Plant Journal – Anthurium Magnificum

Note: These are my opinions and experiences, I am no expert and I have not been paid or incentivised to share my thoughts and reviews of any sellers, products or people mentioned in this post.

Summary

Anthuriums seem to be everywhere right now. At least in my plant feed. I resisted for so long but then this year I got my first Anthurium and it was an Anthurium Magnificum Silver. The Silver bit is referring to the area around the veins as this tends to have more silver contrast than the standard version. There are many many types and hybrids of Anthuriums so it is a maze to navigate as a hobby collector. A key tell tale sign that you do have a Magnificum rather than a Crystalinum for example is the square petiole. It is really cool. I had no idea and wondered if it was deformed at first but it is meant to be square!

The absolute must for anthuriums is a chunky well draining medium. The number one cause of death of anthuriums is over watering. While the chunky roots don’t like to dry out they really do not like sitting in water either. So the best thing you can do is provide a chunky well draining soil.

Quick Facts

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Journal

This plant wasn’t imported by me. It seems that this is how many people get their hands on Anthuriums. Mine came from a British shop and had a lot of roots and seemed perfectly acclimatised. After about 3 weeks of settling in at mine, it started to grow a new leaf. The new leaf was bronze coloured in the beginning and starts quite small but ended up larger than the original leaf it came from. It was so amazing to watch. Now it has reached its big size it is hardening off and fading down to green. Just really fun to watch.

This one is still in the soil mix it came in and I keep it in a clear pot. This allow me to monitor the roots and also the humidity and water more appropriately.

Temperature wise these appreciate a steady temperature. Mine gets a bit low – around 18 degrees when it got very cold outside but I try to keep it around 20-22 degrees celsius. Although in the summer the room gets to around 25 degrees.

I think as I didn’t import this plant and it was fully acclimatised, the main thing you need for an anthurium is a chunky soil mix, clear pot to monitor when to water and steady temperature. Then with some indirect bright light these should thrive. If not acclimatised to a home setting these may benefit from an proper humidifier to control the environment a bit more.

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Propagation

Considering the price of these plants it can be really scary to start chopping them up, but also a way of making back some of your investment. I haven’t actually propagated my magnificum but from my research there seem to be a couple of approaches.

1. Division of pups – eventually you may see leaves and roots grow on the side of the stem which are baby plants so you can carefully cut them off.
2. Generally cutting a section off. The chunks of these tend to have many nodes. Technically you could get several plants by cutting the chunk into sections of 1 inch each and rooting it in a high humidity and warm setting.
3. Pollinating and growing seeds – This sounds super exciting. You can in theory pollinate these and make your own seedlings.

Common Problems/Pests

Common problems for these plants are damage to the leaves. This can be humidity related or mechanical. When you see a new leaf, it can be so tempting to touch it but they are very sensitive and you can easily induce mechanical damage.

A wet tip of the leaf that turns yellow and then crispy tends to have to do with over watering, while yellowing edges can be a cry for more humidity. However be careful with your humidifier and make sure you have good ventilation as I have seen a lot of posts about fungus and bacterial infections in these plants too. If you see these treat the plant with anti fungus treatment and cut the infected leaf off to avoid to spreading.

Other than that the general pests do apply to these leathery velvet leaves unfortunately. Young leaves can stay floppy for a while as they can really grow in size for a long time so be careful with spider mites and thrips during this time as they may see a vulnerable leaf.

Have you been infected with the Anthurium love? I am loving having them in my home and an currently making some room to add a few more especially as they can get really huge. Maybe in a few years time there will be a huge one in my home. 😀