Caring For and Maintaining Your Nephrolepis (Boston Fern)

Nephrolepis or Boston Fern is native to South America, Mexico, Florida, and the West Indies. This fern loves warm, humid environments. It is a very popular houseplant, often seen planted in baskets hanging on porches and decks. Boston Ferns are slow growers, and non-toxic to pets and people.

Sunlight: Nephrolepis enjoys bright indirect or filtered sunlight. Try to make sure to give your Boston Fern at least 2 hours of this type of light exposure each day. Too much light and the fronds will burn and become sparse. Too little light will cause the fronds to yellow.

Water: Keep the soil at the base of your Boston Fern damp at all times but not soggy. Watering can be reduced during fall and winter months.

Humidity: Colorado is a dry state with humidity levels much lower than the native environments in which Nephrolepis inhabit. To help create a more humid environment for your Nephrolepis, consider adding a fine mist humidifier to the room(s) in which you have your Nephrolepis. You can also place trays filled with stones and water nearby your Nephrolepis to increase local humidity. Misting your Nephrolepis with a hand sprayer will also help raise the local humidity level. Although Nephrolepis prefers humidity of about 80%, a constant relative humidity of 50-55% will still promote your Nephrolepis’s growth and health.

Temperature: The perfect temperature for your Nephrolepis is between 65-75 degrees F (18-24 degrees C). It will tolerate some variation from this ideal but will not tolerate extreme deviations into the high 30s or low 90s.

Soil: Boston Ferns prefer a loamy, light, and airy soil. You can use a regular potting mix such as Fertilome or Fox Farm amended with perlite or a little bit of peat moss.