My neighbor the master gardener said I was watering my ferns wrong for 3 years

So I was out front last Tuesday and my neighbor Margaret came over, she's like 70 and her garden is straight out of a magazine. She watched me hose down my Boston ferns and just shook her head, said I was soaking the leaves but barely hitting the roots. I always thought the fronds needed the water, turns out that just breeds mold and the roots stay dry. Has anyone else had an older gardener call them out on something basic you thought you knew?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia54924d agoTop Commenter

Wait but actually she's kind of wrong about the fronds not wanting water. Ferns do like humidity on their leaves, especially Boston ferns since they're tropical. The real trick is you gotta do both spray the fronds AND soak the roots, just make sure your pot drains well so the roots sit in water but don't get waterlogged. I had the same issue with my hanging baskets where I was only misting the top and the soil stayed bone dry underneath.

nancy81723d ago

Wait, you're telling me you were just misting the TOP of the soil and it was bone dry underneath? That is INSANE. I did the EXACT same thing with my first Boston fern, I thought I was helping it by keeping the leaves damp but the roots were basically suffocating in dry dirt. The whole pot was a mess, I had to repot the thing TWICE before I figured out you actually have to stick your finger down into the pot to check. Now I do the full soak in the sink every three days and mist the fronds in between, and my fern is finally not dropping leaves like it's a drama queen.

the_anthony23d ago

Wait, you stuck your finger in the dirt and felt dry soil while the leaves were wet? That is honestly horrifying to me. I have killed so many plants doing this exact same nonsense, thinking I was some kind of plant whisperer for keeping the top damp. Turns out I was just giving them a fancy shower while their roots were basically dying of thirst down below. The full soak in the sink method is the only way to go, I do the same thing now with my pothos and they finally stopped looking like sad little twigs. It took me like three dead ferns to learn this lesson, so you're way ahead of the game. Glad yours finally stopped being dramatic about it.