[1][2] The "trunk" of this fern is merely the decaying remains of earlier growth of the plant and forms a medium through which the roots grow.

This involves sawing the trunk through, usually at ground level, and removing the fronds; the top part will form roots and regrow, but the base will die.

The fern grows on damp, sheltered woodland slopes and moist gullies, and they occasionally occur at high altitudes in cloud forests.

Dicksonia antarctica is a long lived species in comparison to the trees that also grow in its natural habitat.

In dry climates, a drip irrigation or spray system applied overhead is the most effective method of watering.

As an ornamental plant, it is hardy to about −5 °C (23 °F), succeeding outdoors in the milder areas of Britain where it thrives and often self-sows in Cornish and Scottish west coast gardens.

The soft tree fern can be used as a food source, with the pith of the plant being eaten either cooked or raw.

[6] The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that "The pulp of the top of the trunk is full of starch, and is eaten by the aboriginals [sic.]

of the colony used to split open about a foot and a-half of the top of the trunk, and take out the heart, in substance resembling a Swedish turnip, and of the thickness of a man's arm.