Balantium Species, Man Fern, Soft Tree Fern, Tasmanian Tree Fern, Woolly Tree Fern

This is one neat plant. I've only had it for 2 seasons.
When I first got it from a (normally great) local nursery it was looking ...Read MoreO.K.. Until the first winter. The fronds were fading fast. Turns out it had an infestation of mealy bugs deep in the center under all the fuzz. What a pain.
After much help, it took off all winter & spring and it's looking great. Grows slow, some 20-25 years to maturity for it to release spores, but that's fine as long as it stays alive...lol
I have it in between buildings on the west side. Gets about 45 mins. of full & an hour of dappled sun. It's very young still and only a foot tall so far & the fronds are huge some about 4 foot long w/ smaller ones coming up every 2 months or so.
P.S.
DO NOT water the center or the fronds. As they will drop down and become susceptible to fungus in the center where the fronds grow. I found this out the hard way.

I grow this in my area knowing it is quite borderline. I have milked it though some bad winters with fiberglass protection. I have found ...Read Morethat the fronds burn off pretty easily with anything more than light frost, and hate sub freezing temps with wind, but the trunk is quite cold hardy and the plant recovers from far worse than its fronds would indicate. I have also found that LOCATION in the yard makes a huge difference around here (we are prone to freezes with strong wind). Think heavy shelter when planting in a borderline zone. I feel like the cold wind does way more damage than the cold.

I live near Jacksonville, FL, very close to the ocean, ( zone 9A) and in three years my 3 fern trees have grown very little. Instructions...Read More I read said to keep the plants misted with water 'all the time'. Even that didn't work for me so I replanted all 3 trees into pots and inserted those pots into larger pots and keep water in the larger pots all the time so the ferns can get water anytime they need it. My ferns are doing better now than they ever have but my tallest one may be 2 to 2 1/2 feet high (in 3 years) and the other two are both smaller. They're all planted in a shady area in my yard so they don't burn. Can anyone tell me WHY my trees won't grow any better. I also add fertilizer once or twice a year.

When I had this tree fern growing in my shade house it got so wide that tending to my other plants was hazardous. The bristles along the ...Read Morestems gave me ichies and prickly rash that sent me to the shower for relief. It was easy to cure with the shower but decide to pot up the plant and trim the fronds often. Loses fronds during winter but comes back strong with the warm temps. I don't get fernlets but once got a sucker that I tried to remove and grow. I think it was too young and it died. The fronds make great epi medium.

2 yrs ago I bought a small tree fern from a local nursery that was "reduced to clear" for $4 due to the fact that all the fronds had bur...Read Morened in the sun. I put it in part shade and it is now about 31/2 feet tall and wide with striking foliage. It growns here in Sydney (Zone 9??) well and took 2 hard frosts this past winter with zero damage. Researching this plant I found that as these ferns trunk and grow tall the "trunk"is actually dead with the crown and fronds actually tunnelling roots through the dead trunk to the soil below. In the past unsavoury dealers would simply head out into the woods and chop off the crown and offer it for sale (the crown reroots easily). As mentioned in an earlier post this is now illegal. The spores easily reach the earth and sprout fernlets. I will post pics so all can see what 2 yr old dicksonia looks like.

This fern has thrived here in zone 9b. Requires regular watering and feeding. Dicksonia antarctica is commonly found for sale locally in ...Read Morethe gardening departments of stores such as Orchard Supply Hardware.

Native to Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania).

It´s not only a beautiful and unusual plant (tree ferns like that are remains of the Mesozoic Era, when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth), but ...Read Morea very useful one, specially if you are planning on cultivating orchids. Most tropical epiphytic orchids will reach the nirvana if planted on it. The ideal cultivation conditions for this fern are usually the same for most of those kinds of orchids, so if you can grow the fern, the rest is easy.

Don't let the name "Soft Tree Fern" fool you - this plant is not one of the softer tree ferns. In fact, it is almost bristly to touch. ...Read MoreIt is a beautiful plant however.

This fern is probably the most-planted tree fern in southern California, even more so than the ubiquitous Cyathea cooperi. It seems to take more sun than most other ferns, and stays somewhat small (takes much longer to get tall than Australian tree ferns) while keeping a larger head of leaves and looks more lush.

But for anyone who needs to prune one of these, beware! They have thousands of little scales that shed and get in your eye, playing havoc with your cornea and conjunctiva... it can take hours to get rid of the redness and pain. Best to use protective glasses.

Soft Tree Ferns are frequently growing in gardens in Australia, because they are very easy to transplant. Living ferns are simply cut thr...Read Moreough the trunk and then planted in a good humus-rich soil, preferably kept fairly moist. Plants are now only allowed to be taken from the wild under licence. I have one, bought from a nursery in my garden and a smaller plant has recently grown beside it, presumably from spores of the other plant. They are very slow growing, but my plant has grown from about 1.2 metres to 1.5 metres in about 10 years. It needs extra water in our hot dry summers.

The Soft Tree Fern in the wild is host to a number of smaller, epiphytic ferns: Filmy ferns, Mother Shield Ferns, Kangaroo Ferns and others.