Ferns in high humidity and temperature environment

[Namio]

Any vivarium plant guru out here knows what ferns are suitable living in a high humidity (95%+) and high temperature (around 80F) environment? And where i can get that fern species. It is a terrarium with waterfall that I made for my red eyed crocodile skinks if you are curious.

[DigitalPunk]

I am not a plant guru, but I have a Cattail fern in my mantilla tank and it is doing great. Temps in the Paladarium are around 75F and the humidity is near 80%. I bout the fern from Joshs frogs.

[Namio]

I am not a plant guru, but I have a Cattail fern in my mantilla tank and it is doing great. Temps in the Paladarium are around 75F and the humidity is near 80%. I bout the fern from Joshs frogs.

Thank you for your excellent suggestion Paul! One thing I worry is that cattail fern may not withstand humidity close to 100% as my tank is; nonetheless josh frogs has a lot of good selections of terrarium plants that I can choose from so I might find something there. Thanks again for that!

[DigitalPunk]

Mike,

There are some plant gurus on the forum that I am sure will chime in once they wake up tomorrow .

NEHERP has a good selection of tropical plants as well.

[Tongue Flicker]

A lot of ferns can easily thrive with that. Usually any epiphytic or ground fern that has a stiff or succulent leaf can withstand such conditions. Staghorn fern can grow really long fronds though and they also require a dormant season. Bird's nest ferns are also great in this conditions and can easily be split into smaller pieces for planting vertically or on viv walls. Tassel ferns of either the genus Huperzia or Polystichum can also be used but huperzias prefer it a bit drier while polystichum likes it a bit cooler. Tropical brackens (Pteridiums) are also nice but they can be quite huge.

The next condition will depend on two things:

- how bright is your lighting in that viv?
- where do you plan to position the fern? (i.e. on the wall, stand it in water, or straight into the substrate or along the waterfalls?

[Namio]

A lot of ferns can easily thrive with that. Usually any epiphytic or ground fern that has a stiff or succulent leaf can withstand such conditions. Staghorn fern can grow really long fronds though and they also require a dormant season. Bird's nest ferns are also great in this conditions and can easily be split into smaller pieces for planting vertically or on viv walls. Tassel ferns of either the genus Huperzia or Polystichum can also be used but huperzias prefer it a bit drier while polystichum likes it a bit cooler. Tropical brackens (Pteridiums) are also nice but they can be quite huge.

The next condition will depend on two things:

- how bright is your lighting in that viv?
- where do you plan to position the fern? (i.e. on the wall, stand it in water, or straight into the substrate or along the waterfalls?

I plan on having the fern planted in the substrate (EcoEarth), which will eventually become somewhat water-clogged from water accumulated from the occasional drops from the waterfall and water evaporation from the false bottom (I heat the enclosure with a small aquarium water heater under the false bottom).
Since a picture worth a thousand words, I'll let the pics do most of the talking for me.

Here is what the terrarium looks like. A standard 20 G with a glass lid (I drilled about 10 of the 3/4 inch diameter holes, covered by window screen). The background is cork bark and great stuff with EcoEarth.


I have a T5 light fixture equivalent to the length of the tank sitting directly on top of the terrarium, with two side by side 18W light bulbs, one white one blue.


The plants I have in there right now is some good ol' pothos and an unknown fern that I bought last year. I figure I give those two plants a try.


A close-up shot of the fern.


The air temperature inside the tank is a pretty consistent 75-78F since the water heater does an excellent job of maintaining temperature. The area near the waterfall is over 95% humidity and the far/dry end is about 80%.

[deranged chipmunk]

I have a few suggestions, I just need a little time to get some stuff done and I will respond.

[Namio]

I'm sorry to hear that, Lynn! Yes I know I love the looks of ferns, too! Hopefully Bill will save us!

[deranged chipmunk]

The problem with ferns isn't so much the humidity, it's finding ones that will stay small. Microgramma species stay pretty small, and creep, but they aren't easy to find and aren't cheap. Quite a few of the asplenium species stay small for a while and rare pretty manageable with trimming. Nephrolepsis is another. Those are the "button ferns". A handful of adiantum sp. (Maidenhair ferns) stay small and are suitable.

If you want something that really loves humidity and grows grass like, pilularia is the way to go.

That's all I have off the top of my head.

[deranged chipmunk]

The suggestions Neil have were awesome, unfortunately, most, if not all grow way too big, way to fast for your size tank. And the lycopodiums he suggested, which btw, I would KILL to have any of them, but they are so darned expensive, would actually be too long from the giddy up. But man of man I want some for a tank I'm building. I might just have to bite the bullet on that one lol

[Namio]

Thanks Bill I will certainly look into the species and genera you recommended!

[Tongue Flicker]

A waterlogged substrate teamed w/ your high temp+high humidity will seem to somewhat do a "burn" on a fern causing it to grow quickly but produces leaves with brown crisp leaf tips. Osmunda fibers work wonders for a well-drained substrate if the fern's roots will be in contact with water all the time. Ferns planted along running/moving water however seemed to flourish better than those planted in a stagnant substrate matter. As bill suggested, i love those Aspleniums as well especially A.scolopendrium also known as hart's tongue (Formerly Phyllitis, so that's why i had a hard time looking for it). Forgot to suggest those as are quite rarely seen here where i'm at. I had bad luck with maidenhairs before as they seem to prefer a more dimmer setup. There are also nice cultivars of ferns to choose nowadays that stay smaller and grow slower than their normal self