this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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Houseplants

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74
Plumosa fern - is it possible to encourage more bushy growth rather than just tall? (discuss.online)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
4 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hello! Recently got a pot for this guy. While I'm repotting I may try to split it- I want to encourage it to be more bushy. I have been reading a bit about how to encourage bushiness and it seems I could either separate it at the root so the base is wider and hope it fills in, and/or prune.

Just wanted to see if any of you had success with this or generally getting them to grow more bushy than tall. This one sits directly under a bright fluorescent light at work (less than 12 inches above the plant, maybe 8).

If you've pruned one of these, how would you recommend going about it?

Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I had one of these for years, it grows like crazy if it's given the space. The branches will get tall and start to droop, then new branches will sprout in to fill in the new overhead space. Otherwise lots of trimming and pruning will expand it also.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Wonderful insight thank you! I am a little hesitant to prune because it is still pretty cool like this even and I don't want to just throw away leaves so that's nice to hear.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I trim the really long/gangly growths to maintain the size and density. You can tell before a frond has fully grown if it's going to be long. After a while of doing this mine seemed to 'learn' to grow shorter and I rarely have to do it now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

That's good to know. Thank you!