How to Grow Potted Ferns Indoors

Ferns are wonderful plants that add texture and dramatic foliage to your home in bathrooms, kitchens, entryways, living rooms, and even in sunrooms or porches. I like growing them because they evolved over 140 million years ago during the Cretaceous period so it’s like growing living fossils in your home.

Because they’ve been around so long and evolved to grow in in so many habitats, they come in a wide range of foliage options. Some have delicate foliage such at the maidenhair fern while others, like bird’s nest fern or staghorn fern, have thicker, bold foliage. There are even some ferns that have blue-gray foliage.

Generally, ferns are easy to grow as houseplant as long as you follow a few guidelines. Most importantly, ferns like regular moisture in the soil as well as humidity in the air.

HUMIDITY: The best way to keep ferns humid and happy is to place them in areas of your home that stay consistently humid such as bathrooms, kitchens, or laundry rooms. You can place ferns in living rooms, bedrooms, or other areas of your home but you’ll need to make sure they get more watered and misted more regularly (you can just spritz them with a spray bottle every few days in addition to regular watering).

TIP: Ferns also perform well under glass in terrariums or placed on humidity trays. Both options help provide additional moisture for ferns.

SUNLIGHT: Ferns can take lower light than many houseplants but grow best in bright, indirect light. Direct light on a hot windowsill, for example, can cause foliage to yellow or burn if you live in a sunny climate.

TEMPERATURE: Ferns also enjoy mild temperatures—they like it not too hot and not too cold. If you’re comfortable, around 70 degrees, then the ferns will be comfortable. Be sure to keep ferns away from heater vents, fireplaces, and other heat sources that can dry plants out.

Now, let’s get to potting a fern arrangement so you can see how they come together in a container. You can find self-watering containers like the one seen in the video through TerraTrellis (terratrellis.com/collections/all-products/produ…).

We’ll start with this rectangular container that can hold about three ferns of these when potted. This container also has a self-watering insert so it’s perfect for keep ferns moist. The metal doesn’t have holes, so it won’t leak.

Fill in the container with soil and lightly pack it in and water until it seeps through the container. If you have a self-watering container wet the soil lightly when planting and then fill the reservoir.

It’s also a good idea to top-dress the soil with moss, mulch, or gravel. This helps retain moisture in the soil.

You’ll want to keep new plants watered every few days for the first few weeks. Then you can back off to once every 4 to 6 days. Check the soil with your finger. If the top inch is dry, it needs water. Ferns like consistently damp soil, but not wet soil.

SPECIAL NOTE: If your plant is in a humid room, it may need less water. If it’s in dry conditions, it may need more frequent watering.

If you don’t have a self-watering container, then use any pot with a hole in the bottom. Pot it up with potting mix and place on a plastic tray like we have here.

Let’s go inside and put together a few arrangements with these ferns so you can see how to place them in your home.

As your ferns age, be sure to watch for foliage that dies back or falls off. This is perfectly normal if you’re seeing it with old fronds at the base of the plant. Old fronds will wither and die throughout the growing season as new fronds emerge.

TIP: Fertilize about once a month during your growing season with a liquid fertilizer or if you prefer, just insert indoor plant spikes into the soil at the time of planting.

Try a new fern this year. More and more interesting varieties are becoming available at local garden centers. Pick one up, pot it, and put it on display in your home.

Learn more about growing ferns at GardenDesign.com and sure to check out the video notes for more resources. Thanks for watching.

Photos in video by Ngoc Minh Ngo.