I work at a garden center, and I am always moving anthuriums out of the shade house because they start to rot from staying too wet once they stop blooming. They seem to love humidity, and hate wet feet. They seem to tolerate more water when they are blooming, then want to go a little dormant and have less watering.

I've talked to several people who've tried anthuriums and all said their plants declined after buying them. What could cause the leaves, for ex, to grow less glossy? I've never seen that in other plants.

If they came from a garden center, chances are good that they were planted in peat moss. This is not good for an epiphytic plant such as anthuriums. Get a good quality potting mix such as Miracle-Gro and add additional gravel, bark and vermiculite to help keep it light and free draining. Anthuriums do like more light than people imagine, like many orchids, they like plenty of sun except from 10am-2pm. They also are fond of fertilizer. I've had them for years and they just get better all the time and I don't have a greenhouse here in the TN mountains.

I never had success growing Anthuriums until I started placing them under my Monkeypod trees. Now they are always glossy and blooming. The soil is mostly sand so it has excellent drainage; the climate is warm and semi-dry; they get watered every day with drip irrigation; and the only fertilizer they get is from fallen Monkeypod leaves which provide a perpetual compost.

Aloha,
Devra
P.S. A friend in hot, dry Lahaina grows hers under mango trees and they thrive also.

It's important that the roots dry out. I've had some to come back from death's door by stopping the watering. They like bright light but want no hot sun. I use miracle grow on the leaves and supplement the leaves and roots with liquid kelp-no fish or animals will get it! I've had them dry out for 3 weeks with no water.
They are an epiphyte so they're air plants!
kevin in Florida

Aloha Vinge,

There are several different "plant varnishes" that can be misted over plants to make them nice and shiny before selling them, so sometimes it is impossible to get them back to as shiny as they once were.

A hui hou,
Cathy

I have three different types of anthuriums and all are doing very well. I have two of them planted in an orchid mix and one in regular potting soil. Mine get morning sun and filtered sunlight the rest of the day. I mist them regularly and let them dry out a bit between waterings. All of them are blooming like crazy. I live in California and I have very little humidity. I keep them outside in the summer and inside in the winter.

Anthurium species are relatively easy to grow provided you give the plant what it is seeking. What most think of as an Anthurium is actually a hybrid variety. There are actually over 800 species and many are amonng the most beautiful of all tropical species. This article will give you a background on the species and the differences in the numerous species avaialable. It covers growing conditions, soil mixtures, watering, and how the aroid grows naturally in the rain forests of South and Central America.

http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Grow%20or%20Growing%20Anthurium%20species.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Anthurium species

Good point Steve regarding all the species. I tend to believe Vinge is either growing the species hybridized for the cut flower market or the one more frequently sold in HD or Lowes, which has a slightly smaller blossom and is better adapted to home culture. I have one of the latter that has been blooming for me, non-stop for the past 3 years as a house plant. I've grown it near a window that gets fairly bright indirect light. I take a wash cloth and wipe the dust off the leaves every month or so. It is growing in a terra cotta pot, in regular potting mix that I allow to dry out between waterings. The pot sets in a tray of pea gravel. When I water it the excess runs through and settles in the pea gravel, which likely slightly raises the local humidity.

My anthuriums are happy and growing! What I do is place the anthuriums pot and all into a larger container with a few inches of styrofoam peanuts at the bottom. I put the drainage hole on the side of the pot so that it hold a bit of water at the bottom, but the plant doesn't get its feet wet. I pack garden soil around that plant and put the entire plant under an oak tree so it gets bright but not direct sunshine. In October, I bring the plant into a cool breezeway that he continues to get sun but doesn't freeze. Don't water it much through winter if theres any chance of ice crystals forming at the roots. Humidity is increased by putting a BIG clear trash bag over the pot and plant but leave the top open a bit for air circulation. My plants have grown so much they're walking out of their pots. Good luck.

I grow my plants in a conservatory, they're planted in pine bark and seem to thrive, I water them weekly and give them the same fertilizer I give my phalaenopsis orchids, they get bright filtered light all day and haven't stopped blooming and growing even when I divide and repot them, in summer I place them outside on the terrace, my plants have grown to 1,5m in 30cm pots

Most nurseries that sell potted anthuriums, grow these in a perfect environment of diluted fertilizers, strong fungicides and systemic insecticides, miticides they apply each week. Once removed from this soup, they tend to go down hill right away. This also holds true for so many orchid plants as well.
Plants grown in this way are poor candidates for purchasing as plants for the home gardener. I would suggest buying sturdier plants that do not require heavy pesticides for growing.
This is also very true with the Holiday poinsettias. This is why they tend to die quickly after purchasing. No pesticide diet after they are reomved from the nurseries.