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Getting More Pups From a Staghorn Fern: Mother Baskets, Competition Between Pups, and Patching the Mother Afterwards
Pups form where a root reaches open air, so the surface available decides how many you get. A flat board only pups along its edges; a rounded mother basket pups all the way round to the back. Pups also compete for space and light, and when you harvest and how you patch the gap shape the next batch.
The surface available decides how many pups you get
A pup is an extension of the mother's roots: wherever a root pushes out of the medium into open air, a new bud forms (see when a pup can be separated). So if you want one mother plant to produce more pups, what matters is how much root surface can reach the air.
On a flat board the roots can only spread toward the edges, so nearly all the pups appear around the rim. Tie the mother plant and its moss onto a rounded mother basket instead, and the roots wrap round the sides and the back, so pups appear all the way round to the rear. Over the same growing time you can harvest noticeably more, which is why many growers propagating pups use a three-dimensional basket rather than a board.
Pups compete with each other
Fast-growing pups take the space and the light first, and the slower ones get shaded and weaken. That leaves two approaches:
- Harvest in one go once most are mature, so the next batch starts level.
- Deliberately wait for the competition to play out, and keep only the strongest few.
As for when a pup is mature: even with green fronds it can be taken once it reaches a reasonable size, but if you can wait until its own shield frond has browned completely and stiffened, it will be in better shape and recover faster. The hands-on detail is in how to separate a pup.
Patching the mother afterwards
Fill the hollows left in the mother plant with fresh sphagnum; new fronds will grow over them. If a hollow is deep or the moss keeps working loose, re-secure it with fishing line. The thickness of the moss affects the room the next pups have to grow, so err on the full side.
Check the board while you are there: if the wood has not rotted and shows no obvious mould, clean it and keep using it — there is no need to replace it every time. When a board genuinely needs changing is covered in when a staghorn fern's board really needs changing.
Looked after this way, the mother plant goes on to produce the next batch.
FAQ
Why do my pups only appear around the edge of the board?
Because pups form where a root reaches open air. On a flat board the roots can only spread toward the edges, so that is where the pups appear. Mount the plant on a rounded mother basket and the roots wrap round the sides and back, so pups come from all round and in noticeably greater numbers.
How big should a pup be before I take it?
It can be taken once it is a reasonable size, even with green fronds; but waiting until its own shield frond has browned completely and stiffened gives a stronger pup that recovers faster. Pups also compete for space, so you can harvest in one go once most are mature, or let the competition play out and keep the strongest few.