Anthurium waterburyanum is a rare indoor plant from Ecuador. It is easy to take care of it by first-time Anthurium carers.
Its deep green and velvety leaves will fill your house with a lovely freshness. Discover some of our best-kept secrets on how to take care of this plant.
Contents
What Is Anthurium Waterburyanum?
Anthurium waterburyanum is a large-leaved but average-sized houseplant from Ecuador. It is not a flowering plant but is rather famous for its large, pointy, and velvety leaves. It is a rare plant and you will probably have difficulty sourcing it.
Anthurium Waterburyanum Care
The plant care for this rare house plant needs indirect and bright light and watering using distilled water. It needs high humidity and regular feeding. Pruning properly during springtime will help promote further growth.
– Water Requirements
This is a plant that needs constant but mindful watering. Follow the classic two inches rule for watering it. This means that when the top two inches of the soil dries from the top, you must water your plant.
You can just put your finger into the soil up to its knuckle, or you can use a pencil instead. A moisture meter is an instrument you can buy to find out the exact levels of moisture in the soil. If you own a moisture meter, then it would surely make watering a much more easy task.
When watering, it is best to opt for distilled water because it is the safest. Repeated use of common tap water causes excessive salt accumulation in the soil and within leaves. Trust us; you do not want this to happen as this eventually causes chemical burns to the plant .
– Light Requirements
Keep your plant someplace where it receives bright yet indirect light only. This is because waterburyanum, like Anthurium pendulifolium and others, grow in nature under the shade of larger trees. Direct light is, in fact, detrimental to their leaves and health.
You can grow it outdoors if you find a well-shaded but bright spot. Look for a suitable spot under a tree or a northern-facing wall. Those are usually the best places to grow a waterburyanum outside.
Inside the house, you need to evaluate what type of windows your room has. Light shining through a southern-facing window can be a bit harsh for this plant’s leaves. Ensure the plant is kept at least three feet away from this window. You can also try covering the window with a semi-transparent curtain for most of the day if the plant is placed closer.
The windows facing the rest of the directions are relatively safer. They receive direct light for only a couple of hours per day, and you can try covering them during those hours. Technically, you can place your waterburyanum closer to these windows if you like.
– Soil Requirements
Make a perfect Anthurium soil by mixing one part peat with one part bark and one part perlite. Peat is the compact organic substance that acts as the source of nutrients for the plant. You can go for either sphagnum moss or peat moss, but both are equally effective.
Perlite is used mainly to add porosity to the peat mixture. It comes in the form of small white-colored balls. Bark pieces need to be slightly large or medium-sized chunks.
Before filling a container with the prepared soil mix, ensure that the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot are enough in number and also large enough. Pour a thin layer of gravel first and then add in the soil mix. This layer of gravel will prevent the soil from leaking away with watering.
– Temperature Requirements
Waterburyanum is a tropical plant that likes to grow in a warm and humid climate. The temperature around it needs to be within a range of 65 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. You cannot let this plant experience temperatures below 59 degrees.
As it is not frost-resistant, you must bring it indoors during wintertime. Some people try covering their outdoor plants during winters. However, the best approach is to keep it in pots so that transport indoors during winter is easy and convenient.
Indoor kept Anthuriums can sometimes suffer from cold shock, even during winters. This happens due to cold drafts of air from the AC. You can place this plant in an air-conditioned room but keep it away from direct cold air drafts. The plant sheds all its leaves when suffering from cold shock to conserve energy.
– Humidity Requirements
This plant likes growing under humidity levels of around 50 to 80 percent. Keeping it in a washroom or a kitchen helps a lot as these are the most humid rooms in the house.
Otherwise, you can place a water-filled tray next to the container. The evaporating water from this tray will help contribute moisture to the air.
– Fertilizing Requirements
This plant, like Anthurium besseae, needs occasional but regular feeding. We suggest you go for a phosphorus-rich liquid fertilizer. First, dilute this fertilizer to one-quarter of its original strength by mixing it in some water.
When pouring fertilizer, direct your aim towards the soil a few inches away from the center. Pour slowly, so the fertilizer does not splash on the plant parts. This is serious because it can cause actual chemical burns to the plant.
Fertilize only once every second or third month starting from march until late September. You can stop feeding this plant altogether from fall till the next spring.
– Pruning
Pruning helps accelerate the growth of your Anthuriums, whether it is Anthurium warocqueanum or Waterburyanum. Set aside a particular time each spring to carry out a thorough pruning.
First, spray your cutting instruments with a strong disinfectant and wash them thoroughly. Take a thorough look at the whole plant and see which leaves are too old or damaged and need to go. Snip these yellowing and diseased leaves off the first.
Trimming off one to two inches from the growing end of the stems in springtime will help the plant grow. Cutting the stems off at 45 degrees from the growing end helps. Make sure your cutting edges are well-sharpened ahead of time.
Propagation
You can propagate Anthurium waterburyanum using wither stem cuttings or seeds. The best time to carry out both these propagations is early to late springtime.
– Stem Cutting Propagation
If you have taken your stem cutting properly, there is no better propagation method than this one.
- You need this plant’s 5 to 6 inches long pieces of stem. This piece can be taken from anywhere within the plant, whether it is the ends or the base. This cut piece should have two leaf nodes, at the very least.
- The next step is to remove the brown-colored leaf-type husks that grow on waterburyanum stems. All flowers currently on the stem should also be removed. Any leaves, husks, or flowers on the stem will only retard the growth further.
- If aerial roots are growing from the cut piece, this greatly increases your chances of success for the plant.
- Next, dip the cut end of the stem piece in gel or powder form of rooting hormone. This stem is optional, but we personallyhighly recommend it.
- Now prepare a well-balanced and aerated mixture of soil for your Anthurium. Fill a small pot with this mixture before placing your cutting in it. Your cutting can go into the soil only halfway through.
- Pick up the pot and place it in a warm, dapple-shaded, bright spot. As soon as the topsoil dries, keep sprinkling it with water because the plant needs constant watering initially.
- In two to three weeks, you should be able to see fresh new leaves growing. Then you can go back to a regular watering schedule.
– Seed Propagation
This is also a good option if you want to grow the plant from seeds. First, you need a trustworthy supplier to provide 100 percent authentic and healthy seeds.
- Take a handful of seeds and place them in the water for six to eight hours.
- Next, you need a shallow tray with a well-soaked sphagnum moss spread evenly.
- Take these seeds and lay them in rows within the mass media. Do not push the seeds deeper than half an inch into the moss. After all, the seeds also need access to light to germinate.
- Wrap this tray in clear plastic before placing it in a shaded bright spot inside the house. This step is important to keep the humidity levels as needed for germination.
- Every third to the fourth day, take the tray out and sprinkle it with water. Then put the tray back in plastic under the light.
- The seeds will germinate in four to five weeks and sprout new leaves. You can then take the tray out of the plastic.
- After another four weeks, you can take each plantlet out and repot it within its tiny pot.
Problems
Some common problems with this plant include bacterial blight and root rot. In the upcoming sections, find out how to treat these problems like a pro.
– Bacterial Blight
Bacterial blight is a fungal disease that often attacks the plant when you mist it. If not caught early, you might have to discard it.
You can identify a bacterial blight infection by the appearance of moisture-filled spots on the stems and leaves. These spots are initially small and green in the periphery. Over time they grow larger, turn brown, and then develop a hole in the center. Large whole sections of the leaves get rotten if left to their own.
If you feel like the plant is affected only one-third or less, then take steps to treat it. Order a strong liquid-copper insecticide from a good manufacturer and start a weekly regime of spraying it all over the plant. You may cut off the most severely rotten parts of the plant. If the plant is rotten more than one-third of its size, discarding it as an infectious waste product is best.
– Root Rot
Root rot is a common and even more destructive problem than bacterial blight. It starts from the plant’s roots, which is why it might go unnoticed for long periods. Overwatering is the primary cause of this fungal disease development. It could also be that the drainage of your soil and the pot is being compromised.
Because it occurs because of overwatering, the plant’s leaves swell up. They become yellow, and brown rot spots start appearing all over them.
They might even become limp and start drooping down in a sickly manner. If you do not take prompt action, these affected leaves will begin dropping.
It must be taken out of its pot to treat the plant properly. The most severely affected roots that have become limp will have to be cut off. Then wrap them up in newspaper to soak up the extra water stored in the plant. Start a weekly fungicidal spray regime using a liquid copper spray and repot the plant in new soil.
FAQ
– How Big Does Anthurium Waterburyanum Get?
Its size is magnificent. The leaves alone are 3 – 4 feet long! The plant itself can get as high as 6 feet.
– What Fertilizer Should I Use for Anthurium Waterburyanum?
Use a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen. Nitrogen helps the plant produce even better leaves.
Conclusion
Anthurium waterburyanum ecuagenera is a very easy-to-grow plant.
Let us recap all that we have learned about it so far.
- This plant loves bright, but indirect, light.
- Choose distilled water to give to this plant whenever its top two inches become dry.
- Root rot is a common problem – so do not overwater.
- Ensure that the soil mixture you have made is well-draining and equal parts peat and perlite.
- There are two main ways you can propagate this plant instead of looking for an Anthurium waterburyanum for sale. One way is using stem cuttings, and the second is using seeds.
This plant will help you liven up any old corner of your living space with freshness and spazz. After this guide, you know exactly how to take care of this rare beauty.
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