How to Grow a Rabbit's Foot Fern (Davallia): Detailed Guide to Care Methods and Precautions
The rabbit's foot fern (Davallia) is a plant with high ornamental value, prized mainly for its fronds, which stay evergreen all year round and look just like a wolf's tail from a distance, which is how it got its name. Nowadays, many people want to grow rabbit's foot ferns, but before starting, many people are not clear about the specific care methods. Let's take a look together below!
How to Grow a Rabbit's Foot Fern
1. To grow a rabbit's foot fern, you can choose a pot according to your ornamental needs; a tall pot or a hanging basket will do, and you can also choose distinctive pots, such as a specially made tree-fern pot or a piece of rotten wood. The soil should be mainly breathable and well-draining; leaf mold soil can be used.
2. Light: The rabbit's foot fern is an evergreen herbaceous epiphytic fern that likes a warm, semi-shaded environment and is suited to diffused light. It must not be exposed to direct sunlight, otherwise it easily wilts and curls. For home growing, it can simply be placed in a bright spot indoors.
3. Temperature: The rabbit's foot fern originates from New Zealand and Japan, and is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Oceania, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands. The rabbit's foot fern is neither tolerant of high temperatures nor cold; the suitable temperature is 20°C-26°C. It grows poorly above 30°C or below 15°C, and in winter it must not go below 5°C.
Rabbit's Foot Fern Growing Methods
1. Air humidity: It likes a highly humid environment and is not tolerant of dryness. During care, you should frequently spray water on the plant and its growing environment to increase humidity. The suitable humidity is around 80%. Excessive dryness can cause the leaf edges to turn yellow and withered, or even the entire leaf to turn yellow and withered.
2. Soil and fertilizing: A loose, breathable sandy loam soil is best. The rabbit's foot fern has low fertilizer requirements and does not like strong fertilizer. During care, you can apply a little diluted fertilizer sparingly.
3. Watering: The rabbit's foot fern should be kept with moist potting soil, and water should be supplied abundantly during the growing season. Generally, watering once every 2 to 3 days is enough. Although the soil should be kept moist, for the rabbit's foot fern, mild drying between waterings is also harmless. The rabbit's foot fern also must not be overwatered; too much water can cause the leaves to fall off.
Precautions for Growing Rabbit's Foot Fern
1. Propagation methods. The rabbit's foot fern is a fern and has no seeds; it generally reproduces by spores. However, home growers usually propagate it by cuttings, in spring.
2. Pests and diseases. The main disease that appears during the growth of the rabbit's foot fern is root rot, and the main pests are aphids and red spider mites, all caused by environmental factors.
Rabbit's Foot Fern Diseases and Their Control
1. Freeze injury. Whenever the temperature drops in winter, if the potting soil is high in moisture, the tender leaves will suffer freeze injury and lodge, and the tubers may even rot. Control methods for freeze injury include keeping the temperature above ten degrees during the winter and keeping the potting soil dry.
2. Sunscald. In the hot summer season, or on clear days after rain, or for potted money trees (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) that have just been moved from indoors to outdoors for care, if they are placed directly in the sun to bake, they are very likely to suffer sunscald, causing their leaves to turn white and even to become necrotic and black. The control method is to move the plant to a semi-shaded place after early summer; especially in late spring and early summer or on clear days just after rain, you must promptly shade the money tree plant.
3. Brown spot disease. The symptoms of brown spot disease in the rabbit's foot fern are round spots on the leaves, appearing grayish brown or yellowish brown. The main cause is high temperature, high humidity, and poor ventilation. Control methods include, as a preventive measure, promptly removing diseased leaves, or as a treatment, spraying the leaves with a 600-fold solution of 50% carbendazim wettable powder or a 500-fold suspension of 40% chlorothalonil, once every ten days, three or four times being enough, with good results.
The growing methods for the rabbit's foot fern are actually not difficult, but when growing it you must pay attention to temperature and light; in places with strong light, shading treatment is needed. In the later stages of growing, you need to strengthen the prevention and control of pests and diseases and the management of fertilizer and water, so that the rabbit's foot fern you grow will grow well.