Journal of NACAA

Effects of Long-Term Fiddlehead Harvest on Ostrich Fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris

ISSN 2158-9429

Volume 13, Issue 1 - June 2020

Editor: Linda Chalker-Scott

Abstract

A four-year study was undertaken to observe the effects of fiddlehead harvesting on frond production of the ostrich fern Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro. Ostrich fern crowns in a natural setting were used, with harvest methods that approximate the habits of traditional harvesters. Crowns with fiddleheads that were 100% removed in a one-time picking suffered significant decline in the number of fiddleheads produced over the four subsequent years, or in some cases were killed outright. Crowns that had only 50% of the fiddleheads removed in a one-time picking produced fewer fiddleheads in subsequent years, and were similar to the control crowns from which no fiddleheads had been harvested. This study suggests that harvesting up to 50% of the fiddleheads of a given crown, with no subsequent harvest in the same year, is more sustainable than completely harvesting crowns and completely harvesting crowns has the potential to weaken or eradicate ostrich fern colonies.