DIY Mounted Staghorn Fern

This is a project I have been wanting to do for a while now, and it was a lot easier than I was expecting. So naturally, I want to share the project idea with our customers!

Staghorn ferns are eye-catching plants that make for a beautiful indoor addition to any home! This fern is naturally epiphytic, meaning that it generally grows on trees or other surfaces. In this case, a slab of wood!

The staghorn fern would be happy indoors in bright indirect light or in a shady area in your backyard. Watering requires a heavy misting and the frequency will depend on if you intend for it to be outdoors or indoors.

All you need for this project is wood, a hammer and 25-30 nails, scissors and twine, sphagnum moss, and a staghorn fern!

First you will want to assemble your wooden base.

This can be made of scrap wood, drift wood, or anything lying around. Before long, the plant will steal any attention away from the wood backing, so don’t worry if it’s imperfect. I used some scrap wood I found in my garage.

Next, you will want to take your fern out of the pot, and gently brush away as much dirt as you can to expose the roots.

Staghorn ferns don’t need soil to root in, so we will be replacing much of this with our sphagnum moss. Lay the fern onto the wood until you’ve got it in a place that looks best, making sure to try and leave the fern’s shield in tact. These will eventually grow over the sphagnum root-ball holding the plant to the wood.

Once the plant is set, trace your circle for your nails and get to work!

The nails encircling the plant will be what holds everything in place, so don’t be stingy with the nails! I used 25-30 nails and got them about a half-inch away from one another. Leave the nails half way out of the wood so you will have plenty of anchorage for the twine.

Next you’ll need to wet a couple of handfuls of moss in a shallow dish, and press it down over the fern’s roots, making sure to cover everything from the shield down.

I used the twine to anchor the plant until I felt it was completely secure, and then finished nailing the nails in all of the way into the wood. And that’s all, folks! Super easy and super fun project that only took about 45 minutes.

-Kady