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The new leaves on my plant appear healthy, but are coming out all jagged-y. Interested to know what’s happening?

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  • That's extraordinary, never seen that before - but can you tell me,in some areas on the jagged leaves, it almost looks like damage or tearing, or as if something's been eating the leaf, and there's one shoot that apparently has nothing but the central midrib with a black tip, whereas other strangely formed leaves don't have a damaged appearance.Have some leaves been chewed, torn or damaged in some way? And this plant looks to be outdoors - is it, and if so, what are your temperatures currently? what part of the world are you in?
    – Bamboo
    Commented Dec 25, 2017 at 11:37
  • The leaves don’t look eaten. I’m in Australia and these plants are indoors.
    – Simon E
    Commented Dec 25, 2017 at 22:48

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You have a very happy Bird's Nest Fern. bird's nest fern Let us know what you think? Lucky you. Whatever you are doing don't change a thing.

I guess I am remiss for not explaining why these leaves are getting 'more jagged' as the plant gets older. The more mature the plant gets the more the leaves will look like the text book plant. This is completely normal, pretty much standard for all plants to have young leaves on a young plant look different than mature leaves on a mature plant. This site shows these very same oddly notched leaves on young plants.

example of similar weird edges on bird's nest fern

Asplenium nidus pictures

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    This does not address the peculiar jaggedness seen in the pictures. Your picture shows whole leaves. And what's with the "know what you think?" thing? Please remember that stack exchange is not a discussion forum.
    – pipe
    Commented Dec 25, 2017 at 15:18
  • Which site, Stormy?
    – Bamboo
    Commented Dec 26, 2017 at 2:18
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    @pipe Hi there. You must be new? Answering questions about plants, gardening, growing food, soils, hydrology, pruning, composting, wildlife issues, construction, Bonsai, plant propagation, hydroponics, aquaponics, water features, fertilizer, new fads, design, drainage, explaining the processes...the question only a few sentences will never be a black and white answer forum. This is a service we professionals are able to give and it is sorry, very organic. Most people do not know where to begin to ask a question to a problem they have no idea they even have. Discussion is very appropriate
    – stormy
    Commented Dec 26, 2017 at 2:21
  • The picture I sent I thought came with a whole page of pictures. My bad.
    – stormy
    Commented Dec 26, 2017 at 2:30
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    I looked at your added links - the first picture shows a fern that might be an Asplenium, but if it is, its obviously a variety of, and I can't see any images of Asplenium nidus showing these jagged leaves and the 'normal' leaves. There are named varieties of Asplenium nidus that have jagged leaves, but all the leaves are like it, so I don't think the plant in the question, with mixed shaped leaves, is 'normal' at all.
    – Bamboo
    Commented Dec 26, 2017 at 3:02
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This is Asplenium nidus, or Bird's Nest fern; though I'm highly intrigued, I don't have a definitive answer for you. There are two possibilities - either there's some insect, mite or larvae inhabiting the crown of the plant, causing damage to new leaves just before and as they start to grow, or some genetic change has taken place, and these strange leaves are the result. The plant otherwise looks healthy, apart from a couple of browned edges on the mutant leaves. If you've not observed any insect activity at soil level round the plant, then I can only draw the conclusion that this is a genetic issue - these can occur randomly, or are sometimes triggered by damage of some sort (bacterial, fungal, physical, environmental, viral, or hormonal malfunction). It would be very interesting to observe future leaves in regard to whether it continues to produce only mutated leaves, or does produce some more normal leaves. There are varieties of Asplenium with jagged leaves, but they're all jagged, not mixed like yours. I'm sorry I can't be of more help,but perhaps someone else might have a different suggestion/answer.

It's certainly extraordinary, I've never seen anything quite like it, and I've grown this plant myself.

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I purchased the same plant, Asplenium nidus about a year ago. Recently it started producing new leaves that were oddly formed. I've heard that bird's nest ferns are very sensitive to fertilizer and may produce deformed foliage when overfed. I have not fertilized the plant bud did repot the plant recently in soil that contains slow release fertilizer.

Not sure but I'm thinking this could be the cause.

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