Looky What I Found

I found this beautiful plant at Walmart.. It was in a pot that was busted in half (literally) and inside a wicker basket that was dry rotted. I asked them how much they wanted for it.. and was told I could have it for $4.50... It was originally priced at $29.95. Poor thing is in the above mentioned pot, and is literally standing in water.. it is hanging halfway out of the pot and half the roots are not even inside, its almost laying sideways in it. It is STILL blooming.. The roots looks good and healthy, though I don't know how. It must be a survivor so I brought it home.

I plan to repot and put it in some much better soil...

Can someone tell me what kind of Philo it is?

Here is a bloom...

Daisy, do you think your plant is the same as the one I just bought? The leaves look a bit different, but similar type of flower.If it's the same kind, I can tell you that it is an Anthurium. Needs good light and lots of humidity, apparently.

Wish I'd cleaned my plant before I took that photo!

This message was edited Nov 15, 2009 9:20 AM

Both plants are Anthurium x ferrierense. Paulies' plant looks like the cultivar 'Rubrum'. Daisys' plant might be the cultivar 'Reidii'.

Mine was sold to me as Anthurium anderianum 'Red Champion'. Could've been labelled wrong, or maybe a synonym for the above?

Paulie, They ARE very similar. The "blooms" on yours look much larger and very interesting. Nice plant you bought.

Metro, I am about to check into it some more. I bet you are right, you usually are. Always a great help. Given the condition of my plant and the poor conditions in which it has been living, I hope to be able to save it. It looks pretty good, in my opinion, with the exception of the yellowing around the edges of the leaves.

Do you think, with a new potting and some well draining soil, it can be brought back to health? Any tips?

Mine didn't have a label of any sort. I almost wondered if someone brought it in to the garden center and dropped it off, like some parents do with unwanted babies at churches, hoping it would get care from someone who loved it.. but I know the sad, sad truth is that is the way big box stores care for (or don't care for) their plants.

I have adopted it now and will do everything in my power to nurse it to health.

The few house plant books I have describe it as being quite difficult to keep indoors (in the UK, anyway). Needs lots of strong, indirect light; constant temperature of around 68º F; constantly moist soil, never dry or waterlogged; constantly high humidity; and no draughts. I'm sure you'll have a much easier time keeping yours happy, considering your location, than I will.

Paulie,

I just found this info.. you may have already seen it.

http://www.helium.com/items/1310022-houseplants-how-to-care-for-anthurium

SOIL

The potting soil preferred by Anthurium is one that ****retains moisture but also is well-draining****** like that found in African violet potting mix. A mixture of soil, peat, and perlite will also help the plant retain the moisture needed in order to thrive. The roots need to be placed firmly in the soil and will thrive when they are somewhat "root bound".

**** That sounds like a bit of an oxy moron to me.. lol : )

Thanks for the link, never seen that site before. To be honest, as soon as I found Dave's Garden I stopped looking for other helpful house plant sites.

I'm off this morning to pick up the needed supplies to care for my new found plant..

Good Luck with that!

Hi Paulie,

Anthurium andraeanum has been misapplied to cultivated Anthuriums by the horticulture industry for many years.

The common cultivated Anthuriums, Anthurium x ferrierense are a group of hybrids involving Anthurium andraeanum, Anthurium hoffmannii, & Anthurium nymphaeifolium.

True Anthurium andraeanum is a wild plant native to Columbia and Ecuador.

Your red cultivar seems to have a bucket full of names associated with it. I have seen it called 'Rubrum', 'Bright Red', 'Brilliant Red', etc.
Everybody seems to have a different name for red Anthuriums.

Hubby had to help me repot my new plant. Some of you know that I dropped an 18 in glazed ceramic planter full of soil on my "right" hand and broke it (the hand) in three places. The planter did not even crack thanks to my hand breaking its fall before it crashed into the patio.

Anyway, when we took the poor plant out of the pot it was in.. the roots were FULL of water..enough that they could have been wrung out and filled the pot back up 2/3rds of the way. The soil (MUD) was very black and had an AWFUL smell to it. We cleaned up the roots, cut off all the roots that had become mush and placed in a clay pot with a much better potting medium. There are still some healthy white roots..

It also has quite a few aerial roots that are about 2-3 inches long. I guess it was desperately trying to reach out for HELP!!! It looks much better in the new pot. I cut off all the spent blooms but I am unsure if it would be wise to remove the 3 completely yellowed leaves or would that be too much shock to the plant. Not sure it would be shocked by anything at this point.

This message was edited Nov 15, 2009 1:32 PM

Here it is in it's new home. I sure hope I am able to nurse it back to health.

A little different shot... See how the edges of the leaves are yellow?

Hi Daisy,

Are you using an organic growing medium? Anthuriums should not have a mineral type soil on them, as it causes root rot. Anthuriums can be freely watered, but must be well drained.

I think it looks in pretty good condition, all things considered. Got yourself a bit of a bargain by the looks of it!

Daisy, the soil I sent would be an excellent home for your anthurium. I'm not sure where the idea that they should not be in mineral soils comes from, unless 'mineral soil' is being equated with 'garden soil' or 'topsoil', but that they shouldn't be in mineral soils (of favorable particle size) would be very difficult to support. BTW the 'mineral' portion of the soil I sent are all large particulates that guarantee excellent drainage, excellent aeration, and plenty of water retention. It is certainly far superior to any peat or coir-based soil you might come across.

Take care.

Al

Metro, Yes organic! I read quite a bit about Anthuriums last night and this morning before going out to get it.. I bought organic african violet potting mix, spagnum peat, vermiculite, and orchid bark. It looks and feels nice and airy. I sure hope I made good choices. (Please feel free to share your opinion here, I'm sure I have not done anything that can't be corrected : ) Could not get my hands on perlite anywhere today. Big Box stores have alot of their gardening space covered in Christmas items,and all the good places are closed today.

Paulie, Once I potted it I started to feel better about it.. but it was sitting in some really crappy stuff. I am still concerned about the yellow edges on the leaves and how much of the roots had to be cut off, but I guess as long as it is cared for properly, it will grow some more new healthy roots. xxx Fingers and partially green thumb crossed xxx

Tapla,

I don't think the amount of soil was enough for this one. I had to get it out of the mess it was in immediately because it was killing ME and the anthurium !!! Also I wanted to speak with you about it before using it.. I really intended to use it for my ailing peace lily. I sound like a plant killer... ailing and peace lily in the same sentence. Wow!

Tracey

At what point does the bud show color? I got a "bargain" anthurium, cracked pot, no soil, no bracts, but healthy looking roots and leaves. Don't yell at me, but when I got it home, I threw in a few bits of sphagnum moss, then a few days later, I tossed in some extra orchid bark I had from potting up an orchid, then a week later, I threw in some soilless mix I had. I heard these were called natures garbage cans and caught whatever they could in the root system, so I treated it like that, lol. It seems happy still, so it survived my garbage can treatment. Anyway, I have swiped a few divisions and have it growing in a few places. The bud is about 1.3 to 1.5 inches long and still white. It is the slowest thing ever waiting for it to develop.....

Well I'm concerned about this spadix I've just noticed on mine. It's all lumpy as you can't probably see from the photo. If anyone has any ideas about what this is, please let me know. Hope there's not something inside just ready to burst out!

While adding rocks to the potting medium may allow sharp drainage and won't cause root rot, it won't help the roots as organic materials do.
Rocks simply reduce the amount of available space in a pot.

In their natural habitat, Anthuriums grow in the organic layer of a rainforest.

In ntheir natural habitat, hundreds, if not thousands of other plants grown as houseplants don't grow in water, yet they readily adapt to hydro-culture. If we find plants that grow only on the surface of forest duff, we can't scoop that duff into a container and expect the plant to grow in the water retentive soup that accompanies the transition. All of container culture in unnatural as far as the plant is concerned and all container soils are unnatural. Most often, trying to utilize what the plant grows in/on in nature ends in failure when we try to transition those materials to containers.

I wasn't talking about adding rocks to soils. I was talking about a soil that has far superior aeration to peat and coir based soils, retains water very well, and most importantly is structurally stable for much, much longer than highly organic soils. Even though the soil I referred to has a 1/3 organic component, that component could easily be eliminated and perfectly healthy plants grown in the 100% mineral soil.

Plants aren't particular about what they're grown in, as long as the soil holds good volumes of air, ample water, some nutrients, and allows for anchorage. When you hit on the right combination of these properties, you have a stellar soil, be it organic, mineral, or a combination. Nutrition from container media components is a non issue because the nutrients are locked in hydrocarbon chains that are cleaved so slowly by soil biota that they are insignificant from the practical standpoint.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/719569/

Al

Wow! As you see above, I rescued this plant over the weekend, potted it in much better conditions than I found it...

It is throwing blooms like crazy!!! Seems like everytime I look at it, there is a new one.
It feels like its smiling at me.... : )

Strong work, Tracy! ;o)

Al

I bought a plant just like that at Wal-Mart last month, my blooms were red. It said Anthurium
on the pot it came in, I have no idea what type of Anthurium it is, I still love it...

I am so sad. Our walmart had them for $11 and I just couldn't do it. I am trying to teach the younguns about saving and then I struggle with wanting every plant I see. I will just be happy with what I found until spring, then hopefully someone will trade with me :) hint. The spathe on mine is open now and is still white, so I don't know if it will color later or just stay as it is. Can anyone tell me about when/how they develop color?

Oh well, it doesnt' matter if it would color up tomorrow or never, my son broke it off. It is putting on many leaves, so maybe next time....

3jsmom31,

As I have been reading alot in an effort to care for my new found one.. I did see that some of them have white blooms.. other colors were pink and red. When the blooms on mine first appear they are already pink. I want to find one with those pretty red blooms like Paulie's.

I did get another small one without flowers, so let the new mystery begin, if I end up with red, I'll gladly trade, though I doubt that it would be the beauty that Paulie had. And thank you for letting me know about the color. That is what I thought, but couldn't find any new buds at the store, on any of them, at 2 stores. People look at me so strange when I'm picking up every pot, studying at the soil level, lol.

Was the soil in your pink anthurium really heavy with tons of sand? I made a plantladylin kind of mix (chunky orchid bark, perlite, and potting soil) and moved it up a pot size. The white blooming one came with no soil, so don't know what it was living in. I was so sad when my son broke the flower spike. They take so long to develop when you are waiting for it, lol. Kind of like the watched pot never boils, I guess.

I am watching how the white one is developing and wondering if these anthuriums climb or just mound up.

3jsmom,

The soil in mine was MUD (literally) when I bought it. It was horrible. I also created and potted it in a "plantladylin" style of mix (organic african violet potting mix, spagnum peat, vermiculite, and orchid bark.).

It seems to be doing great.. Throwing lots of new blooms and now I am even seeing new growth, leaves sprouting out all over the place. I just bought it Saturday, the fact that in such poor conditions it had blooms on it, tells me that it is a tough plant. It wants to survive.

The one I got without dirt in broken pot is putting on new leaf growth and my understanding is that a new leaf means flower to follow. I don't know if they have blooming seasons, but I'll be happy for any flowers it has to share. I like the pink spadix yours has. That is neato!

I am still trying to figure out how much light in the house. Outside is easier, grow in the shade but in the house, I am not sure. I have been trying to watch the length of the petioles, size of the leaf, color, etc to figure out what it likes or not. It is putting out alot of new growth points so it must at least think I'm tolerable, lol.

If you are interested in the white flowered one, let me know. I already took a division or 2, lol.

3jsmom,

Funny that we both found this plant in a broken pot.. My understanding is they bloom all year long. I read that in a few places. Its needs alot of light and humidity. In an effort to try to 'baby' this plant I placed mine in my master bath and it is on the ledge of the bath tub. Its looks huge there, lol. We have better lighting in there but overhead is a large flourescent light. I leave it on all day anyway for the plants that already reside there... but I have also been filling the tub about halfway and leaving it during the day while I'm working to up the humidity level... My anthurium is really coming along well. I think of it as its in the Intensive Care Unit. :)

It has several sections and one that I can easily remove from the mother plant. As soon as I feel good about it. I will be happy to trade you a pink one, for a white one. Please send me a dmail today, that way I will continue to see and so I don't forget.

I'm so glad I found it as I have already fallen in love with it. I like the blooms and the large leathery leaves. I bet it will love it outside here in the spring/summer. Our humidity levels are through the roof. : )


This message was edited Nov 18, 2009 11:17 AM

Just had a thought.. Walmart had about 4 other small ones that weren't AS neglected. They were also $4.50... maybe I will go buy them all and see what colors I end up with.... Yay!!!!

Hey 3jsmom..

Check this one out.. Isn't a beauty?

It's pretty!! I am so addicted to plants, lol. My plants are growing out of my growing area :). But I have to say, anthuriums are elegant looking and a nice way to fill growing space :).

what if you've started stacking the potted plants like a pyramid of sorts because you've ran out of room to put them anywhere else? Does that make me a plant addict? LOL