Plants for Ripariums: Adiantum sp. maidenhair fern

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hydrophyte

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 10, 2009
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Madison, Wisconsin
I am trying out a new plant that seems to have promise for riparium culture, Adiantum sp. "maidenhair ferns". I picked up this good-sized potted plant the other day at a local garden center.

30-i-10-adiantum-sp-i-m.jpg


There are quite a few maidenhair fern species and varieties in cultivation, but the label on this just indicated "maidenhair fern". We have a native Adiantum here in Wisconsin (A. pedatum), but it doesn't really grow in wet situations. I have run into references for other different maidenhair ferns that describe wet habitats like seeps in cliff faces and the margins of small, stony streams, so there should be some that are good candidates for growing in ripariums. If I get any good results from it I will try to figure out which species/variety it might be.

Here is another picture that better shows the leaf detail.

30-i-10-adiantum-sp-ii-m.jpg


If it grows right this plant could be a good addition to a lower light setup with mosses and crypts and other ferns. My 55-gallon setup might be a good spot for it.

9-xi-09-tank-i-b.jpg
 
Some ferns should def work. At the local conservatory they have a fern room, and many are on a wet wall that is dripping water all the time.
 
I got some more detailed shots to show how I potted these plants up. For three divisions I used planters filled mostly with Hydroton, and with a cap of finer gravel.

2-ii-10-adiantum-ii-m.jpg


For two of these I also included a layer of marine crushed seashell substrate. Many of the references on Adiantum that I encountered indicated that they grow best in "sweet" (alkaline, high pH) soils, and that they benefit from the addition of powdered lime to the potting medium. I figured that the crushed shells could act as a slower-release source of hardness minerals for the root environment in the planter.

While I have not seen any mentions of Adiantum actually growing as aquatic marginals, these ferns do apparently have an affinity for permanently saturated spots on rock faces or the edges of small streams. Have a look at the habitat in the final picture of this linked page, described as "a continually wet limestone face covered with maidenhair fern".

http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/pte/adiantum_capillus-veneris.htm

I planted the last of the four divisions in a planter mostly-filled with the finer planter gravel. I also added the crushed shells to that container, along with a quantity of the clay powder + MTS amendment that I like to use.

2-ii-10-adiantum-i-m.jpg


I imagine that the planters filled mostly with Hydroton will provide a closer approximation of the kid of habitat where these ferns grow in the wild, but I'll see how this one does.
 
I think that these plants that I have might be making a real recovery. Most of them have grown a couple new sets of leaves.

3-iv-10-adiantum-i-m.jpg


I think that they might also be doing some sort of strange-fern-sexual-reproduction-thing-that-I-don't-understand. There are a few little strange heart-shaped things (arrow) growing in the planters and I wonder if they might be new gametophytes (?) that started from spores dropped by the original leaves(?).
 
I think that they might also be doing some sort of strange-fern-sexual-reproduction-thing-that-I-don't-understand. There are a few little strange heart-shaped things (arrow) growing in the planters and I wonder if they might be new gametophytes (?) that started from spores dropped by the original leaves(?).
Click to expand...
3326923909_1245ac1829.jpg

ferns are under a similar category to mosses and fungi and reproduce through spores, ferns are more developed than mosses in having a water transport system, but still require water to reproduce as do mosses. above is a picture of a fern creating spores. many commercial dealers remove plants with these gameophytic? growths because they think it is a disease of bugs :ROFL:
 
I think it's right that the large plant that we recognize as being the fern is the sporphyte phase, and the little short gooey thing that might not live very long is the gametophyte phase. Is that right? I suppose I could look in Wikipedia or wherever.

I think that those little green things in my planters might be gametophytes.
 
hydrophyte;4042300; said:
I think it's right that the large plant that we recognize as being the fern is the sporphyte phase, and the little short gooey thing that might not live very long is the gametophyte phase. Is that right? I suppose I could look in Wikipedia or wherever.

I think that those little green things in my planters might be gametophytes.
Click to expand...
you are completely correct, in a fern the sporophytic phase is dominant, and the small growths that you see may be gameophytic
 
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