My 3-year-old indoor fern went from lush green to crispy brown in 2 weeks - what changed?

I watered it the same amount as always and kept it by the same north-facing window. Then I realized my wife had turned on the space heater near it every night for two weeks straight. The poor thing dropped half its fronds and the ones left look like potato chips. Has any of your plants gotten zapped by dry heat like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

colethomas2d ago

Yeah, "look like potato chips" really nails it. I left a succulent on top of my fridge once, right under the heat vent, and it turned into beef jerky in about a week. Now I check any new plant spot by holding my hand there for a minute to see if it feels like a toaster.

charles_baker282d ago

I read somewhere that heat vents basically make plants go into crisis mode because they cant cool down fast enough. The hand check thing is genius though, I do the same thing now after killing a jade plant that way. Apparently even a couple degrees difference changes how the soil dries out way faster than youd think.

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evan_davis2d ago

Crispy fern leaves are brutal, I've been there. Best advice I can give is to bottom water it for a bit and put a pebble tray under it to get some humidity back around the fronds. That dry heat just saps the life out of them faster than you'd think.