i just opened a package of bare root ferns from Home Depot and there are lots of tendrils about 5" long with what looks to be small leaf nodes on them and snail shaped things on the end of each tendril. All are green and appear healthy. I was preparing to put them in pots to plant out later. I am in zone 5 with about 6" of snow on the ground and 0 temp expected this week. I have never grown ferns and need to know what to do.
HELP!! bare root ostrich ferns
Hello GMK
I can't answer your question; however, I have one for you. Are you growing these ferns for their ornimental value or for the veggie they produce in the spring? Living now in NC, remember fishing in the early spring with my uncle and while we were deep in the woods near the stream, we would "harvest" a bag of "fiddleheads" and take them home for cleaning and eating with our fresh caught brook trout. SSSSSSSOOOOOO GOOD!
I am making a new shade garden, so they are for decorative use. I planted them in some potting soil burying most of the tendrils leaving the fiddleheads exposed and they seem to be doing well. The fiddleheads are turning into fronds.