Fern has gone crispy

[cactusisblooming]

I have a hart's tongue fern in the bathroom, it used to be outside but once the frost set in I brought it in. I've been keeping the soil moist, but the leaves have gone very crispy and the underside is giving off copious amounts of brown dust. Does this mean it needs more moisture? Over the last few days I've been misting it daily, will this help?

If all the leaves have gone crispy, it sounds as if it has been dry in the past, but the older leaves do dry off. Look out for fresh new leaves uncurling from the middle.

The copious brown dust sounds like spores. If you want a challenge, put some sterilised soil in a plastic tub with a lid, make sure the soil is moist. Cover the soil with spores, put the lid on, and leave alone, just checking to see the soil stays moist. With luck you'll get some little green flat plates growing across the soil - this is the sexual generation of the fern. When they've done their sexual bit, you'll start getting tiny fronds appear here and there, the asexual spore-bearing generation which is the fern as we know it. And in three years time you'll have all the hart's tongues you could possibly want.