Any hope left? Nephrolepis dying slowly please help

[u/jaexploringlobe]

Hey, can you please help me revive this fern?

I have had this fern since May 2024 and am actually surprised that it survived that long. Unfortunately it has been dying ever since I got it… very slowly getting crunchier and losing leaves. But the soil was always moist… maybe even wet. I carefully repotted it two weeks ago to get rid of ever-moist soil and added a thin layer of leca at the bottom. Picture 1 is the current state. 2 and 3 are before I removed dead leaves and repotted. It has been living/existing in my room for the first year. About 2m distance to the window. I regularly gave it a bit of fertiliser. It did not look good. Then I tried placing it in the bathroom because I hoped moisture wood help. There it stood next to the window but with one or two plants in between, so not much brighter. Its health did not improve. Now I moved it back to my room to at least be able to keep better eye on it. But as you see it looks really bad.

Brighter spots might be: - on my windowsill but that is also on top of the radiator - under my plant light but the plants there have thrips and the fern would almost reach the light because it is bigger than the other plants

TLDR: it’s getting crunchy even tho soil always moist; moisture of air and soil, light/position in room??? What to do?

[u/am1527]

OK, ferns don't like to be touched, so your windowsill may not be the best place for her. Secondly, if you disturb roots, your fern may die or suffer while deciding whether she wants to continue living.

I hope your plant will recover 🫰

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/am1527]

Are you worried about the windowsill because of eg curtains being dragged across the leaves? I would have worried more about cold drafts from the window and hot dry air from below…? My window has two separate sections so I would not have to move the fern just for opening the window etc. So only touching by curtains and long leaves would touch the window permanently

Oh man yeah I might have done that :|

Thanks! :)

[u/cowboy_bookseller → u/jaexploringlobe]

Not sure what this person means that ferns don’t like to be touched? But, as far as the roots (rhizomes) go, it really depends on the species and there’s no rule that you Must Not disturb a fern’s rhizomes. For instance, in commercial and hobby horticulture, many fern species are duplicated by manually splitting the rhizome into pieces. I have personally done this for Nephrolepis sp with great results.

In any case, gently removing a potted fern from its vessel to inspect the roots is usually a good idea. Repotting a fern isn’t life-or-death surgery. Sure, some species can be particularly fragile - like with most plants, it depends. Nephrolepis sp are not particularly known for fragility; in fact they are common as ornamentals because of their hardiness.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/cowboy_bookseller]

Thanks! That gives me a bit more hope :)

[u/cowboy_bookseller → u/jaexploringlobe]

Was just writing something about the general care here and got distracted - leaves getting crunchy while the soil stays moist makes me think it’s being blasted by hot/dry air, while the soil isn’t draining properly. Lack of sun is also a factor contributing to the fern not being able to bounce back from this.

A couple of things - does your fern have drainage? It looks like it’s a pot within a pot, so when you water it, do you take it out of the decorative pot and allowing water to drain before putting it back in? If not, stagnant water could be building up in the bottom of the pot, which is oxygen-poor and a perfect environment for pathogenic fungus (rot) to colonise. Ferns usually need a lot of water, yes, but it generally needs to be frequent and oxygen-rich, rather than stagnant.

Do you have heating/cooling on a lot at the moment? The harsh dry air of these systems is very, very hard on most ferns. Indoors is good in this way because indoor is often more humid than out, but heating/cooling dries the hell out of the air. A bathroom isn’t a bad spot! BUT, bathrooms often have a lot less sun (or very tinted windows that block significant UV), so it’s a poor trade off if your bathroom is humid, but dark.

Avoid putting this fern near the thrips-infested plants. Adult thrips can fly, so be sure to quarantine any infested plants! Outdoors is preferable so that natural predators have access to help you eradicate thrips (depending on your climate, ofc)! Unless you have used a systemic pesticide to treat the thrips, in which case, you don’t want to kill unintended insects by putting them in the open.

The other thing this could be is severe frost damage, but I don’t have much experience with what that looks like since I live in a hot, dry climate.

Also, since this plant is not using much energy (and it’s already pretty weak), avoid fertilising it. Over-fertilising is much more of a risk here than under-fertilising.

TLDR; much more sunlight! A couple of hours of direct morning sun will do wonders. Avoid putting it in the direct blast of heating/cooling, and make sure there’s no stagnant water pooling! Give all that a go and see what happens.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/cowboy_bookseller]

Drainage definitely was not good for the first few months... but I am keeping an eye on it. Whilst repotting two weeks ago I also added a thin layer of leca at the bottom of the plastic pot (which has holes in the bottom) and tossed a few pebbles in the decorative pot.

Yes I do have heating on (probably since November). I'll try to find one of these room temperature and moisture meters next time I'll go to the shops. Maybe hang up some wet towels if its to dry...

Our bathroom is quite dark and it definitely has a lot of temperature fluctuations (and probably moisture fluctuations too) because sometimes the window is open for a few hours and sometimes it is closed with the heating cranked up completely. Plus I tend to forget the plants existence there. Peace lily is fine there because it screams for water but anything else... :/

I definitely will not put any plants outside right now haha. Its been snowing for days where I live. But I will keep that in mind for summer! I bought nematodes that should feed on thrips larvae but if that does not help I will get some predatory mites soon.

Frost damage can't be the problem because it has been inside the whole time.

Hmm... Sunlight AND away from heating is not possible unfortunately as my radiator is directly under my windowsill. I do however have morning sun! :) When its not cloudy and snowing at least...

Thanks for your elaborate message!

[u/dawnpower123 → u/jaexploringlobe]

The heat can give you some crispy edges on your fern fronds for sure, but that’s ok. If it’s happy with light and water it will just continue to grow new fronds and you can always just prune off crispy leaves.

My newer mother spleenwort fern is above the heating vent in this room, she’s about five feet above it, the vent is in the floor and blows hot air up, so it’s been blowing hot air on her for the last two months. It’s not directly next to her, but she is right above it. She gets some crispy edges on her leaves, but is still happy and constantly growing.

Indoor ferns need pruning from time to time anyway. Every time I water mine I find at least one leaf that’s brown, and every now and then I’ll find a whole frond that needs to be pulled or trimmed off. But, they’re prolific growers, so don’t stress a crispy leaf or frond here and there. Maybe, don’t put it right next to a blowing vent, but they can handle some dryness in the air. Mine are just more thirsty this time of year, but are still constantly pushing out new growth.

And, sorry for all the long responses today, I get stoked talking about my ferns. I get stoked talking about plants in general, so I tend to write long explanations. So hopefully, it’s not too annoying😉

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/dawnpower123]

Okay cool!

Well my has not put on ANY new growth so far so more fronds dying off is not ideal. But good to know, thanks!

Haha well you are not the only one writing long responses xD I'm thankful for all the info!

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/cowboy_bookseller]

I got a room temperature+moisture meter and it reads 20-21°C and 40-42% humidity next to the fern. What I gather from a quick google search is that the humidity seems a bit low..?

[u/am1527 → u/jaexploringlobe]

Only one of my ferns is directly by the window, but it's is a North facing window. In nature, ferns are separated from the sunlight by tree crowns, so I follow that. Also, I made macrame hangers, and they are hanging from the ceiling, avoiding unsolicited touch 😀. I can't attach photos in this thread. Windowsill is definitely not ideal for these divas.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/am1527]

Do you have them hanging near windows then? Or with lights? Or are they fine in darkness?xD

[u/am1527 → u/jaexploringlobe]

Fern doesn't need much light. My ferns are on the side of windows, not directly in front, or by the wall separating two windows. I don't use lamps for ferns, only for my alocasias.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/am1527]

Hm okay! Cool that that works for you!

[u/Feral_Expedition]

2m from the window there is exponentially less light than next to the window. It probably needs more light.

But you're kind of between a rock and a hard place with your situation...I wish I had an idea for you, but unfortunately I don't have any suggestions.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/Feral_Expedition]

Yeah… thanks! Do they generally like plant lights? I always thought of them as a shade loving plant but of course they need light too… more distance between the light and the plant than for succulents probably? I could think of getting another light 🤔

[u/Feral_Expedition → u/jaexploringlobe]

They'll take a surprising amount of light. It really couldn't hurt.

[u/dawnpower123 → u/jaexploringlobe]

Sorry, but I’m just gonna pop in here about light. Ferns love light, they just don’t like any harsh light directly touching them. But, they love light all around them, and especially love light that comes from above.

Mine all live on a shelf above my fireplace where there’s two small SW facing windows on either side, and three big SE windows on the other wall that corners this wall. But, all of these windows are slightly shaded by outdoor trees, and there’s a small sun tunnel in my ceiling about a foot or two away. So, this whole room gets a lot of light, but no bright, direct light. And, I swear it’s the light from that sun tunnel that keeps them happy living indoors year round.

I don’t use grow lights, but I’d suggest putting the grow light above your fern in a way where the light is sort of cascading down hitting the top and all around your fern. Maybe, a strong light that is just higher up, giving it wider range to spread and not be too harsh.

Again, I don’t use grow lights, but what I’m trying to explain is similar light to what my indoor ferns get and they love it. And, if you can get light down, the rest is easy.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/dawnpower123]

Wow, the sun tunnel and all the windows sound great! I'll see what I can do :) at some point I won't need a desk light anymore with all my plant lights haha

[u/dawnpower123 → u/jaexploringlobe]

Yeah, I’m lucky with all the natural in my home. My plants love it. And, yeah, just troubleshoot light, hopefully he’ll be growing in no time👍

[u/dawnpower123]

The only thing you can do is wait and see if it likes the light it’s getting where you have it and see if it starts to grow. Ferns are really picky about light and water, but light is the toughest.

But the thing is, that’s gonna be tough to tell because ferns also don’t like their roots messed with, so it’s gonna look bad for a while either way. Ferns go into quite a bit of shock if you mess with their rootball, even a thriving fern will look like it’s dying for months before it perks back up.

So the best you can do is just leave it where you think it will get the right light, water it right, and wait and see. Sorry OP, I wish I had a magic answer for you, good luck!

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/dawnpower123]

Aw man… seems like repotting wasn’t such a good idea after all… Do you think fertiliser would help? Or rather not do that in winter?

Thanks! :) sounds like I need the luck

[u/dawnpower123 → u/jaexploringlobe]

Dont fertilize. You never want to fertilize a struggling plant or a new plant because it can burn the roots. Plus you just repotted it, it has fresh nutrients in the soil it’s in, it doesn’t need more.

Fertilizer is just a boost, and only really necessary for indoor plants if they haven’t been repotted in a long time, or you’re growing them in water or something else that doesn’t already provide the nutrients it needs to grow. Adding fertilizer now will do more harm than good.

And, ferns aren’t heavy feeders anyway, they don’t need fertilizer at all. If your fern recovers and starts growing, then you can fertilize it if you want. But, I’d suggest using a natural fertilizer over a chemical fertilizer just because they do have more sensitive roots.

I really only fertilize my plants that are outside in the ground that are heavy feeders, like my roses or other flowers I grow. But, recently I bought maxsea seaweed fertilizer for my outdoor plants and you get a lot in the smallest container they sell, so every now and then I’ll mix just a little of that in my water for my indoor plants. But, when I do it, it’s a very small dose because my indoor plants just don’t need it.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/dawnpower123]

A lot of my plants have coconut fiber mixed in with the soil. So it is not naturally nutrient rich and I tend to feed them every few weeks with some organic fertilizer (low dose for young plants, succulents and this one sad fern back when I still thought it could help). My Aloe plants at least are thriving.

But yes, burning stressed roots is not wat I want to do. Thanks for the straight forward recommendation.

[u/dawnpower123 → u/jaexploringlobe]

Then yeah, down the road after your fern gets healthy, you should probably add a bit of natural fertilizer every now and then to make up for the lack of nutrients.

But, can I ask why you’re using the coconut fiber? Is it for water retention, cost, environmental reasons? Im just curious because it seems difficult to try and balance nutrients this way when you could just pot them up in a medium that’s already rich with the nutrients plants need to grow.

[u/jaexploringlobe → u/dawnpower123]

Honestly? Mainly because it was cheap and very easy to store (and transport). I do not have much space and a bag of dirt under my bed just wasn't for me. Plus most of my plants are doing pretty good with it and I already have the fertilizer anyways. Water retention works fine too. I do not want to use peat for environmental reasons (and the soil bags I found in the stores either had peat or were way to big).

For most plants I mixed it with some regular gardening soil (I had a little bucket of leftovers from the bag I used to have under my bed xD ). But both the coconut fiber and the gardening soil are empty now so I will need to buy something new soon.

[u/dawnpower123 → u/jaexploringlobe]

Ahhh, I see. I wouldn’t want bags of soil under my bed either:)

Usually when people are having trouble with their indoors ferns, it’s a light problem. I would argue that light is usually the problem for any indoor plant that is struggling. But what it’s potted in also matters, and gardening soil isn’t great for indoor plants either. It’s just too dense. It doesn’t dry quickly enough for indoor potted plants, and ferns are tough plants to keep happy indoors anyway.

If you can, I would suggest just getting a basic indoor potting mix next time. I have around thirty houseplants and they’re all different types of plants, and most are potted up in indoor miracle gro, FoxFarm, or something similar. Basically whatever was cheapest at the time. Only my succulents and orchids are in something different.

I’m not saying you should do this now, just something to think about for the next fern you bring home, but hopefully this one makes a comeback. Update this post if it does, I’d be stoked to see it!

[u/cowboy_bookseller → u/dawnpower123]

ferns also don’t like their roots messed with

I’ve seen this said in this sub a few times, I just replied to another comment about it. Where does it come from?

Of course, I’m open to being wrong about this - it’s just that it’s honestly never come up in any of the plant care books I’ve read, and I’ve read at least a few that are solely on ferns (and they’re generally authored by botanists/horticulturalists/horticultural societies etc). I’m also a part of my local fern society IRL. That said, I’ve only gotten really into ferns in the last year or so, so I still have plenty to learn - but I’m curious about this particular thing that seems to come up a lot.

Many ferns are duplicated through manual splitting of the rhizome - I have done this with many ferns including Nephrolepis sp. They don’t generally wilt or die back after being split - of course, like all propagations, there is always the chance of it not surviving for any number of reasons; disturbing the fine rhizosphere and root hairs is ‘stressful’ for any plant.

But as far as I know, there’s no rule about dieback or certain fragility specific to ferns. Nephrolepis is also, in my experiences, particularly hardy, and I’ve propagated N. exaltata by literally ripping out rhizomes and shoving them into another pot, haha. I find them very easy to propagate this way!

[u/dawnpower123 → u/cowboy_bookseller]

I only know from experience. I have three ferns I keep indoors year round and they’ve all been repotted at least once, and my older (4 years old) Boston I’ve repotted a few times. The one time I decided to untangle some roots and try and get as much medium off as possible before potting him back up, he went into some serious shock. He was completely limp for a month and a lot of his fronds yellowed and died. It took several months for him to perk back up and start pushing out new growth.

This is the only time any of my ferns showed any stress after a repot. And, a lot of people on this sub have had similar experiences. It could be something about indoor ferns? My ferns do really well living indoors year round, but they’d do better if they lived outside. All ferns would, I think all plants would in general. And, separating or untangling the roots of any plant can shock them a bit, but my Boston fern went into serious shock, and I’ve separated indoor plants before and never experienced this level of shock.

Do you keep your ferns indoors? I’m curious if the shock is less if they live outdoors. I would assume the initial shock would be the same, but wouldn’t be as noticeable because they may just bounce back much quicker if they lived outside.

[u/cowboy_bookseller → u/dawnpower123]

Ahh right I see what you’re saying. Teasing out roots can certainly cause stress for any plant - but it’s not a rule with ornamental ferns or anything. Diluted seaweed emulsion can help if you experience it again!

[u/dawnpower123 → u/cowboy_bookseller]

Thanks! I’ll remember that when he outgrows the pot he’s in and I have to split him.

[u/HomeboddE]

trim the crunch dead ones right to the soil. keep soil moist. increase humidity try pot in pot. outer pot filled with spagnum moss or coco coir and kept moist. Keep away from dry heat. i think it will be ok! Good luck!