I almost ordered a packet of staghorn spores today from the fern factory. Their price is 5 dollars per packet but after S&H and taxes it went up to over 18 dollars. I thought that was a bit high but maybe I'm just being cheap. What do you guys think?

You might be better off with buying a small plant for that money. They grow pretty fast.

Thanks that's a good point. So here is another question. I want multiple plants so if I just buy one how long will it take to get spores?

Ferns: I have a love/hate relationship with them. My greenhouse 'weeds' are 5-fingered ferns and maiden hair ferns, both CA natives. They grow like crazy - those fern spores are working overtime.

I also have a 40 year old staghorn fern. I watch all those spores develop but I have never, ever gotten an infant fern. I have even gone so far as to put flats full of 6-packs with potting soil under the plant when the spores start to fly. I end up with 6-packs full of 5-fingered and Maiden Hairs but no staghorns.

Buy a plant, it will be cheaper in the long run.

Daisy

Depends upon how many staghorns you really want to grow, Heath. I guess I just don't see the point of starting from spores on these. First you have to nurture them to germinate, and grow tiny plants - do you have a greenhouse? Then you'd have to pot or mount them all which involves a lot of time, effort and expense.

I think you'd get better value, for sure buying a plant already started. Here's Ken's site, where you can get a nice small plant for $12.95 plus shipping.
http://www.tropicalplantsandmo...

Yes! And he has some unique ones.

Thanks a lot. you guys have probably saved me a lot of money and frustration. I guess I'll be buying a plant

I got more to say but my battery is going dead so I'll post more tomorrow.

Thanks for the "plug"@dyzzypyxxy. I can supply all the stags @plantcollector wants. Multiple staghorn (seedlings) are much less expensive than purchasing a single one.

I agree with you. Unless someone is really into experimentation, and has sterile, laboratory-like conditions, from what I understand, growing from spore (at least when it comes to staghorn ferns) is very tedious, very difficult. I love to experiment but would never attempt to grow these plants from spores.

Heath, in my experience, a staghorn has to be a minimum of 3 years old to begin to develop those spore plaques. Some varieties take 5 or more years. If you have never seen the spore formation, these plaques at the ends of the fronds are interesting. Many people have contacted me over the years telling me that their stag. has developed some sort of weird disease. When they describe what they see and/or send me pictures, it almost always is simply those spore plaques beginning to form. These plaques seem to appear almost overnight, but it takes several months. We just notice them when they are fairly well developed.

@dyzzypyxxy I appreciate you giving me the link to @drdawg website. I had the privilege of talking with him today. He is very knowledgeable about Staghorn Ferns and recommended a couple of places for me to try because I'm looking for the superbum variety. I really wanted to try to grow them from spores just to see if I could. But if a $5 package is going to cost me $18 I think I will just buy the plant instead. I don't own a greenhouse but I do have access to one because I work part-time at a nursery. I know it's going to be a pain in the butt to have to lug it back and forth every winter and spring but I think it will be worth my trouble. I really want something large that is a showstopper so I can enter it into a fair or some type of contest. So, now my plan is to buy some plants and take the spores from them. Thanks again for everyone's help and if I'm successfull I'll need someone to send me a link to a good chiropractor