Ok, so I planted these spore in late November and I've got these small lettuce-like things that remind me of liverwort. When do I get recognizeable ferns. The one on the left is Dicksonia antarctica and right is Lophosoria quadripinnata.
Fern Spore Growing
Production of sporophytes (=recognizable ferns) generally starts with fertilization; for fertilization to occur, the gametophytes (=small lettuce-like things) have to be flooded, because the antheridia (which contain sperm) are triggered to break open & release sperm by contact with water, at which point the sperm swim over to an egg, &c.
Though it's a little hard to judge scale here, your gametophytes look large enough that they should have some mature sperm & eggs in there. How've you been watering them?
Patrick Alexander
Thanks! I just watered them the other day with a fine mist and the soil is kept moist/humid with plastic overhead cover. They are about the size of my pinkie nail with a few larger and a few smaller. Can I see the antheridia containing the sperm? Am I on the right track here?
You can't see antheridia without a microscope; but if the gametophytes are that large, there should be antheridia.
The antheridia are on the undersides of the gametophytes, and wouldn't normally get wet from misting. Which means that misting is good before the gametophytes are mature--don't want all those sperm wandering off until there are eggs for them. Once the gametophytes are mature you want to flood them once or twice; some standing water should get the antheridia to open, but you don't want them to stay waterlogged for too long.
Patrick Alexander