How to Propagate Ferns from Cuttings: A Step-by-Step Guide

Millions of spores can be released from each frond. Even if only one plant grows, that’s a lot of chances for more plants to grow in the future.

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.

People have figured out how to use that power and get the most out of this strategy, so now there are lots of new ferns.

That’s not the only way of propagating ferns, though. We can also divide them, separate and transplant plantlets, or take stipe cuttings.

They don’t function like other plants. Not only do they not make seeds, but their bodies are also different from many other garden plants we know.

But don’t worry! We’re going to lay out the process in an easy-to-understand way. Here are the topics we’re going to go over in this guide:

4 Methods to Propagate Ferns

Let’s go over some terms so we all understand what we’re talking about before we go into the fern field.

Each part of the fern that’s located above ground is known collectively as a frond. The part that emerges directly from the ground is the stipe or stalk.

The blade is the part of the plant that goes from where the leaves begin on the stipe to the very end of each frond. The stalk at the center of that blade is the axis or rachis.

From there, the leaves are called leaflets.

The rachis, or midrib, runs through the middle of each leaflet and looks like it continues from the main stalk. The pinnule is the name for each division of that leaf.

When a frond is young, or newly emerged, it’s known as a fiddlehead or crozier.

That’s the curled part that people sometimes harvest to eat, with certain species. Underground, you’ll find a rhizome with roots emerging from it.

Not all ferns have all of these parts. For instance, sword ferns don’t have individual leaflets coming off rachis that emerge from the main axis. The rhizome grows parallel to the soil level in these plants, with fronds emerging along its length.

That’s all for today’s anatomy lesson! But before we start, I have one more thing to share:

When you’re propagating, the most important thing to remember is to keep everything clean as you work.

Use fresh potting soil, clean your tools and containers, and wash your hands as needed throughout the process.

Let’s start with the easiest propagation method. Rhizomes can be split into new plants as long as the plant has more than one stipe coming out of the ground.

Use a clean spade to dig up a large clump of stipes and leaves. You don’t need to dig up the entire plant.

It works best with plants that have a lot of separate stipes. A stipe is the “stem” of a leaf that connects to the rhizome. You can also do this with smaller, younger plants.

Remove as much dirt as you can from the roots once it’s out of the ground. This will let you see what’s going on inside.

Rhizomes vary in appearance depending on the species, but they’re not usually very large. Aim for a piece with the same diameter as a chopstick.

Tease or cut apart a piece of rhizome so that at least one stipe is attached to each piece you want to grow.

Plant each section at the same depth it was growing at before, but add a lot of well-rotted compost or manure to the soil. Water well.

Ferns grow little plantlets that are sometimes called bulbils or proliferous buds. These can grow on the roots, rachis, or from the stipe and develop their own little root structure.

Even though you can take these plantlets off the parent and put them in potting soil, it’s easier and more likely to work if you just bend the plantlet down to the ground and wire it into the soil while it’s still attached.

If you really can’t get to the soil, you can use a pot full of potting soil to get to the plantlet instead.

Place the leaves above the soil line and tuck it into the ground. Use a wire to hold it in place.

Then, just treat the plant as you would any young fern, watering as necessary.

After a month or so, remove the wire and try tugging it gently. You can cut it off from the parent plant if it stays put. It means it has roots.

As a fern leaf matures, it forms spores on the underside.

The spores are contained in little capsules called sporangia, which are contained in a sorus. These sori look like little black or brown bumps. Less often they might be gold or green.

Most sori are a kind of cinnamon brown when they’re fully grown, and they can be round, oval, crescent-shaped, or any other shape. However, circular sori are the most common.

A pile of brown or black dust will be left behind if you scrape the sori off of a leaf.

Some plant species, like ostrich (Matteuccia struthiopteris) or sensitive ferns (Onoclea sensibilis), make changed leaves that have these spores on them. You can just cut these leaves out and put them on the paper.

Spores mature at different times of the year depending on the species. As long as they’re mature, you can collect them at any time to grow new plants.

The interrupted fern (Claytosmunda claytoniana) is one of the first species to make spores, which come out in May. Climbing ferns (Lygodium palmatum), on the other hand, don’t release their spores until November.

Collecting the spores is easy. Clip off a frond and lay it on a piece of paper. Put another piece of paper on top.

It’s helpful to fold the paper’s edges in case I trip and hit it while I’m moving things around. That way, any spores that might fall will be kept contained.

Take off the top sheet and the frond after a few days. You should see a pile of dust on the paper. Those are your “seeds” for planting new ferns.

If there aren’t any spores on the paper, the sporangia weren’t mature yet. Toss this specimen out and start again. Wait a bit longer, a few more weeks or so, and harvest another frond.

Ripe sori will be plump and the edges will be sort of frayed looking. If you want to see the spores, start at the base of the leaf and work your way up to the top.

You could cut off a few blades from different parts of the leaves and lay them on the paper instead of using a whole leaf to get more spores.

If you find leaves on a walk or hike, make sure you can legally take them and put them in a plastic bag until you get home.

After they’re released onto the paper, discard the leaves. You can store the spores in wax paper in the refrigerator until you’re ready to plant.

Spores may be propagated at any time of year, but late winter is the best time to start.

Even though the days are getting longer, the spores will grow faster now than if you started in the fall, when the days are getting shorter.

Fill some clean four-inch growers pots or sterilized canning jars with a few inches of an even mix of fresh, clean potting soil and vermiculite. This is where you will put your spores.

You need to be diligent about sterilization when growing ferns from spores. Don’t use dirty containers or previously used soil.

Water so the medium feels moist and then sprinkle the spores on the medium.

If you want to make a funnel out of the wax paper, fold it in half and gently tap some spores onto the medium from the folded end. But do what works best for you.

Some friends of mine put their spores in a shaker with big holes and then sprinkle them out.

Don’t do this when there’s a breeze coming through a window or if a fan is on nearby. You’ll have a spore explosion!.

You want to add about a popcorn kernel’s worth of spores in a four-inch-wide jar or pot.

If you’re growing several species, don’t forget to label the containers. You might want to add the date, too.

Place a layer of plastic wrap over the jar and secure it with a rubber band. If you used a plastic grower’s pot, just zip up a gallon-sized freezer bag and put the pot inside it.

Place the container in a warm spot with bright, indirect light. You could also use grow lights, but make sure they aren’t too close to the containers. Keep them about a foot away and leave them on for 12 to 16 hours a day.

The spores should stay warm, between 65°F and 75°F. However, some temperate species can survive in temperatures as low as 50°F. Depending on when and where you’re growing, you may need to use a seed-starting heat mat to keep the right temperature.

Now it’s time to hurry up and wait. It takes several months for the little baby ferns to pop up. Just keep an eye on the jars and make sure the medium stays moist.

After a few weeks, you should see a green, translucent slime form on the surface of the medium.

Don’t worry—this is a good sign, not a sign that a bad green blob is taking over your attempt to spread!

If you plant too many spores in one jar, this green blob might never turn into ferns, so be careful not to sow too many at once. But don’t worry if you overdid it. You can thin out the growing blob at any time.

Just scoop some out with the end of a sterilized knife or some clean tweezers. You can toss it or put it in its own container.

The blob you see here is the prothallus, which is made up of gametophytes. If you did it right, it will turn into a solid green mat. This is the beginning of your new ferns – we call these sporophytes!.

If at any point the translucent film starts to turn opaque, it’s likely because algae is growing. Pluck the algae threads out with sterilized tweezers every day until the ferns can outcompete them.

Now, just let them grow away in their little homemade greenhouses, maintaining moisture as needed.

Within about three months you should see individual fronds forming. Once you do, start fertilizing with a mild liquid houseplant fertilizer diluted by half, applied once a month.

Dr. Earth Pump & Grow is my go-to. It’s mild and made using food waste from grocery stores. Pick up a 16-ounce container at Arbico Organics.

You can leave them there to grow for up to a year as long as they don’t touch the plastic.

Once they are big enough to handle without hurting them too much, you can take each fern apart and plant it in its own pot with potting soil.

There’s no need to cover the ferns at this point with plastic unless you want to.

Once you’re ready to plant them outside, make sure the weather is right for their species and let them harden off for two weeks. Then you can move them outside!

To harden off ferns, you need to put the plant outside for 30 minutes in a shady, safe place before bringing it back inside.

The next day, do the same but leave the plant out for 30 minutes longer. For the next 12 days, add another 30 minutes until they can spend a full day outdoors.

Keep in mind that plants grown from spores won’t always grow true.

Most of the time, cultivated plants will look more like the parent species than the cultivated plant from which you took the spores.

You never know what you’ll end up with, which is part of the fun, in my opinion!

I saved this section for last because it only works on some species and it isn’t very reliable. But if you’re up for some experimentation, why not give it a try?.

For this propagation method, fill a four-inch container or a seedling tray with clean potting soil.

Take off a half-inch piece of stipe at the parent fern’s base, as close to the soil as you can get it. Keep track of which end is up.

A third of the cut stipe should stick up in the air. Bury the stipe upside down in new potting soil.

Put the container in a gallon-size freezer bag and moisten the soil. Close the bag.

Place it in a spot with bright, indirect light. Once every few days, open the bag and spray a little water into the pot. Feel the soil to make sure it feels like a sponge that has been wrung out.

You should start to see little bumps on the end of the stipe after a few weeks. Hope that helps! After a few more weeks, these will start to develop into fronds.

You can take off the plastic and move the plants outside once they have a few fully formed leaves. They will need to harden off for a few weeks first.

You can use this method with species from the Dryopteris and Asplenium genera, but you can try it with any species you have.

How to Propagate Ferns Easily | Fern Propagation | Fern Tips #fernitup

FAQ

How to start a fern from a cutting?

What are the propagation methods of ferns?

Can you grow ferns in water?

How do you propagate tree ferns from cuttings?

How do you propagate ferns?

Gardeners can propagate ferns by dividing and sometimes with cutting rhizomes, but in nature ferns reproduce by spores. Kim Rucker the Greenhouse manager at Dixon Gallery and Gardens tells how to propagate ferns from the spores. In the late summer or early fall the fern spores on the back of the leaves are mature.

How do you prune a fern plant?

Pruning during summer is best while the fern is actively growing. Trim off discolored ferns and larger fern fronds to control growth and maintain its full shape using clean plant scissors. Alternatively, you can gently pinch off fronds using your fingertips at the tender growth at the end of the stem, as close to the leaf nodes as possible.

How long does it take fern roots to grow?

Wait for roots to develop: Be patient and allow time for the roots to develop. This can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the fern species. Once you see new growth and roots appearing from the base of the frond, it’s a sign that your cutting has successfully rooted.