root rot on Rabbits Foot Fern
Quick answer
If your Rabbits Foot Fern has root rot, the most likely cause is: Rabbit's-foot fern (Davallia tyermannii / Davallia fejeensis) sits in the genus Davallia, whose creeping surface rhizomes are not true roots but modified stems that need ongoing contact with damp soil to keep absorbing moisture and feeding the plant; when the substrate stays soggy and drainage fails, the soil turns sour, the rhizomes are pushed over the pot edge and lose root contact, and the whole plant is left weakened as it tries to support itself instead of being supported.
Start here:
- 1. Tip the plant out, knock away sour wet soil, and repot into a clean pot with a crock layer at the bottom so surplus water can drain away and the soil cannot wash down and block the drainage hole.
- 2. Use an open, coarse, lumpy compost of loam, leaf mould, peat and sand — the mix the cultivator Birkenhead recommends for Davallia, HUMATA, Gleichenia and Nephrolepis — so the rhizomes sit on a damp but airy surface rather than in mud.
Why Rabbits Foot Fern gets root rot
Rabbits Foot Fern
Rabbit's-foot fern (Davallia tyermannii / Davallia fejeensis) sits in the genus Davallia, whose creeping surface rhizomes are not true roots but modified stems that need ongoing contact with damp soil to keep absorbing moisture and feeding the plant; when the substrate stays soggy and drainage fails, the soil turns sour, the rhizomes are pushed over the pot edge and lose root contact, and the whole plant is left weakened as it tries to support itself instead of being supported.
How to reverse root rot on Rabbits Foot Fern
- 1
Tip the plant out, knock away sour wet soil, and repot into a clean pot with a crock layer at the bottom so surplus water can drain away and the soil cannot wash down and block the drainage hole.
- 2
Use an open, coarse, lumpy compost of loam, leaf mould, peat and sand — the mix the cultivator Birkenhead recommends for Davallia, HUMATA, Gleichenia and Nephrolepis — so the rhizomes sit on a damp but airy surface rather than in mud.
- 3
Peg any creeping rhizomes back onto the compost with small wooden or wire pegs so they keep rooting instead of stretching over the rim and exhausting the plant.
- 4
Water only at the top of the pot, let any excess drain through, and empty the saucer so the pot never sits in standing water, which is what turns the soil sour and rots the roots.
Keep root rot off this Rabbits Foot Fern
Pot Davallia-type ferns in shallow pans with crock drainage and a coarse, lumpy open compost, water from the top only, empty the saucer after every drink, and keep the creeping rhizomes pegged down on damp soil so they never lose contact with the substrate.