Anthurium Andre - the most beautiful houseplant,a favorite of many florists, emphasizing the harmony of the decoration of the dwelling, bringing to the home interior a note of comfort, natural freshness and bright colors. In the natural environment, a representative of the Aroid family occurs in the tropical zone of South and Central America.
An interesting story is the origin of thisbeautiful flower, which supposedly turned a young beautiful girl. This story happened in ancient times, when people existed by tribes, led by one of which was a cruel, bloodthirsty leader. He planned to marry a 15-year-old girl - a resident of a neighboring tribe. But the imperious ruler did not like the young beauty, and she refused him. In order to take revenge, the leader attacked the village where the girl lived and took her by force. The bride could not reconcile to life without close and dear people, with a cruel ruler, and rushed to a fire, divorced in honor of the wedding. Before she could touch the fire, as the merciless gods turned an unhappy creature into an elegant flower of an anturium of red color, and the village into a tropical impenetrable forest. Colombian residents believe that it is the red anthurium that brings prosperity and happiness to the family, therefore couples who marry decorate their homes with these flowers and keep them in wedding rooms for a month. Therefore, the symbol of the honeymoon is considered to be the Anthurium.
Externally Anthurium Andre, home carebeyond which there is no particular complexity, it is large enough and reaches 70-90 cm in height. It is characterized by a shortened stem with a variety of roots, including air roots. With good care, the indoor pet will enjoy the flowering year round, its palette is very diverse and attractive: orange, greenish, white, purple, pink, yellow. Breeders even produced varieties with bicolour and almost black bracts - an integral part of the flower. The bracty leaf of the Anturium Andre has a heart-shaped shape, often bubbly, with well-defined veins on the surface.
The key to successful growth and flowering of anthuriumAndre is his location: the plant is important to provide diffuse light or light penumbra; The eastern, western and northern windows are most suitable. Lack of illumination should be replenished artificially, using phytolamps.
The most comfortable temperature for anthurium André is 22-25aboutWith heat, at +18aboutWith and below, the flower stops growing. In winter, it is recommended that the anthurium be kept in a cool place, avoiding placing near to heating devices.
Anturium Andre loves regular abundant watering,but without excess: the upper soil layer is required to allow time to dry. Excess moisture can lead to decay of the rhizome, and its lack - the absence of flowering and wilting leaves. The optimal moistening regime of the soil - every 4 days, irrigation water should be soft, room temperature. In winter, the supply of moisture should be reduced to once a week, while avoiding the drying of an earthy coma. An important factor in the successful development of the plant is high humidity: 85-95%. To ensure it, it is recommended to install an air humidifier near the container with the plant or spray the air around the anthurium twice a day from the atomizer. And getting water on the leaves is undesirable, because they will remain white lime scale. And this will somewhat spoil the appearance of such a beautiful houseplant, as an anturium.
For bouquets the flowers of a pet are cut offwhen the flower coverlet is opened, when the cob is in the staminate stage (that is, it is covered with pollen), and the upper part of the pedicel is strong and firm. Flowers, cut at the time of blossoming anthurium, remain fresh for about 5 weeks, if earlier - then within a few days they wither.
Подкормка растений осуществляется удобрениями для orchids or universal mineral and nitrogen-containing preparations every 2-3 weeks, it is especially important to hold it before the beginning of flowering. In winter, the plant needs rest.
The transplantation of young plants is carried out everyspring, in a container with a larger diameter. Adult specimens are transplanted at a time when the plant is already cramped in the old pot. Soil for anthurium should be light, nutritious, provide air access to the roots; The most suitable for orchids or bromeliads. Independently, the soil for anthurium can be prepared from peat, leaf and coniferous earth. To support moisture from above, it is recommended to put sphagnum moss.
Anthurium Andre breeds lateral offspring,by dividing the overgrown shrub by top cuttings and seeds in a way that is rather time-consuming and not particularly beloved by growers. Seeding is required to be done 3-5 days after collecting the seed material, which can be obtained by pollination of flowers with a brush in the first days of flowering. Then you should wait for the formation and ripening of the berries that form on the cob. Crops are recommended to be kept at a temperature of +22aboutС.The emergence of seedlings occurs over two weeks. After 1.5 months, the seedlings that are in the phase of this leaf require a pick. With the advent of 5-6 leaves, young plants can be seated in individual pots. Anthuriums grown from seeds will delight flowering only in the third year.
Самый простой способ – размножение боковыми shoots. This procedure is often carried out during transplantation. The division is required to make a knife with a sharp blade, and the places of cuts must be powdered with crushed coal. After disembarkation, young anthurium must be watered. A piece of the stem with an air root and a leaf takes root quite quickly.
Planting is required insmall tanks with a good drainage layer (1/4 of the volume of the landing tank). For air flow in the walls of the pot is recommended to make small holes.
Of the pests anthurium is most affected.shchitovki and mites. Sucking cell sap, they contribute to the drying out and falling off of the leaves. It is rather difficult to get rid of such pests, therefore it is recommended to apply preventive measures, regularly rinsing the plant under a warm shower and wiping the leaf plates with a soapy sponge. Then the anthurium must be treated with 0.15% of the composition of the drug "Actellic" (in a liter of water is required to dilute 1.5 ml). Another scourge of anthurium Andre are mealybugs, settling on all aboveground parts of the plant. In this case, treatment will help "Karbofos."
Anthurium Andre often affects stem androot rot, due to low temperature and waterlogging. Sometimes a plant can suffer from anthracnose: the edges of leaf blades dry out and the room pet gradually dies. Damaged leaves must be removed, and the plant must be treated several times with a 0.2% solution of “Fundazol” or 0.5% of the composition “Chloride Oxide”. It is rather difficult to fight such a disease, therefore it is better to prevent its occurrence by taking preventive measures. The excess of calcium in the soil will indicate the twisting of the leaves, the blackening of their tips.
The enemies of Anthurium Andre are powdery mildew and rust, most often provoked by contact with infected plants or transmission through the soil.
Anthurium Andre (mix of varieties and shades) is widely used by florists to create beautiful bouquet arrangements.
