Ferns in high humidity and temperature environment

[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%.

[flybyferns]

I have not had much luck w/ ferns
Moss yes .....but not ferns.
They are so pretty; so many choices.
Auto misting seemed to lead to the demise of the ferns ?