I sprinkled some (a lot of) used coffee grounds at the base of a large anthurium, Acropolis, a few weeks ago. It has begun to turn brown and I think I may have waited too long to ask for help. I wonder if I can take it out of the pot, wash the roots and re-pot it? It's in a temporary greenhouse on the patio. I have other anthuriums and they are all fine...but they didn't get the coffee fix.
Had looked like this before the coffee grounds...
The symptoms indicate a severe root disorder. Since coffee grounds are pretty acid in reaction, applying them might have forced a bloom of pathogenic soil fungus that is taking out your Anthurium. I would unpot the plant, clean all the soil medium off the roots, cut away any diseased or dead roots, then repot in clean moist sphagnum moss. Then pray . . .
Thanks LariAnn...l'l do it right now. I would not have known to use sphagnum moss. All the others are in reg. potting soil mix. Should all the anthuriums be in sphagnum? Have I just been "lucky'' so far?
I wonder if you can get a cutting off this anywhere that is still healthy with root nubs? If you can, it will be one more measure to try to keep it.
Roots looked fine. I did trim some really long ones. Washed the soil off and repotted in sphagnum. The soil looked fairly damp. I may have over watered it, altho I don't remember doing so.
And then I practiced a little tough love by showing it where all the other dead plants wind up.....
That is adorable and funny!!!!
Another question - was your Anthurium exposed to chilling temperatures, even for just a few hours, during the recent arctic cold blast?
I'll bet you just nailed it, LariAnn. Below 40 and they faint. It looks familiar to a couple winter shipped anthuriums I have. Do you know if they are sensitive to drafts?
I think so because I have a couple that were in a greenhouse with some heat, but near the greenhouse wall. They got really burnt and all leaves dropped off, but it took a few days to show up.
Hope they grow back, for both of you, and for my little frozen in November waroqueanum :).
We kept the hoophouse off the patio at 42 during the realy cold weather....but there were a couple of nights about 2 weeks ago that the temps dipped to about 35 and DH didn't turn the heater on... It very well could have been a combination of damp soil and chill. The other anthuriums look fine, but I'll be more vigilant about the temps from now on. I didn't associate it with the cold front, but now that I think about it, the wind was fierce too so it could have seemed even colder.
I am a little skittsh about the sphagnum. I wet it, and it sure looks cold for poor anthurium. Might have to take it inside tonight.
I think I may have lost my pendulafolium x 'Big Bill' to cold. Like Lari Anns, mine was in the greenhouse but right next to the wall. All the leaves dropped off and the crown looks wasted. Surprisingly, a huge A. spectabile and an even huger A. faustomirandae hanging on the same wall were untouched.
I had damage to several plants in the GH when the temps dropped to 17F here. SOme of the palms have taken a while to show, others, like the Red Sealing Wax, died almost immediately.
My A. faustomirandae plants were outside of the greenhouse and actually had ice forming on them between sprinkles, and they did fine. Ditto for the birdsnest Anthuriums, even the smooth leathery species, of which I have two, and A. podophyllum. They showed no damage at all. My Anthurium regale inside the greenhouse came through OK (in fact, it is growing better now than it was before the event), as did my A. reflexinervium. However, most of my andreanum-type hybrids were partially or completely defoliated, as were the exposed A. pedato-radiatum. A. wildenovii took it really hard, losing all leaves within about a week or two after the freeze event..
For the record, I saw sprinkled water freezing on some leaves even between 8 and 9 am in the morning, after the sun had been up for a while. So I'm thinking that temps must have been as low as the high 20s at the coldest point where I am.
This message was edited Mar 23, 2010 10:27 AM
I'm sorry to hear about everyone's sick or frozen plants!
:(
I noticed several that did well in the cold. I had the GH heat set on 45, instead of the usual 55, because we had 13 straight nights of 25 or so or below, and they were talking about rationing propane up here. So I was trying to conserve. I think in some spots right next to the wall it was very close to 20F
My Large A. willifordii dropped about 6 outer leaves, then stopped and now looks ok. The A. regales were unfazed. The A. rugosum looks grand. Even put on new growth. A. pedato-radiatums were farther in and had no damage. A. pseudospectabile was in the back corner, under a Pritchiardia Palm that got really badly damaged, but it got no damage.
A. podophyllum is A-OK. ANother fingered climbing anthurium that I can;t think of the name right now is ok. (Polychistum I think).
All my bulbophyllum orchids, of which I have a very large number, were fine, but almost every Phal I had dued or defoliated, no matter where they were in the GH.
I lost a few palms that I never thought would have been affected, and some that I thought would be the very FIRST to be affected, either weren't, or were hardly affected.
Things are finally starting to come back up in the yard. Its been rough up here this winter, the spring has been cold, wet and prolonged. Stuff that is usually knee high by now is just emerging
We're way behind here, too. Usually the Bradford pears are in full bloom and the redbuds are starting. Right now we got 'nuthin'!
