All About Austral Gem Fern
Do you want to have a low-maintenance plant for your garden? Well, Austral gem ferns are one of the lowest maintenance plants for you to have.
Since they can also tolerate drought, it will be very convenient for you if you are a beginner-level gardener. So if you want to know more about this fern, stay tuned to this article.
Here I’ll be discussing with you about these Austral Gem fern’s characteristics and features along with items growing requirements. So let’s get started.
Overview of Austral Gem fern
- Botanical name: Asplenium dimorphum
- Common names: Austral Gem Fern, mother ferns
- Plants: evergreen plants
- Native Region: Australia
- Shade requirements: partial or full shade
- Height: around 18 inches
- Width: around 18 inches
- Soil pH: acidic and neutral
- Hardiness: 9, 10, 11
- Tolerant: drought tolerance
The Austral Gem ferns are native Australian ferns that are famous for their greenery, foliage and texture. Because this fern has thick textured foliage, it has the ability to tolerate periods of drought.
That’s why it’s one of the easiest plants to grow If you don’t have enough time to take care of your plant.
Austral Gem Ferns Growing Requirements
Let’s find out the basic requirements for growing Austral gems ferns in your garden.
Shade Requirements
Austral gem ferns thrive in dappled and filtered shaded places. It means they love medium to full-shaded places to thrive. Medium and fully shaded places help these ferns to have greenery foliage.
However, you can also place them in a fully bright place with the correct humidity around them. Try not to put them in a midday sun exposure because it can burn their fronds.
That’s why locate them in such a place where they can get dappled shade. For example, you can place them in bathrooms, and kitchens. You can also place them in a bright sunny room of your office, entrance, or gateways as well.
Watering
These ferns prefer moist and damp conditions. That’s why you have to water them until the soil is moist to a sufficient level. Thus, a moderate amount of watering would be perfect for them to thrive.
Don’t overwater their soil because they cannot stand overly-soaked water. And so, it can rot their roots. In general, you can give water to this fern once per week.
Although these ferns can tolerate drought conditions. Still don’t let the soil be too dry for a longer period of time.
Soil Requirements
Furthermore, these Austral Gem ferns need high humus-rich acidic and neutral soil. Similarly, the soil must be well drained so that it can drain out excessive water.
That’s why make the peat-based soil to keep the soil rich humus.
Temperature and Humidity
Moreover, these Austral Gem ferns prefer 16°C to 27°C or 60°F to 80°F. Since their hardy zone is between 9 to 11 therefore they prefer a humid atmosphere to thrive.
Besides, these ferns also prefer 50 to 60% humidity around themselves. If the humidity drops below 40%, they might not survive in that climate.
That’s why you can increase the humidity around your plants by placing a pebble tray or a humidifier. It will help to intensify the humidity level.
Fertilizer
Like all other ferns, these Austral gem ferns also need fertilizer during their growing seasons. So in the early spring and summer seasons, you can feed your plants.
For feeding, simply use liquid fertilizer with half strength in NPK ratio. Be aware that over-fertilizing can give your ferns salt burn. Also, it can give your ferns brown fronds so try to avoid overfeeding.
Austral Gem fern’s maintenance as I have already mentioned are quite low maintenance ferns. So you don’t need to worry too much about their pruning and trimming issues.
However, you can still pull off their dead, damaged, or brown fronds to keep them clean and healthy. Don’t cut or pull off deeply or remove any new ingrown fronds. It can harm their growth cycle.
Austral Gem Ferns Propagation Process
Well, these ferns can be easily propagated by the division process. During the early spring season, you can go for the separating process.
During the early spring seasons, take your mature Austral Gem fern plant and loosen the soil from the pot. Later remove your plant gently from the pot.
Then, dust off the soil from the plant and rinse it with water if needed. After rinsing, divide the plants by their roots with your pruning tools. You can also use your hand to divide the plant.
Just ensure each part has the same sort of roots. Then replant each segment into a pot or in your garden land with a new soil mixture. For mixing the soil, again you need to prepare rich humus soil.
It will moderately help your fern’s growth. Lastly, water the plants thoroughly to sustain the hydration in your plant and locate them in a shady place.
Closing Line
In short, Austral Gem ferns are native Australian plants that are widely used as both indoor and outdoor plants. Since they are low-maintenance plants, you don’t have to worry about much for their growing and caring requirements.
However, by giving them their ideal condition such as lighting, watering, humidity, temperature, and fertilizing, you can have healthy bushy Austral Gem ferns in your house garden to look at.
