platycerium!

[shawnintland]

Rich and Ed, Go for it!
Ed - Don't wait for spores on your young plants - visit friends/nurseries/gardens and just ask, most people are willing to let you take spores for free! Just do a little reading first so you know at what stage to collect them.
Rich - shipping little baby sporelings would probably be tricky as the plants are pretty 'fragile' until they get a bit bigger. Any drying out and they really suffer! But as I said, it's not hard to grow them from spores, just takes a commitment not to forget to mist them.
You will both be amazed at how good it feels to raise these plants from spores instead of buying big, expensive plants (which, here in Asia at least, are usually just ripped from the jungle).

[rsivertsen]

I agree, raising plants from spore is the better way to go! btw, my P. superbum is in spore right now, and I will be willing to trade for spore with another species. I have tried to get P. ridleyii to come up from spore, but they never germinated. If small plants are to be shipped, they should be at least 6 months old, so that they have a small root system by then. - Rich

[shawnintland]

Originally Posted by rsivertsen

I agree, raising plants from spore is the better way to go! btw, my P. superbum is in spore right now, and I will be willing to trade for spore with another species. I have tried to get P. ridleyii to come up from spore, but they never germinated. If small plants are to be shipped, they should be at least 6 months old, so that they have a small root system by then. - Rich

Keep trying! The 'closed' boxes and regular misting makes a big difference. The other thing is that the different species germinate at drastically different rates, similiar to Neps seeds. Don't give up hope too soon! The last batch of P. ridleyii were the fastest ones I've ever had.

Another thing that's very important - don't leave the containers open any more than you have too, even before planting. I have numerous boxes that got spores of 'unwanted' ferns drifting into them and it's a real pain as they grow much quicker than the platys and start spreading roots throughout the others.

[rsivertsen]

Well, the most recent attempt I made was some P. ridleyii spore that I sowed 2 years ago, when the mother plant died from being eaten by a sow bug and pill bug infestation, and those spores still haven't germinated, even though they are in a terrarium, under lights, with some Nepenthes cuttings and seedlings. Those small pots are now just growing some moss, but no P. ridleyii. - Rich

[shawnintland]

Actually Rich, take a look at the "Moss" with a good magnifying glass...you may have a bed of ridleyii growing! The first stage of platycerium growth looks just like a low carpet of moss. Unless there is sufficient humidity/moisture for the sperm to swim between the individual plantlets they will stay at that stage almost indefinately!

[shawnintland]

A few of my boxes of young Platycerium were getting a bit crowded so I did a little transplanting today to space them out. Figure the pictures might be useful to someone. Most of these were started on New Years' Eve 2006/2007. They were started on chopped pure sphagnum and transplanted 2-4 times since. Recently I shifted them to pure peat on a bed of sphagnum and they just went nuts, greening up and jumping in size in less than a month!

[rsivertsen]

Wow! Shawn, they look great! Which ones are they? I had my spores in a similar situation, but they never germinated, and eventually some other moss overgrew the peat/sphagnum mix. - Rich

wow shawn! youre awesome!

i wish i could do that too..

[arvin555]

They look really great!

Shawn sorry a bit of an OT question here, you said you use peat moss, but I see in the photo you use those rectangle basket type trays, how do you make sure that peat moss doesn't go out of those basket holes? Magic? I love your domes, still haven't found any in our supermarkets, might try wholesalers soon, but maybe I should hang around that big coffee chain and get those domes from their trash hahaha! I even wonder if I can chat up someone working in there and see if they can collect the domes for me, I'll be reusing them so that is part of recycling process.

TTFN
Arvin

[shawnintland]

Whoops, I forgot! I just started using those open weave baskets this week and I first put down a layer of slightly chopped sphagnum moss which I spray down with water. Then I pile the peat on top of that, no magic in that part! Sorry I forgot to explain!
Try asking the street vendors where they buy their supplys, that's the kind of place I buy mine from.