Anthurium Crystal Hope - Basic Care & Maintenance

This particular one is a new cultivar produced by the selection of A.crystallium cross breeding. Both parents were hybrids used only in the breeding program. These parents were noted for their distinctive foliar venation patterns and small leaf size hence I doubt the foliage structure will appear bigger than the its usual uniform size.

I must say that this particular Anthurium species is much rare in comparison to all the other foliage counterparts Anthurium Crystallinum & Anthurium Dorayaki put together- where this one can fetch more expensive and much difficult to find.

Normally sold in online nurseries and I had not come across it had made into a bulk in the plant market. Hence the price are very much controlled by the vendor.

I also realized that there is not much said about the plant rather more on a basic information that you can easily find listed together with the online plant nurseries database. One thing for sure is the heartache one must feel when the few leaves turning yellow and falling off and it is otherwise a too late dead plant to revive with an expensive lesson.

However, I was told that these are the actually an easy plant to care for once you know the basic care and maintenance need for them. Just like any other Anthurium species - their Care & Need are actually very much similar.

Care & Growing:

LIGHT:

This particular type is actually an epiphyte which works best as placing them as Vertical Garden Plant - because of this it can tolerate all levels of indirect light, but Anthuriums growing in low light will grow slower. These plants cannot tolerate direct light however, as this can burn the leaves. It grows best in bright, indirect light.

The balance of both is required as too much bright sunlight may cause the leaves get burned.

MEDIUM:

These do best in fast draining soil medium: 50% sand and 50% cocopeat.
You may also try with coconut husk cut into chips, perlite and sphagnum moss but making sure that the watering schedule is well adjusted.

However these do require fast draining medium good enough to keep the root ball moist but not soaking wet as it may cause root rot.

WATERING:

Because of the fast draining medium - they can tolerate good watering regime. Normally I water twice a day on a good sunny day and once a day in the morning on rainy days. I often refrain from watering if it rains in the morning.

FEEDING:

I find they do well in using foliar fertilizer especially the orchid mix types. Of course, these are much hardier than orchids - I find that they are quite resilient than most flowering plants.

 

This plant is a very slow growing plant - basically putting out a new leaf at about once a month and so a lot of patience is required to see it grow to a magnificent stage.

As I mentioned earlier, these are highly sought after and their price can be expensive and often sold as a small plant-let which may be subject to stress as they not stable yet. Often they will drop of their existing leaves due to stress and one may think that the plant is dead.

Another pointer:
Anthurium species are known to be highly variable and not every leaf of every specimen will always appear the same.


Photo Credit:
Benjamin Kam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam