# What is this growing underneath my java ferns?



## AquaVaj (Feb 19, 2010)

Is this normal? Also there's black blotches all over the leaves too. What's going on with them?


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## FarCanal (Mar 12, 2008)

Daughter plants. These will develop into baby java ferns. This is how a lot of ferns reproduce ...


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## 954baby (Feb 8, 2008)

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/F/Ferns.htmlThe lifecycle of a fern is pretty much the same across the board. Those little bumps that develop on the underneath of the leaves are called sori. FarCanal is right, for each and ever single sori there will more then likely be a daughter plant to form. Wait until they get like 1-3 leaves and you can pluck them off and they will be good to go. I bought this Java fern 2 years ago with maybe 5 leaves on the rhizome. Within 3 months I had over 400 new java ferns to relocate. I now have a 29 gallon completely full from 1 plant. Apparently when you move them to a new setup this triggers the growth of sori. Also damaged leaves and poor conditions will trigger the sori to reproduce.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

you can also trigger this by cutting several leaves off the plant and dropping them into a ziplock bag. drop it into a location where it gets a little ambient light and as long as they remain moist enough, it causes the leaves to sprout daughter plants everywhere!


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## 954baby (Feb 8, 2008)

Yea that is very true. I have leaves sitting in my java fern tank that have been off the plant for several several months and they are still green putting out baby plants frequently. What I do is when leaves get discolored or have imperfections I clip them all off and then tie them together with weights and drop them in the areas where you wouldn't be able to see them. Over time this creates a cool effect.


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