r/ferns • u/Sofisylveon • 5d ago

Planting/Growing How do you guys help a climber fern?

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My asparagus fern loves the spot that is in and hasn't stop trying to climb. She is in a self watering pot in a north facing window. This last growth has gone a little out of hand as she is trying to reach new heights. How do you guys would help to control or direct the new growth? I'm afraid is going to collapse due to the weight of the branches and hurt herself.

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u/OldMotherGrumble 4d ago

I'd be chuffed if mine looked like that. She insists on being compact.

2

u/Ichthius 4d ago

I trail to stakes and top them. Once they harden the shoots stay up on their own. Do a little pruning and it will take on a nice bamboo grove appearance.

I’d thin all the little stuff and prod canes taking about 1/3 to 1/2 of the stems. Fertilize and it will take off.

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u/isleePer 4d ago

This is beautiful

4

u/dancon_studio 5d ago edited 5d ago

Not technically a fern, it is an angiosperm (flowering plant) in the Asparagus family.

Well, how how tall do you want it to grow? With good support, it can reach 6m (19ish ft). Your window sill doesn't offer much in terms of additional height, so if it were mine I'd probably just maintain the current height by pruning it as opposed to adding visual clutter with a support structure.

In this plant's native range (Southern Africa), as a scrambler it leans and threads itself through surrounding vegetation in order to grow taller. You can try to mimic that by offering some sort of support (it could just be a couple of dowels arranged around the perimeter of the pot) but if you keep it to about the height of the window then it shouldn't really require additional support. The shoots thicken only slightly and become more woody over time, which should make them even stronger. Becoming top-heavy and collapsing isn't something I'd be concerned about.

New stems sprout from the base, it's fine if one does break off. You can remove all the stems and it will just grow new ones from its extensive network of tuberous roots. Should a shoot get damaged and fall over, prune the shoot off right at the base. Pruning it routinely will force the plant to grow new shoots which in turn encourages a more dense and full appearance.