Probably common leaf mold and is usually beneficial for a compost and decomposing of the leaves.

Andrea: Sounds like leaf mould to me too. This won't harm your ferns, but while something is actively decomposing, the microbes in the soil are too busy doing their job of breaking down material to pay much attention to supplying nutrients to growing things. This probably explains why your ferns are looking somewhat deprived. Just remove the decaying matter by hand and put it in the compost until it is completely broken down, then you can put the resulting black gold back into your fern bed.

I'm having quite a problem with this too. I left for vacation and my tree fern was neglected by my roommate. This thick white mold is now on virtually every branch. When my fern started sprouting a new branch, the mold hindered it and it was never able to grow leaves. Removing by hand has been nearly impossible. Its sticky and flakes everywhere. In order to save it, i need to find a better way of removing it. Does anybody know a way?

If you use hardwood mulch you'll likely get this kind of fungus.

Goldsoup, if you read the original post you will see that the 'mold' in discussion is under the mulch NOT on the plant. Your plant has something quite different, but without a better description or image we can't really help you.

ah. ok. the problem i have is a fuzzy white substance (mold, fungus?) grows in tiny clumps (2mm) at sites mainly where the leaves meet the main frond. however, this white substance has also grown all over the interior aspect of new fronds as they curl out of the basal part of the plant. it is sticky and hard to remove. i will try to figure out how to put pictures up here.

Goldsoup, your problem sounds like powdery mildew, if it's dry. But you said it was sticky, and that sounds like some kind of little bug that makes itself a protective 'nest' out of it's own waste matter. I had something similar on a fern once that I kept in my sunroom over the winter, and I got rid of it by wiping down the whole plant with alcohol-soaked cotton pads and then washing down the plant in the shower to remove the alcohol. I had to treat it a couple of times to get rid of them, but the alcohol does it. Cheryl