Staghorn Fern on Tree Bark

“Nature does nothing in vain.” – Aristotle

We were at a local nursery and found an nice selection of Staghorn Ferns including some that were mounted on cedar orchid baskets. Actually, most were mounted and were at least three times the price of the non-mounted ferns.

To save money we decided to mount our own Staghorn. We bought a cedar basket and were planning on doing the same thing the nursery did until we found a house down the road throwing away really great pieces of bark that had fallen of a dead tree in their yard. It’s not wimpy bark either, it’s very thick and strong which is what you want if you’re mounting a plant.

The Tools & Supplies

Drill
Eye-Hooks
Wire & Wire Cutters
Moss (sphagnum & sheet moss)

Step One: Insert a Hook for Hanging

We screwed in a little hook in the back of the bark to hang it on our fence. As you can see, we like our old-school tools that don’t use electricity. Just start a little hole, the screw in a little eye-hook or other type of hardware you could hang it with.

Step Two: Insert Eye-Hooks for Wiring

Again, use a drill or a hammer and nail to make a small hole to start the eye-hook. We inserted four of them in the shape of a square that is large enough for the plant to fit between.

Step Three: Wire Staghorn Fern to Bark

Remove the Staghorn Fern from it’s container and try to flatten and/or slightly pull apart the roots so the wire has something to hold against the bark. We put a some sphagnum moss on the bark between eye-hooks, then placed the fern on top of moss.

First, place some sheet moss around the roots of the Staghorn. The wire will be anchored to the four eye-hooks and continue around the roots of the fern until it’s securely fastened to the bark.

This may take a couple tries as you determine the best place for the wire as this can really be done more than one way. Hold up the bark to check if the plant is secure enough and once you’re satisfied you can snip off the extra wire with some cutters and hang!

Update:

A little over a year went by and she (the Staghorn) didn’t seem to show any interest in attaching herself to the bark on her own so we gave her what she wanted! She is now floating free, swinging back n forth under our Oak trees by some wire….  She looks happier, the squirrels can’t get to her and she has gone off her anti-depressants!

Also check: Simple Staghorn Mount

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