After many years sitting on the same tiny pot, Platycerium bifurcatum got a much-needed repotting today. Staghorn ferns are a truly odd bunch, epiphytes that get downright massive and do so by forming two completely different types of fronds: one, the ferny branching part that sticks out and both does most of the photosynthesizing as well as releases spores when mature (and mine is finally making ones that branch). The other is a flat-growing, grasping sheet of a frond that spreads out across the plant’s perch and both anchors it where it is as well as creates a spot where debris can gather to feed the plant as it decomposes. Now when I say these get massive, this species is a relatively small one in the group but still makes the flat fronds up to 30 inches across, and the branching fronds up to 18 inches long. As they also tend to divide as they grow too, multiple bases eventually develop that can form a colonial mound several feet in diameter and many pounds in weight. As epiphytes they don’t actually like pots usually, so I’ve taken mine and split it open to lay flat against a tree fern panel, where hopefully it will spread new roots and becomes gigantic in short order.

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Spa day for my elkhorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum). Hard to believe it was once the size of an orange. #HousePlants #fern #elkhorn #platycerium #plants #epiphyte #bath

Platycerium Horn’s Surprise is an hybrid made by Jerry Horn a nursery owner in Florida USA. It’s the cross of Platycerium madagascariense x Platycerium alcicorne ‘Africa’. Quite similar culture as Platycerium madagascariense but easier as he can stand short dryness.
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