If you have a special and beautiful flower in the house, you should know everything about caring for it, as well as the main diseases of the anthurium and ways to combat them. If you know everything about how to give attention to this flower, then it will reciprocate and will please its owners.
Anthurium – what is it like?
The beauty of a healthy flower is unusual, extravagant, tropical. Regardless of the time of year, the anthurium will cover itself with flowers in red, white tones, and can also stand purple and pink. The whimsical shape of the buds causes florists to associate the plant with flamingos. Its unusual appearance and use in arrangements and bouquets makes the anthurium incredibly popular. Cut in a vase, it stands for weeks on end. Still, anthurium diseases plague the evergreen plant.
Yellowing of the foliage
Leaf diseases, as experienced florists point out, are easier to prevent than to fight. Anthurium leaves can turn yellow over time. There are several reasons for this.
Yellowing of the leaves is an indicator of the following problems:
- Yellow foliage; yellowing of foliage;
- chlorosis;
- burns;
- Anthurium frostbite.
Lack or excessive hardness of water can result in a yellow tint on the foliage. Distilled, warm, distilled water is good for the plant in the amounts it needs.
If watering is not the cause, diseases associated with excessive or insufficient light can affect the anthurium. A new place for the flower pot will be the best treatment and prevention.
The main problem in the anthurium is still considered chlorosis. If the gardener identifies this disease, it must be dealt with by spraying. Iron chelate is excellent. Also often the “antidote” is algae extract and increased light flow.
Treatment for sunburn is different at the root. The leaves not only turn yellow, but also become covered with brown spots, then dry out and even fall off. Moving it to a darkened location will save the plant. Yellowing can also be the cause of fungal diseases on the foliage. How to deal with this is outlined below.
Exposing an anthurium in a draught or watering with excessively cold water causes whitish spots. Gardeners indicate that they have dealt with this problem by moving the plant to a warmer location.
Blackening of the leaves
How to deal with blackened leaves, too, experienced flower growers know. Again, improper care is often to blame. Profuse watering will be “shown” on the leaves in the form of brown spots. This is a warning that the plant is dying.
Also, blackened spots may appear on the anthurium if the flower is not properly transplanted.
In order for the plant to continue to develop to its full potential, you need to use a special substrate designed for bromeliad or orichid plants.
It will have a soil mixture that includes parts of coniferous, leaf and sod soil, and sand.
Treatment will not be possible if brown spots and holes appear on the foliage. This all leads to one result – the death of the anthurium. Therefore, properly done transplanting, good care and a normal temperature regime will not make you ask for help from experienced gardeners with the question, “How do we combat blackening of the leaves on a plant?”
Disease variants
Improper planting and care makes any plant weaker. And the anthurium is no exception. Subsequently, it will not be able to resist fungi and parasites. If any pests of the anthurium are found, there are spots on the leaves, plaques, formation of dryness, as well as the trunk suffers, the sick plant should be sent to quarantine, sparing its neighbors from “communication”. Application of special remedies can save the anthurium.
Treatment varies in each case, you should only understand the cause of the disease.
As for fungal, the most common species are:
- Sooty;
- gray mold;
- soil-borne;
- powdery mildew;
- rust;
- rot.
Soil fungi are caused by transplanting into uncontaminated soil. Consequently, over time, rotting of the root system will appear. Also provocateurs of the disease remain: abundant watering, too poor drainage in the pot. In time, removed parts of the plant and immediate treatment with special preparations will help to save it.
Treatment of gray mold is to remove the affected areas.
It is easy to see them. The gray tone on the leaves and even flowers is visible to the naked eye. Young and weakened anthuriums can be especially affected. The cause of the disease lies in the lack of fresh air indoors, as well as excessive watering with poor drainage.
The secretions after aphids, sweet and sticky, become the cause of sooty fungi. Leaves, as well as old and young stems of the plant remain affected. Reproduction, the emergence of new shoots is impossible in this condition. To cure the plant, you should cut off the diseased shoots and stems, treat the flower with a solution of potassium soap.
A white plaque is powdery mildew. It should be treated with fungicides. Too much humidity and high temperatures make the plant prone to not resist this disease. Also causes of powdery mildew, either false or real, are temperature changes and problems with proper care.
The stems and leaves of the flower are affected by the rust. The main manifestation of the disease is the appearance of brown spots. The next stage is the fall of leaves and rotting of the anthurium. The cause of the lesion is too dry air and soil. Treatment and prevention is done with a Bordeaux mixture. Rusty foliage should be cut off and burned.
Relatively harmless among plant diseases is the fungus Cescospores. But it too changes the appearance of the plant. The leaves of the diseased anthurium first turn yellow, and then become much darker. In addition, there are also fungal diseases that can affect the flower. It also suffers from fusariosis and gommosis. Any diseases of fungal origin should be treated with a fungicidal solution.
Parasitic diseases and their control
Among parasitic diseases, one of the most common are insects such as thrips. They were once also known as colgonfly or fringe-winged thrips. But that was more than 100 years ago. In any case, the species has not changed from the name. There are more than 6,000 species of parasites. Thrips are one of the most common pathogens on all continents.
Houseplants, much less anthuriums, are no exception. If this disease occurs on a large scale, a greenhouse farm, then the parasites can never be eliminated 100%. But they can be contained at such a level that the sale appearance of plants is not affected. But in the home, it’s easier. You can see them as a dot or an incomprehensible bug. Thrips vary in body length. It varies from half a millimeter data to 14 mm.
There are denticles on the legs, as well as sucking vesicles. To develop into an adult, thrips must go through several stages: from egg to larva, then to pronymph, nymph, and finally to imago. The coloration of the adults is within black, gray, and brown shades. The larvae are either white-yellow or grayish in color. Their task is to suck the sap of the plant. It is manifested on representatives of flora as yellow and discolored spots, stripes and strokes, which then merge into one state.
The damaged tissue is sure to wither and the leaves will wither and fall off. Thrips can be eliminated at home by isolating the diseased plant and treating it with an insecticide solution. Preventive measures against the occurrence of this disease are simple: airing the room, regular care according to all the rules.
Other diseases:
- Scrofula affects most plants. The fight against it is complicated, because these armored bugs are at first simply unnoticeable. But in their power to bring the anthurium not only to withering, but also to death. Fighting the disease is not difficult, but it must be applied in time to prevent the plant from losing its last vitality. The scab must be removed in the place where the affected areas were formed. It is not difficult to perform mechanical cleaning. Then the entire plant should be treated with insecticide preparations. Parasitic diseases of the anthurium can affect even the flower, for which proper care is provided. It is impossible to be immune from pests, but it is possible to fight them. All parts of the plant are affected: from flowers to leaves, stems and even the root system.
- Another known threat was and remains the spider mite. Here it will take a long and persistent process of treatment. Detecting the disease is not difficult. The thin spider web around the leaves, stems and flowers cannot go unnoticed. But if this moment is missed, the next stage is the drying and curling of the leaves. Clearing the parasites is done mechanically and chemically. Anthurium should be rid of spider webs. The pot and window sill should be washed with water, and the plant itself even with household soap. Further control methods are very simple. To ensure that the spider mite does not return, proper care, temperature regime and humidity, which the plant needs so much, should be created.
Diseases of this flower are hardly completely different from other plants. As usual, it is better to prevent a problem than to invest effort, time and money in it later. But if it happens, the fight must be persistent, and subsequently – care must be created exclusively in accordance with the rules, which the anthurium needs so much. Inspection of the plant in parallel with watering and spraying is not difficult. This will help to save both the plant and the gardener from subsequent problems.
