What Is The Ideal Potting Soil For Anthurium Plants

If you want to grow healthy anthurium flowers, choosing the proper potting soil is critical. Choose the wrong potting mix and your plant may grow slowly, stop producing flowers, or worse, it could even die. To select the best potting soil, first you need to understand where anthuriums grow in their native habitat.

Anthuriums come from South America; they grow in lush tropical rain forests, primarily on the trunks of trees or in the canopy of the forest, though some do grow on the ground. Why do the majority grow on trees?

They grow on trees because it allows them to receive a lot of moisture from rain and fog, while still being exposed to drying breezes. They are paradoxical plants in that they like moisture, but prolonged exposure to water can kill them. By living in trees, their roots are kept out of the way of standing water and can dry off slightly before the next rainfall.

When choosing a potting soil you need to keep this in mind. Most off the shelf potting mixes retain too much water. So if you use these mixes your anthurium is likely to have a short agonizing life as it slowly drowns from excess water. What usually happens is that the excess water blocks oxygen from the root system and it allows anaerobic bacteria and fungus to grow. These microorganisms then begin attacking your plant and cause root rot.

To prevent this, you need to make your own potting mix. Your potting mix must drain well and it must be light and airy to keep your anthurium healthy. To make the ideal potting mix, use 5 parts miracle grow moisture control potting soil, 2 parts peat moss, 2 parts orchid potting mix and 1 part perlite. Mix this together well and then pot your plants in it. This mixture works well because it drains well and comes closest to approximating the natural environment of anthurium plants.