Anthurium Care and Growing Tips
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:
ATPB Anthurium antolakii acquired from Tezula
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 from AC Infinity. You can use my code PLANTBABIES on their site for 10% off. I grow almost all of my anthuriums in their tents using their 69 controller pro (which is basically a thermostat) to automatically track humidity and temperature and turn the fans and AC infinity humidifier on and off accordingly.
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.
I’m a Soltech, Barrina and Sansi grow light brand girl, through and through. No need to buy anything other than those three brands…they cover all your needs and price points.
This is my Soltech large pendant light. My aroids bloom like crazy under them. This one is going strong for SIX years! Use my code PLANTBABIES for a discount on their site. Their products are worth every penny as they’re high quality and durable.
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. The roots will speak to you!
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.
For more Anthurium growing information, and to learn how to propagate and pollinate them, check out my book, The Ultimate Guide to Houseplant Propagation .
