Anthurium Care and Acclimatization
Growing Tips for the New Anthurium Parent
By now you have likely unwrapped your gorgeous Anthurium and are praying to the plant gods that you don’t kill it. Your plant, while it (should) look fabulous, is feeling a little stressed from being shipped in a dark box. Just like you would like a nap or a relaxing bath after a long trip, your very sensitive Anthurium needs to acclimate before being placed in its more permanent location. After acclimating, growing an Anthurium requires a lot of flexibility, tweaking and experimenting with what growing conditions work best for you.
Not all Anthuriums are created equal however. The common Anthuriums that you will find in the grocery store that are prized for their bright red flowers are notably easier to take care of than their moodier, velvelty rare-plant counterparts. The velvets, and the highly sought after textured Anthurium Luxurians and its hybrids are what I am describing the care routine for in this article. Here’s what to do over the next couple weeks with your new beauty so you don’t have to rely on the plant gods hearing your calls for help in order to succeed:
Step One: Acclimatization:
The key to pampering your rare Anthurium upon arrival is humidity. Put this baby (or babies if you bought multiple) in as high of humidity as you can, under a cloche, in a large clear storage box, in an IKEA cabinet, or in a grow tent. The key is, wherever you place it, to make sure the humidity is between 70-100% in this temporary enclosure. You can test the humidity using a cheap little hygrometer available on Amazon. Keep it in this high humidity enclosure for at least a week until it recovers from the shock of being shipped.
Water your plant during this time only if the potting medium appears to dry out a bit (you’ll notice the substrate on top turn a lighter brown color as it starts to dry or use a moisture meter to double check the moisture). Then, continue to water every 3-4 days, or whenever it is almost, but not completely dry. After a week or two, move your plant into its more permanent location. If its permanent location is significantly less humid than its last location (for example 50% Relative Humidity) transition it gradually or your plant will suffer from the shock and may look like wilted spinach one day.
Step Two: Choosing Your Permanent Growing Conditions:
The following are the various conditions that you must take into consideration when growing your Anthurium:
Location and Humidity: It is always helpful, but not necessary to know the growing conditions of your plant prior to arriving at your house. This is more for your own learning purposes, not because you need to imitate those exact conditions in order to be successful. If your plant is from me, it was growing in a grow tent at 60-80% humidity 1-2 feet under a T8 grow light bulb with fans running during the day for airflow. Imagine a bright, humid, wind tunnel. Humid home environments (if you live by a large body of water), or rooms with humidifiers and fans, grow tents (like those from AC Infinity/Vivosun) or cabinets (like IKEA Milsbo cabinets) with fans for air circulation will make the most ideal environment long term for Anthuriums. 60-80% humidity is ideal, but some hardier hybrids and shiny-leafed Anthuriums do fine acclimating to 20-50% humidity. Here’s a link to some of the grow tents and equipment I personally use.
Growing Medium: Typically, people will grow Anthuriums in a very chunky Aroid mix or in a semi-hydro setup with a substrate like Lechuza pon, although that is an entirely different way of growing. Some growers in Florida grow their plants in thick peat (you know, the stuff that looks like brown cake). If your Anthurium comes like this, you will want to change the substrate right away (it likely also has fungus gnat larvae in it as it stays damp for long periods of time). It’s also possible to grow Anthuriums in sphagnum moss. I personally prefer a chunky mix, which reduces the possibility of overwatering. These are the ingredients I use for my Anthurium mix.
Air-Flow: The more fans you use, the harder it will be to keep the area humid, but the less bacterial blight and fungal problems you will have (goodbye yellow spots). Don’t forget to keep a spray bottle of Physan and one of Phyton anti-fungal / anti-bacterial spray on hand to prevent fungal and bacterial blight. You can purchase Physan 20 and Phyton 27 as concentrates on Amazon and mix them in individual spray bottles with water to use on your plants. They are anti-fungals (and therefore toxic), so make sure you use PPE when spraying them. Phyton 27 is systemic and used as a treatment for fungal and bacterial infections and Physan 20 is used by many growers more frequently (many spray weekly or monthly) as a topical preventative. I personal spray Physan 20 weekly and Phyton 27 at least monthly depending on the plant in well ventilated areas. Yellow spots from fungal and bacterial outbreaks are a part of life for Anthuriums, just search any Anthurium Facebook group.
Nutrients: Nutrient regiments for Anthuriums could be it’s own e-Book. I use these nutrients. Check out Facebook Groups for other options.
Light: The more light you give it, the faster it will grow. The less light, the darker the leaves but the slower it will grow. Check out my post on Growlights.
Experiment and learn and have fun. You will know it’s time to repot it up a pot size when the roots start filling up the pot / wrapping around the inside of the pot / popping out on top of the pot/ peeking out the bottom holes. Please don’t forget to tag me in progress photos on social media if you partake. This hobby is so much fun because of the people we get to connect with and the plant progress we get to celebrate and share (as well as the hardships). Keep in touch and go on with your bad planty self.
XOXO,
Lindsay
