Starting Ferns from Spores

Ferns are a staple plant for the PNW understory. Our region has a variety of species of ferns such as sword ferns, deer fern, licorice fern and many more. This is the second post of the growing fern series. If you are interested in adding more ferns to your wildlife garden be consider reading this and the previous blog post. The last post covered harvesting and storing fern spores. This post will discuss how to propagate ferns from the collected spores.

Growing Ferns by Spore

Propagating ferns is pretty simple but will take patience. Once you have collected spores you are ready to sow.

1. Collect materials

   To propagate ferns you will not need many supplies. You will need to gather the materials for propagating. You will need:

   • Containers - I like to reuse plastic clear take out containers that have a clear lid. This allows light to shine into the container and helps to hold in the moisture. This moisture is crucial to starting ferns. You can use any container with plastic wrap on top.
   • Soil media - I have used a variety of different soil media with good success. It is good to have a mix that has high compost and moist substrate such as coconut coir. This will allow the mix to retain water easier.
   • Spores - You will need the fern spores you have collected following the directions on the previous blog.

2. Sanitize Equipment

   The first step to sanitize containers and soil. For containers I like to wash containers and then rinse with a 5 percent bleach solution. The sanitization prevents unwanted spores from molds and fungi to form along with the ferns. Allow the containers to fully air dry before using.

   Sterilize your soil before using. Just as the containers and spread bad spores, the soil can too. sterilizing soil will increase the success of fern propagation. Robin Sweetser posted a excellent blog post on the Farmers Almanac website. This post discussed 3 different methods for sterilizing soil.

3. Sow Spores

   Once everything is sanitized it is time to place the soil in the containers. Make sure the soil mix is most but not soaking wet. gently tap the soil down but do not compact. Take your spores and gently spread a thing layer of spores across the surface of the soil. Cover the soil with the container lid or plastic wrap.

4. Continued Care

   Keep an eye on the fern propagation containers. Keep the containers moist but not wet. In about 2 weeks you will see a green layer develop across the surface. Once this happens you can be assured that germination of the spores has happened. In another 2 to 6 months you will begin to see the gametophytes begin to develop. They will look like little green heart shaped plants. If the gametophytes are very crowed you can separate the a little with tweezes or your fingers. In another 6 months to a year you will start seeing the sporophytes begin developing.

Eventually you will be able to transfer small clumps of these sporophytes to individual containers and continue to grow. Once large enough you can transfer to your garden and begin to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Happy planting and remember to be patient!