Need fern help

[MrsPete]

Hi, folks. I need help!

Two weeks ago I bought four big, beautiful ferns. They're already starting to look kind of bad. They're not as thick and fluffy as when I brought them home, and the "arms" are getting some brown. Obviously, I need to do something quickly!

Here are my details: They're hanging across my long covered porch, where they receive morning sun. By 2:00 or so they're in the shade. I've been misting them daily, and I've been taking them down twice a week to give them a thorough wetting (watering the soil and using the mist sprayer on the hose to thoroughly drench the branches. I've also been turning them twice a week (when I take them down) so each side gets the sun.

I'm thinking that I'm either giving them too much water, or not enough water.

They're in plastic pots (the ones in which they came -- cheap-o dark green plastic), and I'm wondering if that's part of the problem. If so, what type of pot is recommended?

Oh, by the way, I'm in North Carolina, and our weather has been 70-85 degrees since I bought them. Maybe 60 at night, but no lower.

Opinions, please? Thanks in advance.

 

[bananiem]

I don't know much about ferns but I'm wondering if they're getting too much sun.
Anybody else have an idea?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would say that when you take them down to water them are they light as a feather or still heavy? That is how I measure if my basket needs water, weight. Tilt the bottom after watering so there isn't any standing water at the bottom of the pot.
Also if they do need that much watering as with any hanging basket, you need to fertilize. You have to remember that anything that comes from a greenhouse has been watered with nothing but fertilizer water.

My guess is that it is getting too much sun & water. Morning sun up until 2pm is about 8hrs of full sun which technically is considered full sun for a plant.

 

[MrsPete]

Thanks, Mystery! What a lot of good information -- I didn't know any of this. Can you tell I'm a novice? I can grow anything in the ground, but containers baffle me.

When I take the pots down they're light as a feather. I have not been "pouring off" excess water. I thought I was giving too little water, and I was really pouring it on.

I have not been giving them fertilizer water. Is there a particular one that would be a good choice for ferns? Thanks!

 

[We4mickey]

What type of fern do you ?????