Tree fern

meldan

My neighbour has just gifted me a battered tree fern, it looks healthy but all but one of the leaves has been snapped and are starting to brown, is it better to leave them on or take them off ?

KeenOnGreen

Don’t grow them, but with all of our ferns we cut off any dead or broken fronds. It usually encourages new growth.  

bertrand-mabel

Some of the fronds still have green stems. These will still be photosynthesising so the fern will benefit by keeping them. Also these will help to protect and support the new fronds as they come up. As philippa says check in the middle. Can you see any furry "knuckles"?

Hopefully you can as these are the new fronds.

Ours started sending up new ones about 3 weeks ago so maybe the "green" ones in the photo are already this years growth.

The "trunk" needs to be watered and conflicting advice about whether to water in the centre. Some say essential others say it will rot the growth.....but then when it rains the rain goes into the crown.

We do water ours in the crown.

meldan

Thanks everyone, there’s no sign of any new fronds growing at the moment, I would guess the current one’s are this years growth as the stems are pretty lush and green, I did cut one off just under where it had been snapped and it bled quite a bit. Would it be a good idea to remove half of the stems to encourage some new ones to grow ? 

Paul B3

They are the battered remnants of last years fronds ; remove them as close to the trunk as possible with sharp secateurs .

Keep the trunk as moist as physically possible at all times ; new growth should be well underway by now .

My own '5-footer' has 3' fronds already this year .