A popular home garden plant, the anthurium’s foliage varieties have attractive leaves while Anthurium andreanum is grown for the flower. While red and orange anthuriums are sought after, the white is used in bridal bouquets and the pink in wreaths. The bicolour or ‘Obake’ anthurium is somewhat rare and prized by anthurium enthusiasts.
Yet what we call the anthurium flower is not truly a flower! The flower is inconspicuous as the sepals and petals are rudimentary. A collection of such flowers, known as the inflorescence is stuck on to a spadix (or tail or candle). The most attractive part, the spathe, is only a covering. It is brilliantly coloured varying from red, orange, pink, coral, white or bicolour.
The spathe is generally heart shaped with a smooth or crinkled surface. The crinkled type is more attractive. The spathe has a natural gloss, a waxy wet look or a dull appearance.
If you are looking to buy an anthurium plant, choose a flowering plant and check the spathe and the spadix. The upper surface of the spathe must look waxy and glossy, crinkled rather than smooth. The spadix a little shorter than the spathe, must recline rather than be upturned.
Growing anthurium
The anthurium grows well in warm, moist, shady spots. Shade promotes vigorous growth and flowering. Too much sun causes the leaves and flowers to become scorched. It is a moisture loving plant, but bear in mind that it does not tolerate ‘wet feet’ (i.e. a soggy medium). A humidity of about 70% is ideal. Many of the above conditions are available under the shade of home garden trees. In dry weather, the anthurium needs watering, over, around and direct.
The anthurium does not produce flowers of quality when grown in the open. Shade and shade alone promotes vigorous growth and flowering. Further the ideal flower characteristics, long stalk length and larger spathe can be obtained when the anthurium is grown in the shade. A shade level of about 60% to 75% is ideal for anthuriums.
Growing medium
The anthurium should be grown in porous well drained soil with plenty of aeration and no water logging around roots. Leaf mould, coir fibre, pieces of coconut husk or wood shavings can be used to prepare a loose porous medium. Any one of these or a mixture of these with mature dry cattle manure (cow dung) and sand in the proportion 2:1:½ makes a suitable compost for planting anthurium. The porosity of this medium can be further increased by adding a few pieces of broken brick or tile, and enriching it with fertiliser of N.P.K. 6:14:7 (nitrogen-6: phosphorous-14: potassium-7) once the plant is established for better flowering.
Pot culture
Pot culture is suitable for most of us who like to have a few anthurium plants in our garden. The anthurium can be grown in pots made of clay, cement or in metal cans. A suitable size is a foot in diameter, a foot deep. Any pot must have a bottom drain hole for excess water to leave. Surfeit water is detrimental to anthuriums.
The drain hole must be covered with loosely packed broken tile or brick. Coir fibre or decaying leaves placed over the pieces of tile or brick prevent the hole getting clogged. The growing medium can be now added to the pot and firmed until the pot is about one-third full.
The anthurium plant can be placed in the centre of the pot, ensuring that the roots are evenly spread. More compost is added around the plant covering the roots, and lightly pressed down.
Compost can be heaped up to an inch or so below the brim of the pot. The plant thus potted must be watered generously and placed under the shade of a tree.
Bed culture
Anthurium also grows well in beds, a method used by commercial cut flower growers. Choose a spot facing east so that the plants receive the morning sun. The soil must not retain excess water. A plant cover must be established to provide shade. The soil must be dug out and removed to a depth of about nine inches. The bottom of the dugout can have a layer of pieces of brick. The compost mixture can now be added over to fill up the bed. The bed so prepared is watered lightly and left unplanted for about a week.
If there is no sign of white ants, anthurium saplings can be planted in rows two feet apart from one another. Saplings grow well with a spray of urea solution, made by dissolving one teaspoon of urea crystals in a gallon of water, once in three to four days. The bed should be mulched with the compost mixture six months apart. In gardens that tend to get water logged, anthurium can be grown in raised beds.
Flower of quality
A mature plant produces about six flowers a year on the average. A quality flower has a long firm stalk, a heart-shaped spathe with overlapping lobes at the base. The flower must not be harvested soon after blooming, ideally seven to ten days after the flower has unfurled, when the spadix is sticky to the touch.
Propagation
The anthurium is easy to propagate, either by vegetative propagation and propagation with seed, though the latter is for the keen horticulturist. Vegetative propagation yields a progeny true to the parent. Plants raised from seeds can yield improved strains.
Older anthurium plants are used for vegetative propagation. A plant with a long stem that is unable to stand erect or or that has outgrown the pot is suitable for replanting and propagation. The top portion (apical portion) of the plant is cut away with a few roots and replanted as before. The remaining bottom portion (basal portion) is used for vegetative propagation. The basal portion can be cut into pieces with each piece having a bud. These pieces are placed semi-submerged in moist compost and kept in the shade. After a few weeks the dormant buds spring up and grow into plantlets. They can be planted in their proper place (pot or bed) or transferred into polythene bags to grow bigger.
Seed propagation begins with pollination. Pollination is done when the spadix is sticky to touch (around seven to ten days after unfurling of spathe). Powdery pollen from another flower is caught between fingers and placed on the sticky spadix. This is done in the morning hours say, between nine to ten. If the spadix becomes thick and green after a few days, it is a sign that pollination has been successful.
The berries take five to six months to mature. Berries suitable for plucking are yellow or orange in colour. Seeds can be squeezed out of the berry on to pieces of broken brick. The seeded bricks are placed on the compost medium contained in a shallow pot, which is placed in a shallow pan with water. The seeds will germinate soon after. When the saplings are around six months old they can be uprooted and replanted in polythene bags to grow bigger prior to transferring to the permanent location. |
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