Anthurium Vittarifolium Plant Care

If you want a superb rare plant, then go for Anthurium vittarifolium. With its colorful blooms and green leaves, it is an eye-catcher. 

So, if you are an exotic plant collector, this is one indoor plant you need to add to your collection. But if you’re unsure how to take care of it, we are going to teach you how so that your tropical rain forests plant will survive.

Where Does the Anthurium vittarifolium Come From?

Anthurium Vittarifolium

The Anthurium vittarifolium is a rare variety endemic to South America. It has long yet pendant-looking leaves which will surely add color and life to your living space.

The plant is known to be a close relative to the flamingo flower. It’s an epiphyte species where it thrives in other plants such as trees for support. It’s found throughout tropical rainforests in Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia.

The foliage is similar to the Anthurium pallidiflorum which is called the strap leaf anthurium. It features glossy foliage with gorgeous pink blooms.

The flowers grow on a spadix and spathe when it blooms, while the berries look pink to violet. The fantastic thing is this unique jungle plant, with its narrow leaves, grows well in hanging baskets.

Anthurium vittarifolium Care

Anthurium Vittarifolium

Caring for the Anthurium vittarifolium flower is not as difficult as you think. Here’s the secret:

Anthurium Vittarifolium care card

But before we move to the care guide, do you know that the word Anthurium means flowering tail? Interesting, right?

Ideal Potting Mix to Prevent Root Rot 

potting mix

For the Anthurium vittarifolium plant to thrive, it helps to provide them with forest soil that is well-aerated, well-draining, and has good water retention. In addition, it should provide a firm grip on the aerial roots while the plant is growing.

As the leaves grow in a strange cascade formation, it helps to add some macadamia nutshells or wood chips to the mix for added protection. Another recommendation is to use bark or moss to provide nutrients, aeration, and moisture.

Avoid Direct Sunlight for Anthurium vittarifolium

In the jungle, to provide healthy leaves, you can find the Anthurium vittarifolium growing on the soil, or in branches or tree cavities. So, your plant is accustomed to having partial and indirect light exposure.

When treated as an outdoor plant, provide your vittarifolium with partial shade, and do not expose the leaves to direct sunlight as it can burn the foliage and flowers. However, it needs sunlight for flower production.

We recommend looking at different spots inside your home for your plant to receive indirect sunlight.

Watering Needs for Indoor Plants 

Okay, while this is the tricky part of having a thirsty plant, it needs watering once every two or three days. Still, this depends on your current humidity and temperatures. We recommend checking the soil in the growing period as these plants love moisture but not soggy soil.

You can leave the ground to dry a bit more before watering in winter.

Temperature & Humidity 

anthurium temperature requirement

While the Anthurium vittarifolium variegated or other plants in the genus can thrive in bright indirect sunlight, it still needs good drainage with high humidity and warm temperatures. Thus, where possible, provide it with temperatures ranging from 65 to 80°F.

For humidity, a level of 60% is surface but not lower as it leads to stunted growth and stresses out your plant. The same applies to hot and cold air, as this can stress out your gorgeous plant. So, provide a humid environment by using a pebble tray placed underneath without the roots touching the water.

The water evaporates from the tray providing moisture to the leaves. Also, remember not too much sunlight to ruin the beautiful foliage.

Fertilizer Your Plant Requires

Okay, you will hear gardeners saying they feed their tropical plants with a slow-release fertilizer once a month. But as your Anthurium vittarifolium has roots, they are susceptible to these feeds resulting in burns.

The same applies to using even powder organic fertilizers, and using a liquid fertilizer is best used for foliar applications for sensitive roots. You can even use it in the garden with surface irrigation water. 

Propagation from Mother Plant

When you have this gorgeous plant, you want multiple plants of the species. But you still want to have an original Anthurium vittariifolium. Well, the good news is you can do this through cuttings, seed propagation, and division all are discussed here.

anthurium propagation

Division The Best Propagation Method 

  1. Uproot the mother plant from the pot and clean the soil around the roots.
  2. Take a sterilized knife to help divide the roots.
  3. Prepare a container with a soil mix similar to the clone plant. Place the divisions and leave the host plant in the original container.

Stem Cuttings 

  • Take sterilized garden shears and remove the leggy growth resulting from unhealthy development.
  • Place the cuttings into a new container, and the best part of doing this is that the mother plant will provide you with multiple shoots where you removed the cutting.

Seed Propagation

Another great way to make sure you have multiple plants is to use the seeds from the mother Anthurium vittarifolium. You will need to remove the seeds from the small orange fruits once the flowers mature and plant them in the same soil mix as the host plant in a pot.

Growth Zone

If you live in cooler environments, it is best to grow your Anthurium plants in pots as they are not cold-hardy. In zones ten or higher, you can grow them outside, and can be used as landscaping due to their gorgeous foliage.

Potting and Pruning

Once your plant settles into its humid rainforest area, and you find it overgrows the pot size, then you can report your beauty. Yet, do this in the spring seasons to help form buds.

Choose a pot size with a 20% larger diameter and use the unique soil mixes described for your plant. At this time, you can mix in some organic matter or use the same fertilizers you use on the mother plant.

It helps to prune your plant from the top down for plant growth. But, first, remove the flowers and take the seed as needed before taking off the buds.

Like most equatorial plants, you need to remove the wilted, dead, or discolored leaves, and if overcrowded, you can remove some of the healthier leaves.

Anthurium vittarifolium Varieties 

Anthurium pallidiflorum

Anthurium pallidiflorum

The Anthurium pallidiflorum is confused with the Anthurium vittarifolium but belongs to the Araceae family.

Anthurium vittarifolium variegata 

Anthurium vittarifolium variegata

It is another rare variety from the Anthurium vittarifolium Engl. It looks similar to the original plant and thrives in warm areas.

Anthurium andraeanum

anthurium andraeanum

It is also called the flamingo flower with large flowers and beautiful, glossy leaves. The blooms grow on a middle spike.

Anthurium scherzerianum

Anthurium scherzerianum

When you look at this plant, it has one notable difference, and it is the decorative yet curly spadix that forms from the plant.

Anthurium vittarifolium Diseases & Pests

The worst disease affecting plant growth is blight resulting from a fungus when sitting in too much humidity. When looking at different questions concerning this plant, you see people asking why is my Anthurium vittarifolium turning yellow.

This is one of the signs of the disease and starts as small spots expand and dry out the foliage. While gardeners feel there is no cure, others recommend using fungicides or oils. We recommend saving some healthy cuttings for replanting.

Also, try not to overwater your plant and keep your plant in a humid open-air environment. Some common pests are snails, slugs, whiteflies, spider mites, worms, and thrips. To avoid these critters, you can clean the leaves daily with a damp cloth.

The best is to treat them with regular or insecticidal soap with water. Then, you can remove the infected leaves.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Anthurium vittarifolium, the Anthurium bakeri, is a semi-pendant plant with bright red fruits instead of the small pinkish spathe. The fruits on the bakeri take place without pollination.

While both these plants look similar, there is a difference the Anthurium vittarifolium belongs to the Anthurium family while the Anthurium pallidiflorum belongs to the Araceae family. Another difference is that the pallidiflorum has velvety leaves, which the original anthurium vittarifolium does not have.

Anthuriums have a five-year lifespan and more. With the proper care and providing them foliar fertilizers, keeping the soil dry, and providing the best soil with bright indirect light will keep this beauty thriving for longer.

Remember we said we have a secret in finding this rare plant. You can find it at a garden center, but you can also find it right here at Plantly.

Whether you want to buy, sell, or simply reach out to other plant enthusiasts, Plantly is the right place to be!

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