GROWING FERNS FROM SEED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 857, 28 December 1929, Page 26

GROWING FERNS FROM SEED

Ferns are propagated in various ways, the kind to be increased to a great extent governing the method adopted. Many ferns produce spores from which plants can be raised, while others are grown from bulbils produced on the fronds, and, again, others must* be, or are best increased, by division of the crowns or rhizomes as the case may be.

A popular method of raising ferns is by sowing the spores, which are very minute and produced in spore cases—like dots —-at the back of the fronds. When the fronds are young the spore cases are almost colourless, but after a time they turn light brown, changing to dark brown as they become ripe. Fern spores are very light and liable to be blown and scattered about the fernery, and in cases where a number of different kinds are grown in one place and it is desired to keep the spores collected quite distinct, the selected fronds should be gathered a short time before the spore cases get

thoroughly ripe and open, and, if the fronds are washed under gently running water, any foreign spores that have attached themselves will be removed. The fronds should then be carefully dried in paper bags. Spring is the b.est time to sow the spores, and a suitable compost consists of two parts light fibrous loam, one part sand, and one part leaf-soil. The surface of the soil in the pots or pans should be rather rough, and the spores be sown by shaking the fronds over them, or the fronds may be laid spore side downward on the surface. The pots or pans should be plunged in coco-fibre refuse, which must he kept well and evenly moist, be covered with a sheet of glass, and placed In a shady position in a warm greenhouse. The first stage in the germination of the spores is the appearance of prothallia—faint green' lichen-lilce growth on the surface — little patches of which should, as soon as practicable, be pricked off into other pots or pans of compost, and after a short time air must be admitted and the quantity Increased very gradually.