Pruning an Overgrown Boston Fern

A reader's Boston fern doubled to 5 feet wide in a year, taking over a picture window. Asks if long fronds can be cut without harm.

Few long fronds: Cut them off completely at the base. Stimulates new fronds from the crown.
All fronds too long: Trim ends; they'll look blunt but plant survives.

Congratulations on exceptional growth!

House Plants: Norfolk Island Pine Care: Not a Fern! How to Grow This Evergreen Indoors; Reviving a Fern After Accidental Frost Exposure; Overwintering Boston Fern in Kentucky: Indoors with Humidity; Rabbit's Foot Fern ID: Rhizomes Are Normal; Asparagus Fern Care: Sun, Pot-Bound, Watch for Mites; Boston Fern Brown Leaves: Humidity, Light, or Watering?; Asparagus Fern Indoors: Light, Division, and Tuber Care; Diagnosing Leatherleaf Fern Issues: Soil and Foliar Analysis; Rescuing an Overwatered, Low-Light Staghorn Fern; Long Strap Fern (Campyloneurum phyllitidis)

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