---
title: Java fern in a terrarium | Glass Jar Garden
description: Java fern (Microsorum pteropus): Leathery strap fronds. Fix it to wood or stone rather than planting it. Needs light 1,000 to 8,000 lux, humidity 75 to 100 %...
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/plants/microsorum-pteropus/
---

Plants

# Java fern
Microsorum pteropus

Easy · Fine in a closed jar

Leathery strap fronds. Fix it to wood or stone rather than planting it.

## What the simulation uses

- Light: 1,000 to 8,000 lux (The brightness it grows well in.)

- Humidity: 75 to 100 % RH (Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.)

- Temperature: 18 to 28 °C (Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.)

- Dies at: below 12 or above 32 °C (Days beyond these temperatures kill it.)

- Soil pH: 6 to 7.5 pH (Soil acidity it prefers.)

- Grows up: 0.65 cm/month (How fast it gains height in good conditions.)

- Spreads: 0.65 cm/month (How fast its edge creeps outwards.)

- Copes with wet: excellent (How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.)

- Copes with still air: good (Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.)

- Copes with shade: excellent (How well it holds on in dim light.)

- Copes with drying: poor (How well it survives the jar drying out.)

- Water use: 0.04 ml/cm²/day (Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.)

- Leaf drop: 1.5 %/month (Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.)

- Soft leaves: no (Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.)

- Full size: 17.5 cm tall, 20 cm wide (Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.)

## Care

- Day length: 8 to 12 h

- Substrate: Wet

## What kills it

- rhizome buried in substrate
- drying out completely

## Description
Tie or glue this fern to wood or stone. It grows just as well above water in a humid tank as it does submerged in an aquarium. Keep the air constantly humid if you grow it out of water.

Estimated, where sources were thin: no species-level lux study found; ranges from aquarium and paludarium care guides.

## Sources

- [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsorum_pteropus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsorum_pteropus)

[Grow it in a jar](https://glassjar.garden/?guide=plants/microsorum-pteropus)

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