Rock ferns

[Hoy]

zephirine I am very glad that you liked my pictures. Your ferns are very nice. I also like Polystichum  makinoi and P. braunii.

Hoy Thank you for your suggestions swap spores but I'm afraid  that propagation of Botrychium spores is too difficult for me. I'm curious about your experience with the propagation of ferns from spores.

I usually fill a plastic box with a growing medium (I often use ordinary but sterile compost) sprinkle out the spores and put on the lid and place the box in bright light but not in direct sunshine.

Some spores germinate in a couple of weeks but other need many months. It is not necessary to water as long as the lid is on. Actually I have grown ferns for 5 years in a box like that without doing anything but adding a few drops of water once or twice a year to replace what evaporates when I open the lid!

A bad picture but you get the idea:

[kelaidis]

Delighted to find this thread on ferns...they were one of my first horticultural loves (and I still love them). The harsh steppe climate of Denver is hard one ferns, but we do grow a few...this is a new one from Mongolia that has been doing well the last few years: a Pyrrhosia (if anyone can identify the species I would appreciate it!)...

[TheOnionMan]

How very unferny looking that thing is!  I googled Pyrrhosia/Pyrrosia; did you know of the Pyrrosia web site?
http://www.pyrrosia.com/

Those are some wacky looking ferns, and I mean that in a good way  

PK, I think your unferny fern migh be the miniature form of P. lingua, see:
http://tulear.blogspot.com/2008/11/pyrrosia-lingua.html

[gote]

...- and Picos fern is a Asplenium trichomanes or A. adulterinum?

Adulterinum is supposed to have "frond stems" that are dark att the bottom and green at the top is it not?
Thus trichomanes but the trichomanes of Scandinavia is different from the trichomanes I have seen in Spain which might have been ssp coriacefolium.
Göte

[Hoy]

...- and Picos fern is a Asplenium trichomanes or A. adulterinum?

Adulterinum is supposed to have "frond stems" that are dark att the bottom and green at the top is it not?
Thus trichomanes but the trichomanes of Scandinavia is different from the trichomanes I have seen in Spain which might have been ssp coriacefolium.
Göte

Yes, adultrinum being a cross between trichomanes and viride is dark at the bottom and green at the top of the rachis. I have seen it only once.

And I have to second Mark: That Pyrrhosia is a very unferny fern!

[Bjarne]

Are Asplenium adultrinum in cultivation?

[razvan chisu]

nice topic Zen!

i found some packets of fern spores in a drawer. they must be more than 5 years old.
does anyone know how long do fern spores retain their viability?

the ferns in question are
blechnum procerum, blechnum vulcanicum, pneumatopteris pennigera, polystichum richardii and pyrrosia eleagnifolia

[shelagh]

Give them a go Razvan, what have you got to lose. Mine just sit on the windowsill (not in full sun) until they decide to do something.  All it takes is a pot of sterilised  compost and some clingfilm and a saucer of water.  Easy peasy

[razvan chisu]

well that was my intention, but searching for information on viability I found two references of germination of spores "on water" or in distilled water.

on water: http://www.jstor.org/pss/1547739
in water: "spore of several ferns posses the peculiar virtue of being able to germinate in distilled water or on the surface of agar solidified in water" http://books.google.ro/books?id=C2Zb6lhIeScC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

has anyone tried germinating them in this way?

[zen]

Razvan here is advice
 " Some growers recommend using distilled water, but I have found normal tap water, which has settled overnight to release chlorine, to be just fine."
 Sue Olsen "Encyclopedia of garden ferns"

"Distilled or cooled boiled water is best during these early stages. Top water can be an unwanted source of algae"
 B.J. Hoshizaki&R.C. Moran "Fern grower's manual"

I use tap water but I think it would be better boiled. Next year I'll use boiled.

[razvan chisu]

yes, I also used boiled water.

from those 2 references I mentioned earlier, I understand some ferns germinate in pure water, no soil.
so this is how my experiment looks.

[zen]

Razvan
I propagate ferns from spores in the soil. I never tried only in the water and I do not know if this is possible.
I use the water for fertilization gametophyte.
Here is the short explanation of haw to do it.

http://www.hardyferns.org/fern-info-propagation.php

[annew]

When we looked after the British Pteridological Society's spore exchange, we devised a simple method of propagation by spores, which we called 'The Wright Way to grow ferns from spores' (a play on our name). We think it is foolproof 
If anyone would like it, please email me.

[kelaidis]

Ferns were one of my first loves horticulturally, and rock ferns are indispensible in my gardens. I am chagrined to see I have virtually no pictures of some of the ones I've grown the longest and love the most (especially various pellaeas, cheilanthes and other hot rock ferns from the American Southwest). Or rather, I have lots of tranparencies of these...but I have taken some shots in both the wild and a few in my garden I'd love to share...

1) The first is a Polypodium vulgare form with very long fronds I photographed in the Altai mountains of Kazakhstan in 2010: I did collect some spore. I'd better check and see if they've sown them!
2) Pyrrhosia sp. ex Mongolia was a gift of Harlan Hamernik when he visited four or five years ago. It persists (to my amazement), although since he did collect it in Mongolia I shouldn't be too surprised. This is in my private garden in Denver, Colorado.
3) I believe this is a woodsia, although it could be Cystopteris as well. I did not look carefully. But it has more of a Woodsia look to me. I photographed this in the Altai as well two years ago.
4) I have grown Pellaea atropurpurea both at my home and Denver Botanic Gardens. This sporeling self sowed on the giant Dolormitic limestone boulders in the garden. The parent was probably one we obtained from an Eastern nursery source. Ironically, 5) Pellaea atropurpurea does grow on these very rocks which were quarried for the Rock Alpine Garden, although we did not get any with the rocks. The quarry is busy destroying the only station for this Pellaea in northern Colorado (although it is known in the southern part of the state.)
6) Asplenium trichomanes growing in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa  (looks like I have seen it all over the northern Hemisphere)
7) My favorite South African rock fern is Cheilanthes eckloniana, which grows all over the foothills of the Drakensberg, and also throughout the Karoo (Which can be very hot and dry). I was thrilled to get this from a high source in the East Cape from Plant Delights Nursery which grows these and many other choice rock ferns from spore.

[razvan chisu]

@ panayoti
from what I understand Denver is a zone 5/6 area. so you get temperatures of -25C once in a while, no?
so that pellea would be hardy here in Cluj (we were zone 6 but during the last few years I think we are moving towards zone 7)
your pyrrhosia is looking great too.