The Giant Staghorn Fern or capa de Leon (Platycerium grande) can be propagated deliberately from spores even without following the advanced, but meticulous, procedure in fern spore propagation.
The latter involves the sowing of mature spores on sterilized fragments of “cabo-negro” or “paslak” and maintaining humid conditions all throughout until germination and seedling emergence.
Mass propagation by spore can also be done through tissue culture.
Cabo-negro is a local term for the indigenous, black, trunk-like columnar plant organ probably consisting of the root of a giant terrestrial fern.
It was only by accident that we discovered that the Giant Staghorn can be mass-produced sustainably by exploiting its natural method of propagation.
We’ve had several large Giant Staghorn ferns in the backyard at General Santos City since about 40 years ago, but we always grow these from starter plantlets or juvenile ferns which we bought from private suppliers.
Until recently, the city had a hot climate with scarce rainfall.
