Anthurium veitchiihow big does it get, eventually?

I finally had to break down and move this King Anthurium because I had planted it too close to a path and as it grew to enormous proportions, it kept getting stepped on, snagged and beaten up. A space in the back opened up this winter when one of my large Jungle Drums succumbed to the brutal cold we had this winter, and I moved it out of harms way. But its trunking, and I have to support if with bungee cords. Will this plant actually climb a totem eventually?

I have never seen an extremely mature plant. This plant is about 5 years old and has a spread of 4-5 feet with leaves that are almost 3 ft long. If I need to rig longterm support I need to know now, LOL. Especially since I have a second plant also approaching this size.

I once photographed a specimen in the Missouri Botanical Garden research greenhouse with leaves approaching 4 feet. This species is normally a tree dweller so I resolved the problem of the leaves being destroyed on the ground by putting my three plants in a large pot and buying a 12 inch orchid basket so they could hang.

I just edited this since I had originally said 6 feet. I found my notes on that visit and the plant has "grown" in my memory. The leaves were closer to 4 feet.

I am trying to find the original scientific description of the species now to see if there is any reference to maximum leaf size.

This message was edited May 10, 2010 7:39 AM

This message was edited May 10, 2010 8:13 AM

I can't find the photo of the plant at the Missouir Botanical Garden but this was the way my plant looked about two years ago when I hung it. The leaves are now at least 6 inches longer.

Their are two forms of this plant. This is the ripple form which has much closer ripples than the more common form.

There isn't any way I could hang this plant. It was a root spread that's about 3 feet or more across. I might have been able to when it was an infant, but them I don't think it would have been as happy or gotten so huge if its roots were all compacted in a small space. Its always grown semi-epiphytically anyway, in a pit of lava rock and mulch.

This group of photos from Hawaiian aroid grower Windy Aubrey illustrates Brian's point.

Steve