One of the most common house plants is the Boston fern. However, not all people who buy one manage to get it out and last for months or years. And it is that among the care of the Boston fern there are common mistakes that are made and that put the health of the plant at risk.
If you want to know what those errors are and how to prevent or solve them, then we give you all the keys so that your Boston event can get ahead. Take a look at this listing.
Overwatering and Watering Your Boston Fern
One of the main mistakes your Boston Fact dies for is because we tend to water it down too much. And that ends up killing the plant.
Although we are talking about a species that usually requires high humidity, that does not mean that we have to water it too much.. In fact, this is one of the biggest problems you can have because it will depend on the weather, temperature, and environmental conditions to establish a good irrigation pattern.
If you notice that your Boston has an excess of irrigation, it is most likely that it physically eats, see how the plant is off, with the branches too low and losing enough leaves when touched.
We are not going to tell you that it will be easy to save it, but if you can try. To do this, he begins by taking the plant out of the pot and removing as much soil as possible. Most likely it is wet so you need to leave it completely clean to be able to check the roots and see if the problem has caused a rot of these. If so, cut the roots that look black or too planty to try to focus the strength and energy of the plant on those roots that are still healthy.
Next, take a new pot to avoid that the humidity of the old one can continue to affect the health of the plant. Add new soil and plant it again, but don't water for two or three days.
Lack or excess of moisture
Another of the mistakes when caring for a Boston fern is not taking into account that we are talking about a plant that needs moisture. In fact, you have to provide it with at least 50% humidity for the plant to be healthy.
When the Boston fern lacks moisture, it is normal to notice that the leaves curl up on themselves. and they start to turn brown, as if they were burned.
In the opposite case, that is, when it has too much humidity, the fern usually has too wet leaves and even creates water that falls drop by drop to the ground or wherever you have it. The problem is that if it has too much humidity, the same thing will happen that with an excess of watering, in other words, you risk rotting the roots.
To solve this problem, what you can do are several things:
- On the one hand, group the plants so that, between them, they can have more humidity. This helps them create a small ecosystem.
- On the other hand, you can place next to the plant, or even under it, a plate with pebbles and water. Of course, that the water does not touch the base of the pot, but that covers the stones nothing else. In this way, the water will evaporate and, thus, it will get the humidity it needs.
- Lastly, you can use a humidifier. With this device you get the plant to have the precise humidity, since many come with the option of seeing what humidity is in the room and controlling it in this way (even with the mobile).
Lighting issues
We continue with the usual mistakes when caring for your Boston fern. And in this case one of the most common is lighting. In general, the fern is an indoor plant, but that does not mean that it does not like light. In fact, it is recommended to place it in an area with a lot of natural, indirect light, but with enough hours of light.
But, when it is not given what it needs, it is common for you to notice that its leaves are falling, that it is becoming "bald" or that it is even losing branches.
If that happens, it is a clear indication that something is wrong, and usually it is the location that has been given to the plant.
In order to solve it, nothing like changing the place of the plant. It is best to put it where it gets much more natural light.
But beware. Because the lack of light is as bad as the excess. If you place the fern in an area with a lot of light, sometimes direct light will cause it to burn the leaves, especially the smaller ones, that curl up on themselves and even start to turn brown at the tips (and increase until the entire leaf turns black and falls off).
Plagues and diseases
When buying any plant, before prioritizing whether it looks pretty or not, it is important that you try to learn how to care for it so as not to make mistakes. In the case of the Boston fern, you should know that it suffers a lot from pest attacks.. And if you don't realize it, you can end up with a dead plant.
Most pests are easy to see with the naked eye; although there are others more complicated. But not so the symptoms, which are usually very clear: yellow leaves, wilting, appearance of bugs or cobwebs...
If you notice that your fern has this problem, then you have to remedy it. And the first thing will be to separate it from other plants so that they do not get infected.. Next, you will have to use a product to clean the plant (either natural or purchased) and apply an insecticide to make sure that the pest does not reappear.
In fact, once you have overcome it, we recommend that you apply neem oil or similar as a prevention. This will make it more difficult for it to infect the plant again.
As you can see, there are many errors in the Boston fern. Here we have presented the most common ones but there are others such as excess fertilizer, or lack of irrigation. which can also affect the plant. Has it ever happened to you?