....not enough water or possibly too much sun. If Bostons have a drain hole, almost impossible to overwater. Good luck!

I also have brown tips on some outside Boston ferns. Should I cut off all the dry hanging strands under neath? My new fronds on top are great. Just the lower older fronds have brown tips

I just got 3 myself and looked how to care for them.I read about "leaching " where you fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and lower your pot down till it stops bubbling. 2 times a week. I just started but wondered has anyone tried this?

Brian Hitchcock, I am in Tucson Arizona and do pretty much the same thing. I have mine in the the metal lined planters with a little plastic in them to help retain some water...when it starts hitting 90-100 here I mist them twice a day along with watering ever morning....they seem to love the heat as long as they get the humity and the water. You have an awesome porch. Mine are hanging around my 1900 gal. koi pond that is covered with 80% sunscreen.

They look great fully grown out in a container but there is no way of knowing how old the plant is from the garden center. They like continuous growth. I'd suggest dividing the roots of the containered plant and make two or more new plants. Repot with fresh soil, compost, and fertilizer and they will take off again towards full glory in no time.

I have catapillars on my Boston ferns, how do I get rid of them??

I have 7 Boston Ferns. Some ferns are doing great and others...not so much. I got them at Lowes. 4 are strong. (Originally 3, but one has bounced back). All did not come from the same Lowes store. 3 from one store and 4 from the other. All hang in a metal basket with coconut fiber lining and miracle grow potting soil. My porch is covered, with seven hooks. 2 hang facing West, one is north west, and the others face south.

I have done miracle grow, water daily as needed, trim off dead spots, but three look very thin and don't seem to be improving. At what point do you throw in the towel? I wish I knew what I was doing wrong, or if it's not my fault. My sister suspected they were root bound based on pictures I sent her while I was repotting and thought they'd bounce back fast. It's been fairly close to a month now. The one pictured first is basically half of a fern. One side is descent the other is dead. That pic is from May 9th and it's far worse now.

Here is what roots looked like on the ones that aren't doing well. They didn't look great when I got them.

Help! I'm a rookie. Thanks!!

Here is what the porch looks like. If you are looking at the picture, the left of the photo and the plants on the side hooks face west.

Here are a few more pics. FYI-Repotted ferns April 28th. The collage was not long after repotting and they still looked relatively full, but, trust me, they are not! You can see dirt and stems in the three struggling ones.

From April 28

Far left fern is one struggling, the other is the one behind it and slightly left and the other you is next to the one I just described

Have you all had problems with birds trying to nest in your hanging ferns? I got two hanging Boston ferns about two weeks ago and the birds have been incessant! About 1/4 of one of the plants was destroyed due to the birds. I'd love any suggestions folks have about how to deal with that. I've ordered a few bird deterrent products ('scare' products like a piece with little reflective metal plates that hangs next to it) and and so far none of them seem to be working well. I just put some wooden kabob skewers throughout it to hopefully make it less desirable real estate.

Thanks for the tips, everyone!

Hi Jamey

I hope I'm not too late to help. I had a similar problem last summer. Mine came from Home Depot in West Michigan. The fern was pot bound. So I got a new pot that was only 2 inches bigger than the previous one so the roots wouldn't get waterlogged with the excessive soil and rot,

I took it out of the old pot, cleaned it up removing all the death, dried up fronds etc. I put it in the new pot being careful not to bury the crow, I have it a good watering with no fertilizer (Boston Ferns can not handle being fed right after re-potting. It is too much for them during the shock of transplanting). I kept it in a shady spot to recover for a week. I did't move or touch it. She looked weak and a little sickly for a month or so, I thought she was a goner. She finally started to very noticebly pep up whereas I put her where she was going to be for the summer.

She is acclimated to her pot and is huge now. I fertilize during the growing season once a month using Miracle-Gro liquid feed using half of the recommended amount. She really flourishes with diluted solution. And once a week with Epson Salt solution which keeps her leaves very green and soft.

Good luck!

Water them every two days with 1 teaspoon of Epsom salt in one quart of water, during hot summer growing months. Water from the top and let the ferns sit in a tray of that same water for about 20 minutes to thoroughly soak in the nutrients then dump the water out on lawn or soil. Many other plants love and thrive on small amounts of Epsom salt, ( magnesium / sulfur ) Also,after looking at the you pics posted it looks like your ferns may be getting a bit too much direct sunlight. Even morning sunlight can be too much for some ferns. After an hour of direct sunlight set them aside in the shade for the most part of the morning until its shady again then hang back up. Quickly you should see a great improvement in your ferns !

I posted a pic of my ferns last summer, so here is a pic of the 2016 version

Someone had posted that ferns should only be watered every 28 days???!!!! No way, ferns love to be watered, everyday in hot summer months for sure. You can also soak them in a bucket of water with epsom salts added once a week.

I rescued a discarded Boston fern from the tenant next door when they moved out. I trimmed all the dying fronds, put it in a new pot and kept it on my porch for a week. It was getting too much sun so after doing some reading online I saw that the bathroom would be a good place for it. It sits on our window will in our shower. Gets morning sunlight and plenty of moisture. I make sure the soil doesn't dry out but within the last few days I notice the fronds are still green but they are no longer firm and now they're drooping and limp. What am I doing wrong? I've never had a Boston fern and don't want the new growth that's sprouting up to die.

I have Boston ferns growing randomly in my garden. I have no ides why. I used to pull them out till realized what a beautiful plant they are. So this year I have thankfully left them alone. Look great I dont do anything to them and they dont seem to have any problems. Anyone no why.? ps I live in England..