Tropicals & Tender Perennials: ID help please, 1 by ExoticRainforest

ExoticRainforest wrote:
Scott, I saw nothing in your post to be curt. Nothing at all.

Most growers start growing aroids because they find one in a store they are attracted to, normally as a result of the shape of the leaves. The internet is absolutely filled with info telling a new grower to water a plant only when it is dry which is not the way very many aroids prosper either in nature or in a collection. That type of information is almost always given by people that know little about how an aroid grows.

Although I grow over 300 species of aroids, I grow a total of one Homalomena and am not certain if this plant grows in nature purely as a terrestrial plant or as an epiphyte in trees. However, I am sending a note to my friend and aroid botanist Pete Boyce in Malaysia shortly to find the answer.

In general aroids need fast draining soil that remains damp. Most terrestrial aroids live in leaf litter along with decomposing vegetation with animal droppings and other forms of natural fertilizer. In order to make the plants we grow prosper in a home or greenhouse we need to copy what Mother Nature has already done. True, Mother Nature has petiods of dryness in the rain forest but the humidity is always high allowing plants to gather moisture from the atmosphere or the leaf litter. Some do dry out completely but most of those live in deciduous zones and are adept at surviving in those regions.

I now have aroids in my collection that are close to 16 feet tall that have produced fully adult leaves and multiple inflorescences every year. I have Anthurium species with leaves nearly 6 feet long or wide and most of those are not fully grown. How we treat a plant makes a difference if we want it to prosper.

I use a variety of mixtures that are normally custom mixed to match the area of the tropics where the plant originates in nature. However, in most cases a mix similar to this works great. I recommend 40% good potting soil, preferably moisture control soil, about 20% to 30% peat moss, orchid bark, especially the finely chopped types, with the balance Perlite, some cedar mulch, a bit of gravel (not limestone) and anything else that will easily compost. The mix is not critical, just the fact it drains quickly so the roots can easily poke around in the soil and do not ever remain in soggy soil.

Totally dry soil is not good since it can create an effect known as the "blanket effect" which promotes unwanted bacteria in the soil. I explain most of this in the link I gave on growing Philodendron.

Some folks really dislike it when I offer advice since they feel I am trying to tell them the way they grow their plants is bad. I never wish to convey that message, only explain what many well trained botanists and growers have explained to me repeatedly.

If you read what I'm posted and wish to follow it, you will be rewarded. If any grower prefers another method they are free to grow their plants any way they wish. Personally, we have encountered outstanding results since I began to listen to the experts at the Missouri Botanical Garden where the basis for the mixture I recommend originated.

Good growing, and thanks Scott. We'll be in Key West in September while attending the International Aroid Society conference and show in Miami. I hope I will be able to meet you.

Steve