Birds nest fern immersion?

Is it salt water or fresh water?

Fresh

From a quick Google - a few sites say that immersion for 'just a few days' is enough to kill an average plant.

Jane

g'day david,

i've been mulling over this one mate, i'd realy hate to suggest one thing and then have quiet the opposite happen especially if the fern dies. before now i always had heaps of 'nidus' in my gardens and some realy large ones.

in reality birds nests fern grow up in the trees and on rock edges where they get heaps of water in the rain forests they prefer but then they don't get flooded, so they will take a lot of water at the right time sort of.

now if you had a falsh flood taht didn't deposit a huge amount of sediment into the plant then it may do quiet well but there are too many variables, flooded under water with no sediment for a few days is most likely going to start them rotting, and then if you add sediment which can be varioable that time could be shortened.

my suggestion keep them just above the flood line for preservation, they can be mounted into a hollow log that is above the flood or mount them into the fork of a tree above that level.

hope some of this makes sense and helps. they won't like having their feet continually wet or saturated unlike tree ferns. at best i would suggest they would cope with a flash flood of no more than 24 hours.

len

snipped

Probably not several days. Look at the bank where you propose to plant this fern. How old are most of the plants, and are they pretty much roots-in-water-tolerant? If it's less than the timing of the last flood and / or yes, pick another spot for the fern.

Chris Owens

Thanks to all those who replied. I have had it for 25 years and I would hate to lose it. It's over 4m across and pretty well irreplaceable.

The fern is staying put in its current site until I can organise a spot for it on the new place well above the flood line.

David