The sword fern is a popular houseplant, especially for staircases, offices, living rooms and bathrooms. With its fresh green fronds it is able to purify the air in the room. At the same time he looks beautiful. What care does he need?
How do you properly care for a sword fern?
Sword fern care includes regular watering with low-lime water, weekly fertilizing between March and October, repotting if necessary and removing diseased or dried out fronds. The plant prefers evenly moist soil and high humidity.
Do you have to water the sword fern frequently?
Watering is probably the highest priority when it comes to owning the sword fern. This tropical plant needs evenly moist soil. If the root ball is too dry, the fronds on the surface will demonstrate this within a short time. They dry out from the tips.
This is what you need to keep in mind when watering:
- high need for moisture
- Dry the soil, but don't let it dry out
- Avoid moisture, pour off excess water
- Drought can lead to entire fronds being dropped
- additionally spray fronds to increase humidity
- Use low-lime water for watering (stale irrigation water)
- like to take a shower every now and then
Does this houseplant need fertilizer?
The sword fern should be fertilized regularly to stay fit. Nutrient deficiency leads to slowing of growth. Too much fertilizer can result in yellow-colored fronds. Find the he althy middle ground!
How to do it right: Fertilize once a week between March and October. In winter, fertilize sparingly or not at all every 4 weeks. Liquid fertilizer (€8.00 on Amazon) or slow-release fertilizer is used for fertilizing. It is ideal to use semi-concentrated green plant fertilizer.
How often does it need to be repotted?
Spring is the optimal time for repotting:
- repot when the roots fill the pot
- Young plants: repot every year
- older plants: repot every 3 years
- do not fertilize after repotting
- pour well
Does the sword fern resent being pruned?
It is not necessary to cut the sword fern. They should only be cut if the fronds are too long, dried out, yellow or diseased. In general, the sword fern tolerates cutting well.
What damage to he alth can occur?
If the site conditions are not right or care is neglected, pests have an easy time of it. Spider mites, aphids and scale insects are particularly common on sword ferns. Diseases can cause root rot if the substrate is too wet.
Tip
Don't worry about caring for the sword fern. It is hardly poisonous, in contrast to many of its conspecifics.
