Nephrolepis biserrata
Giant Sword Fern
A popular long-lived plant with lots of flowing fronds, perfect for all kinds of containers. It thrives in damp, but not soggy soil that is rich in nutrients. It is tolerant to drought. When grown as a house-plant, be sure to mist the plant when relative humidity falls below around 80%. Outdoors this plant prefers partial shade or full shade.
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Partial shade to deep shade
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Frequent watering
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Not Frost hardy
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Moist and fertile
Common name
Giant Sword Fern
Latin name
Nephrolepis biserrata
type
Fern
family
Nephrolepidaceae
ph
6.5 - 7.5 Acid - Neutral
Plant & bloom calendar
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Best time to plant
full grown dimensions
Nephrolepis biserrata
A popular long-lived plant with lots of flowing fronds, perfect for all kinds of containers. It thrives in damp, but not soggy soil that is rich in nutrients. It is tolerant to drought. When grown as a house-plant, be sure to mist the plant when relative humidity falls below around 80%. Outdoors this plant prefers partial shade or full shade.
Planting young plants
From Early Spring TO Early Summer
When planting, it's really important not to bury the crown as this will lead to crown rot and the eventual death of your plant. If re-potting a pot grow plant, only repot if you are happy for the plant to grow bigger and even then, only when the roots have filled the existing pot. Take extra care to keep the fern at the same soil level it sat at before. As a houseplant, it needs warm to average warmth during the day with a natural decrease in temperature at night will work wonders on the foliage, 16°C - 26°C / 60°F - 80°F. In any case, no lower than 10°C / 50°F.
Propagation
From Early Spring TO Early Summer
It's usually most productive to divide a large plant into 2 or 3 pieces when you repot, or a more reliable approach is to look out for "baby" ferns appearing on "runners" at the edges of the pot. After they are large enough to handle they can be cut away from the "runner" and potted up in a similar compost mix.