Tree Ferns, Dicksonia Antarctica Complete Guide 

Great summary Mark. It's worth also saying that like any plant they're less susceptible to drying out if they're planted in the ground and also allow enough room for the fronds and some of mine grow to 7ft long each. Subscribed!

I just bought my two first Tasmania tree ferns! They have no trunk as of yet! I’m 70 years old so I know I won’t be around to see them get very tall, but I love these beauties! I will end up buying a couple tall ones but I want to make sure I’m doing everything correct! I’m growing these in a green house with ample shade ! Heated in winter to keep from freezing! I live on the coast in Oregon , really snows , but this week will be four days of below freezing! Thank you for your show! And info!

I am so happy to have watched this video.Thank you sir.From Temuka,South Island New Zealand 🇳🇿

Brilliant video Mark. Thank you for sharing all that you have found.

Rewelacyjna plantacja jestem pod ogromnym wrażeniem.

I grew up in south of Brazil and my family had 4 Dicknonian Sellowiana in our garden. 6 years ago we had to move two of these tree ferns from our front garden to our back yard and we did something wrong because they died. I was devasted. My mom still have two and they are beautiful, strong and they might be about 4 meters tall. About 4 years ago to our amazement a small baby tree fern started to grow on the ground between the two. It was given to my aunt and survived being transplanted to her garden. Here in Brazil they are prohibited from being comercialized.

Well, I see red banana and possibly a Thirnax Palm like we have here in Florida, right next door and of course, alocasia. Nice collection but we could only grow the Australian tree fern and always struggled with that because of wing mostly. A well done, informative video. Good job!

Thank you for the amazing video. I just bought one in Los Angeles and now I want another one. They are just so beautiful.

Great video. Thanks, just bought bought 2 tree ferns for my shady area. Hope they survive with your instructions!

Very helpfil advise ...thank you

Great information. Thank you

A very comprehensive guide to raising Tree Ferns. I bought a home with 3 of these exotic plants on it and I did not know how to care for them. Your video presentation was a big help to me. They look beautiful especially when the leaves are lush green and spread well. I hope to raise more of them in the future. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience growing these fine plants. By the way, I live in San Francisco, California where the weather is always cool but not humid. So I need to do a lot of soaking of the tree trunks to keep them moist.

Thank you, very much. God bless you. 😊

I'm making a collection of prehistoric plants to in the future I could make a prehistoric garden once I save up enough funds for a house with a garden, i will get rid of the grass and place mulch made of bark, peat, pine needles, and have lots of small fern species native to my area in the UK so mostly Bracken, and for the trees I will have a dawn redwood, monkey puzzle trees, and ginkgos(already have these trees potted up) and the tree ferns will be under those trees. ^^

Hi Mark, I just found your channel yesterday. Very informative and I absorbed all the videos about tree fern and olive trees. I’ve had my tree fern for 6 years now and I feed the crown weekly in the growing season. I never water it otherwise and never the trunk. I bought it from The Tree Palm Company and received “tree fern feed” from them and that’s what I use. I never protected it from winter. It is in the ground, not sheltered, full sun and against the fence that in addition reflects the afternoon sun. The fern is thriving, each year getting more and bigger fronds. Wish I could post a picture on here. Hearing your story of the unfortunate fate of your 6 tree ferns dying within two years after moving the house I got scared to bits. I will start to protect it now from winter. We already had many nights of frosts (Bedfordshire), but this time of year is very important as new fronds are forming inside the crown. The old fronds were insulating the crown until that horrible storm when they drooped and exposed the crown. I’ll be taking extra care this year when it comes to watering because I’m afraid of the crown narrowing over time if I don’t keep it moist. Thank you for this video as you were the only one that convinced me to take a better care of that tree fern of mine.

Thank you. Very interesting Vlog. I'm going to plant a couple in North Wales. We have a mild climate in Colwyn Bay.

Thank you great information.

Thank you you’re a good teacher

We now live in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. However, for nearly twenty years before that we lived in forest areas where tree ferns grew naturally all around us. Seven years ago we moved to a property in the suburbs and planted a forest of clumping bamboos (to make up for the gum trees) and gradually 14 tree ferns- mostly from second hand sources. They all did quite well but gradually we lost 5 of them. now we know why. They are all in semi shade and we know they cannot tolerate our hot Australian sun so we have always ensured they are protected. But even after living in the bush for all those years I had not realised we needed to water the trunks of the tree ferns! I only just recently found out that it is virtually absolutely necessary to be able to keep up the humidity levels needed here; so I have been checking sites for further confirmation of this and came upon yours. Thanks for the information (I am still not clear on whether we should be watering the crown as some say it can cause rot).

We've just bought our first tree fern so this has been really helpful. Thank you!

Yeah I was wondering if they would be OK in full shade looks like they will be They’re beautiful plants I like them too border my entryway door Terrific video mate !! USA

Congratulations for this video. is a good video for care this beatiful plans. Iam Mexican and a curius fact is that in Mexico we also have tree ferns of the Dicksonia genus very similar ti Dicksonia antartica!!

Great easy to understand instructions. Thank you. Could you explain how far to cut back dying fronds please.

Great video

Hi, just found this video and learnt a lot from it. Do you have an update on how the tree ferns are doing since you last planted them in the pots. I am currently thinking of doing the same but not sure if they are best put in the ground or in containers. Thank you

Very informative vid. Specific advice on distinct aspects of growing /care. And utterly terrifying about where to position my future ferns. I hope to get a few in March, taking full account of all the advice given here. But if such an expert on tree ferns can lose his own tree ferns I fear there may be little hope for me. Nonetheless I'm ready to give it a go. I will save up for the biggest ones i can afford. Many thanks for your great vid.

We have the same tree fern in nz only its called Dicksonia Fibrosa , they are the toughest tree fern in NZ once you get them started they will handle any weather..and the best thing to feed them is compost mulch thanx for your info

Tnxs u for shareng idol

Great video!. After having the best day at The lost gardens of heligan yesterday, I decided to buy a small tree fern from the from the shop there! I already love it and I hope with the advice from you and the man at heligan I can successfully keep it alive for many years!!!, One question tho, how do you water all your plants while away? I keep my carnivorous plants in large trays on a watering system!,, Many thanks

Hi Mark really informative thanks very much we have one question my self and my wife purchased our first Dickinsons and we have also potted it, it’s in a mixture of sandy loam soil mixed with mushroom compost we have noticed in the first couple of days that the ends of the already formed frones are turning black is this something you have experienced or could possibly give us some advice on many thanks

My two very well rooted

Hi Mark, very helpful videos. I have a 4ft Tree Fern which i am going to grow in a pot for now, how deep would you plant this? im going to use your method with the wood to hold it in place. Cheers Lee

Very useful video. Can you please tell me your watering regime for the winter when you take the potted tree ferns inside?

Nice advice!! Thanks. Can you grow this indoor actually?

Thank you for such an informative video. I live in the Atlanta, GA area and found a small fern growing near my hot tub in a damp shaded spot. I don't have any tree ferns. It has been growing for 3 years and now has 6 new fronds unfolding. It is low to the ground. Could this fern have started from a spore? I did not plant it. We moved it last year to a better location, but still very damp. It survived a week of freezing temps by my covering it with a large plastic pot. Now that I feel certain that it it s tree fern, I plan to take better care of it. Thanks!

I have just bought a very tiny Antarctica with fronds barely 3"long. We are in the North of Cumbria and can have frosts lasting several days. I plan on putting it out in June as yes, we do get frosts up until then and bringing it in before any frosts are forecast. Is there anything else I should do?

I bought a tiny tree fern even smaller than the small one in this video, mine doesn't even have a trunk yet.

Hi Mark Did you plant into only compost or potting mix too. Can you elaborate on the NPK tree ferns need? In the potting medium. Regards from Melbourne Aust.

Can you just bring them inside the home during the winter in the UK or do they need a dormancy period?

Great vlog…..have bought two. One named Vicky …..from state of Victoria and one called Taz (from Tasmania)….looking forward to seeing grow.

Great help iwas giving one from my sister in law that passed away could you tell me what size pot would be right i think is 10 years old does it grow 1 inc a year

Hi Mark, great videos, ive just ordered a tree fern from the palm tree company and plan to pot it, i see you use seaweed to feed it, is there a dosage you use and do you use the hsk palm fern feed

I have a smaller one growing next to the bigger one. How do I go about separating it?

helo mark, hello, are there any different types of leatherleaf ferns in Costa Rica and Florida? because costa rica is highland and florida is lowland.

Hello Mark! Can you tell us which website have you bought your palms from? I am struggling to find a fern palm tree at a reasonable price. Thank you for the amazing video.

Hi Mark, please help. My 5.5”Australian tree fern crown is in a bad way with only one frond growing. The others have black and some have even fallen out. This is due to wrong advice of watering the crown, which I think caused some front rot. My question is can i decapitate the whole crown and start again? If so, can I use a chain saw to get an even cut through? Do you have a website that I can send you a picture.? Thank you, David

I set up a drip system with rainwater for mine and I got crown rot and killed it. I've tried many times with different care regimes and they die every time. I considered getting a small one again but no. I've done all you said and they still die.

Is there anything you can do if your tree fern dies from not been watered

Would you happen to know why i have a few of my fronds snapping in half, do you think it could do with very hot weather we've just had? thanks :)

Hi there. Maybe you can assist - will an Australian tree fern (several metres tall) invade a drainage pipe with its roots? I'm looking to identify the culprit, and it's the tallest tree in the vicinty.

I'm wondering why my comment that I posted the other day does not show??? or where to find it?

Very beautiful, very expensive. 1 to 2 feet tall 200 Dollar! A bigger one we don’t even get here in the US.

Love the video as I am going to bye one but the voice we don’t need to lip read you sorry

too many ads

Why are you talking like you’re hosting a childrens tv programme?

It may not apply in the UK but I would like to see 'Summer Care' added to the topics. We've had a couple of days at 35 degrees Celsius and a couple of my plants have many dead fronds. They say it takes ten years for the trunk to grow a foot. I had some I neglected for thirty years and it multiplied into five plants.