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Lecanopteris from spores

Lecanopteris sinuosa is one messy plant. Spores everywhere.
Out of sheer curiosity, last winter I collected some and sowed them on moist peat moss in a clear deli container, then sealed it and waited. One year later:



The longest leaf measures just under an inch.

Maybe a few of these will be ready for the NASC auction in 2020...
 
Wow, great to see this! My L. pumila has regularly produced spores for the last year or two, although I've never utilized them or seen anything come of them. However, I may follow in your footsteps now.
 
Give it a go! It may not be the most efficient way to propagate these ferns, but it is pretty cool to observe the life cycle.
 
Neat! I have been trying to get Cyathea cooperi to propagate from spores for some time and it's always resisted. You're inspiring me to try again!
 
I put in an order to the American Fern Society for spores and got them quickly, exactly a month ago. Membership is $15 and spores are 50 cents a pack. They give you enough spores in each pack for several trials, typically. The guy who runs the spore exchange, Brian Aikins, is very nice and extremely helpful, which is a huge plus. They also have an incredible list of available spores.

Here's the list:

http://amerfernsoc.org/sporelist.html

So far, I see little green guys (gametophytes) for 14 different species. A couple additional ones are questionable, and others I'm still waiting on. I'll give the whole list: Platyceriums: wandae, 'Celebes' (a cultivar, P. hillii, I think...), ridleyi (an ant plant, technically), willinckii, willinckii pygmaeum, superbum, Tree ferns: Cyathea medullaris and Cyathea lepifera, Drynaria sparsisora, Drynaria rigidula, Drynaria fortunei, Sadleria cyatheoides, Aglaomorpha coronans, Microsorum punctatum grandiceps. That should be 14.

There are some I think I'll know for sure in a couple days, this includes Microsorum thailandicum. Those I have not seen anything clear on, yet (it's only been a month, and some are faster than others) include: Platycerium coronarium, Platycerium elephantotis, Platycerium grande, Platycerium holttumii, Microgramma percussa and Asplenium scolopendrium Laceratum. I expect many of those will show signs of growth in the next week or two.

And also no visible gametophytes yet: Lecanopteris sinuosa. I bet that changes in a week...

Overall, I think growing ferns from spores is a lot of fun, and it's set up nicely right now to make it easy, and inexpensive. If most of the gametophytes I have right now result in plants, I will have a really nice fern collection. Since the expectation is that I will get more than one plant of each species, I should have a lot to trade/give away/sell. A lot of these are hard to find ferns which are extremely cool.

Mato (or anyone else with interesting ferns, especially not on the spore list). I would encourage you to donate spores to the AFS. This is a well run, worthy exchange. They do give you some ability to buy some spores, if spores are donated. This is described in detail on their pages. Mato, it might make more sense to give donate your spores to the AFS, and get them to give (or sell for a small price) something different to grow from spores. I was actually about to ask Brian Aikins if the spore exchange ever had other Lecanopteris species. That strikes me as a genus Brian himself might grow, or maybe be interested in growing more of. He is the donor of the Lecanopteris sinuosa seeds.

Anyway, I spent $26 on a membership and a ton of spores. I have a lot to show for it, and I also got a tremendous amount of free advice.
 
Time for a little update. I gave away, tossed, or otherwise got rid of most of the little ferns (I only have so much windowsill/grow rack space), but here's one that has finally started looking like a L. sinuosa.

 
Awesome looking fern. I have one and its one of my favorites. Would love to propagate mine someday.
 
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