Our New Little Stag Horn

 What I knew about stag horn ferns last week:

• they have leathery fronds that look like antlers
• they are green and like water
• they can be hung from trees forming large balls
• they prefer indirect light
• they enjoy humid environments
• they have oval-round pieces at the base of their fronds that are either green or brown
• they are epiphytes (air plants)
• they don't like extreme cold temperatures

What I have learned about stag horn ferns this week:

• they are in the Platycerium genus (ah, yes, the 'plates' I've noticed at the base of the fronds!)
• the 'plate' is a type of frond called a sterile frond or a shield.  It hugs the base where the plant is growing (natively found on trees in tropical and subtropical rainforests). Nutrients are absorbed through the shield, which also protects the root structure.
• the antler-shaped fronds are the fertile fronds. Spores grow on the underside of the tips of the fronds for reproduction purposes. 
• new stag horn plants will also grow from 'pups' that grow from the base plate of the mother plant.

After reading online, watching some videos, and gathering materials I was ready to tackle the job of replanting (hmmm, can you say 'plant' when you aren't putting it in a pot?) perhaps better described as 'repositioning' the stag horn we were gifted earlier this week. 

The Mister had picked up some sphagnum moss* for me, and I soaked a few handfuls in a bucket. 

I located some monofilament fishing line, some cotton twine, and scissors.

*another new learning: the Mister and I first thought we might use Spanish Moss (which isn't a moss at all, it is another epiphyte) which hangs from our trees and is readily available and abundant. A quick check on-line showed that Spanish Moss is not at all suitable as it does not hold moisture the way that Sphagnum moss will. 

I went on a foray out to the barn to get a scrap of wood on which to mount the stag horn. I had seen one earlier this week (probably last week, or maybe even the week before),  but I failed to locate it. I next decided to cut some hardware cloth wire we had to make a basket, but on the way to get the wire nippers <squirrel> I walked by the garden cart with the 'boot jack' from a Sabal Palm. When the native palm's fronds fall off, they leave a "Y" shaped piece still attached to the trunk. Those pieces are commonly called a bootjacks, and eventually fall to the ground if not cut away. This week I had picked one up and tossed it in the garden cart. 

I had what I needed and was ready to get to work! I removed the stag horn from the pot in which it had come. A pot is totally unsuitable for this plant. I rinsed the dirt off of the roots. My plan was to nestle the root base in the crotch of the boot jack. However, I felt I needed something to bridge the gap formed by the "Y" to hold the sphagnum moss in place. Hmmmm....all kinds of things went through my mind. I could get that wire, or...I had this knotted hemp netting. That might be perfect. I cut a piece and stapled it across the lowest section of the boot jack. 

I squeezed water out of handfuls of sphagnum moss and packed it into the netting and fork of the boot jack, then I placed the roots under the plate into the nest of moss. I wrapped it all in place using loops of monofilament until it was secured. 

I grabbed a footstool and took the stag horn around to the back. Using twine, I tied the boot jack back to the trunk of a Sabal palm. I hope she is happy in her new home and thrives! 

(We will be having the trees trimmed later this summer, so she will have to be moved temporarily during that process, but she seems right at home there, so unless she objects, back she will go!)