Growing Ostrich Ferns for Fiddleheads?

I'm in Georgia, zone 8a and it's an annual tradition to hunt fiddleheads for an early spring foraged delicacy. However, I'm getting concerned about reports that the Ostrich Fern population is getting decimated since this delicacy has gotten popular.

Has anyone planted ostrich ferns on their property as a way to sustain the population and provide a way to harvest fiddleheads without hurting the ecosystem? Are there any special planting considerations? (besides shade and moist, like all ferns).

Thanks!

I admit I tried and they didn't make it - it took a couple of years before they died, but I think we're too dry in the summer. I think it would be worth trying if you can find them. I did read up on how to try and artificially reproduce them - ferns aren't like common vegetables in the reproduction department.

It's easy enough to transplant the ferns if you know where a good patch is. You can also pick the brown "feather" the ostrich fern is known for. This is where the spores are. In my area these fronds seem to hold the spore until spring. And they will continue to hold until the frond is tapped by a creature or human or shaken by the wind.

The ferns like to be around and even in very shallow water. If they have water you can plant them in full sunlight. Otherwise part shade to shade is best.

They're pretty inconsistent, though. I've seen patches growing just fine on high and dry scrabbly soil on rock cuts. Others growing awesome in the spring runoff that dries up by summer. Some growing lushly in the shaded areas of part forest and part meadow. So they can be quite flexible in preferred locations. It's the establishing part that seems to be the trick.

From what I've researched for city, they seem to be pretty happy in a rain garden planted at the downspout of your eavestrough. The shady side of the house likely preferred.

I'm in the process myself of getting them started, having transplanted some last fall, as well as generously seeding with the spore. It will be my ongoing Ostrich fern fiddlehead project, because I am determined to get a good patch or two or three going.

If picking in the wild or from your own patch, treat each plant as you would asparagus. Don't pick all the fiddleheads. Leave at least half on. I tend to pick only 2 - 3 per plant.

Great info Viola! I'm on the wrong side of the Rockies, so there isn't native Ostrich Fern growing but I know it's popular in Eastern Canada.
Possibly I should try again as since my first experiment we've dug a small settling pond for winter run-off from a ditch. It dries out completely in the summer, so I've been trying to think of plants that would like to live in the shallow area of it and from your description, Ostrich Fern might do the job. It's in *very* deep shade much of the day, but not all day.

That sounds like an absolutely perfect spot to plant Ostrich ferns!

The fiddleheads I transplanted into the ditch (spring run off only) in the fall are growing well.

Still to determine if the spores from the fronds are rooting/growing.

Hope the file upload works. I don't have an URL for the pics otherwise.

These were 8 June 2019 pics. So a bit farther along now. But that is our late spring start this year. Otherwise had snow lingering in spots right up to end of April.

Viola, your pics uploaded fine. Any chance when they're fully open you could take as close a picture of the frond leaf pattern as possible and post it?  My sister in Ontario has a number of ferns growing nicely in her shaded front garden, and I'm really curious to know if they might be Ostrich Ferns. That wouldn't be perfect for identification, but it would help. Thanks!

Enlarged frond from pic at end.

I also highly recommend this site as well for ID: The University of Maine's Bulletin #2540, Ostrich Fern Fiddleheads

The main points to look for are:

The D-Channel groove on a smooth stem (no hair). Think of celery.

The burst brownish onion skin type papery fragments that covered over the fiddleheads before they started growing.

The spore filled brown frond that sticks up from the mound like a Fiddlehead marker.

The adult Fiddlehead plant is a lush lovely fern, often used in shade gardens. For searching this time of year when they are in full fern, if the frond shape hasn't yet become set in the brain as exclusive to this fern, you can still see signs of the brown frond in amongst the ferns.

Once you know the brown frond, you can very quickly identify this fern.

Edited to get the link working and add the pic.  

Ok. Without cheating with a screenshot. But I still don't think it's a great pic to see. However, check out the fronds on the University of Maine link I added previously. You can easily zoom in on 3 of them to see.

I'm not at farm currently to take more pics, but will continue to document because the pics can be so helpful.

Some frond pics:

As up close as I am able.

Thanks for the pictures! Here's one my sister took and sent from Ontario.

That very possibly is. The frond looks a bit crumpled, but it looks like the real thing. The ostrich fern is often sold at nurseries for shade gardens because it is so lovely.

Here's a link that shows many angles of the Ostrich Fern: Ontario Ferns: Ostrich Fern Matteuccia struthiopteris.

That frond may be a new just emerging one for this year? Like a butterfly coming out of the cocoon.

Great pictures on that site, and the map actually suggested their range includes Vancouver Isl. I had been worried that there could be a Vancouver Isl look alike that isn't as edible. I've never noticed any locally with the papery cover that is one of the identifying characteristics of the Ostrich Fern.

I do think Ann's picture is last year's and is just looking ratty from age, as the new ones in the photos start out green. I will keep collecting evidence!

Chloe Bowie wrote:I'm in Georgia, zone 8a and it's an annual tradition to hunt fiddleheads for an early spring foraged delicacy. However, I'm getting concerned about reports that the Ostrich Fern population is getting decimated since this delicacy has gotten popular.

Has anyone planted ostrich ferns on their property as a way to sustain the population and provide a way to harvest fiddleheads without hurting the ecosystem? Are there any special planting considerations? (besides shade and moist, like all ferns).

Thanks!

Ostrich fern, from which you can get fiddleheads will grow in zones 3-7, so you might be a bit too warm but you can cheat by making sure they are really well shaded and get consistent moisture.
They grow from a rhizome, in rich soil, but a person has to be patient and take only a couple of fiddleheads at first. Don't try to eat them raw...
Think of it a bit like asparagus: Wait 2-3 years before you harvest a meal from them.
Here are some tips from someone who farms them:

To actually *propagate them, you can make crown divisions (outside of the growing season) and since the rhizome sends stolons, you can also use stolons. Try to replant them immediately, in a shaded area, like the north side of your house of in a forest.
I hope that helps

Like the OP, I am also in Zone 8a.  Right on the border with 7.  I am currently on my 3rd attempt to establish Ostrich ferns on my property.  It is a challenge!

They really like cooler climates.  And they really like moister soil than what I have to offer.  But I have a deep shade spot - in the shadow of my home; gets just a couple of hours of sun each afternoon - that I don't know what else to do with except for ferns.  So I am trying all the deep mulch and summer irrigation I can and hoping to get a few past the establishment phase.

Will update if I can ever get any transplants to grow for longer than one season.

I've got a colleague who's wife is Korean, and we were talking at work one day about his garden and what things they grow and use, etc..  The conversation turned to foraging and he said that they forage for bracken fern.  He was very excited when I told him that my father-in-laws property has acres of it in northern MI that he's free to come and grab his fill (which he did last spring.)

When I was wandering the property sending him pictures to verify that it was what he wanted, I also came across a plot of Osterich Ferns.  Apparently my FIL's mother planted them in the eighties.  Having never had fiddleheads (Ostrich or braken!) I hope to be on the property this spring at the right time when they come up, so I can give them a try!  We've got 40 acres, so easy enough to spread them to a few different locations on the property to insure they stay around.

That's a great find Kevin!
The fiddlehead ferns are sold as garden plants in the UK, and as I think I have the perfect (cool and damp) climate I have been trying to grow them here. So far I have been a bit disappointed. They seem to be very small still after several years so something isn't right, and I haven't been able to harvest them. I have planted one in my front garden which is shady, and one in my tree field which is shady and damp. My soil is generally acidic (very). I'm wondering if they actually would prefer a bit more sunshine, since I'm not short of water.

The ostrich ferns in my yard spread further into the lawn every year. I think they actually do great in sun; it’s just that ther plants do well also so they have more competition.  They do not seem to compete well against plants with surface roots, we tried transplanting under a Norway maple and they really never thrived there.

I suspect that a patch functions as a single organism like aspens. Seems like it is rather difficult to get the first one to thrive, but once there’s a bunch of crowns they really set out runners and pop up all over.

When I bought my property, there were 5 Ostrich Ferns, I guess. I appreciated their appearance and let them grow taller. For years it remained 5.
Then I learned about permaculture practices. I stopped weeding; stopped tilling; let everything just be, until I had an alternative plan for an area; I started mulching. The ferns seemed to like that and their rhizomes started to spread slowely. The patch expanded slowely into areas that I had intended for something else. I dug them up and replanted them in the dark dry spot near the fence, where nothing else will grow. They thrive!

Then I started to use their biomass as mulch all over the garden. This mulch probably contained ripe fronts. The next spring ferns started to grow everywhere that I mulched with it. I still love them, but i started pulling some little ones out, to give other vegetation a chance. Under every fruittree, one or three ferns are left to grow. I keep the original patch reduced to 5 specimen. At the fence line where few other plants will grow, they can do whatever they want. I still use them for mulch, but I make sure to cut the fronts in a green stage.

Imagine my surprise when I heard about fiddle heads being edible! When I first sampled them, I tasted them raw, upon which I decided that I had to be very hungry before i would ever eat it again. Than I learned about the proper way to prepare them (cook, toss the water and rinse thourougly!). I tried it only once, when my husband was traveling for work. I ate them just cooked. I really liked them. This is definitely something that could be turned into a delicious meal. This spring, i will cook a nice dish and feed the fiddleheads to my husband. If he likes them too, we are surely blessed with the abundance in our garden!

Nynke Muller wrote: I dug them up and replanted them in the dark dry spot near the fence, where nothing else will grow. They thrive!

That's really interesting. I wonder if in my cool summer climate the ferns may do better in a drier area. I do have some shady without much competition. It may also be that I just don't have enough organic material in the soil for them, only time (and mulch) will fix that.

I wonder whether there are varieties that grow larger, or whether it is just a matter of location.

Nancy Reading wrote: ...I wonder if in my cool summer climate the ferns may do better in a drier area. I do have some shady without much competition. It may also be that I just don't have enough organic material in the soil for them, only time (and mulch) will fix that.

Hi Nancy, I would certainly give it a try. Your climate must be wetter than mine. I think organic matter definitely matters, but once your ferns start growing you will have plenty!