The Battle of Anthurium Metallicum

When I first received this gorgeous Anthurium in the mail, I was so excited. The velvety green leaf lived up to everything I had fallen in love with in regards to plants.

If you're anything like me, when I discovered my love for plants at the beginning of this year, I dove in head first. Not knowing much, I had quickly gone from simple Begonias and a vegetable garden to rare and expensive plants.

I tried to do as much research as possible but I didn't let my lack of experience stop me from buying these high dollar plants I had so quickly fallen for. I mean, look at that beautiful leaf! Who could resist?! Unfortunately, my dive into the deep end didn't go quite as planned.

Regrettably, I had not done much work with Sphagnum moss prior to this and wasn't sure how to work with it. I assumed it was the same as everything else and you can see how well that went.

The mixture of not understanding how Sphagnum altered my watering rituals, having my plant too close to the grow light and ultimately my inability to control my humidity, absolutely devastated my Metallicum. The leaves began to crisp and shrivel away quite quickly.

Feeling like I had bitten off more than I could chew, I decided to sell the plant to someone who might be able to take better care of it. I only had good intentions for the plant. However, once the new owner received it and took a look at the roots, she let me know that the plant was dead and there was no hope. She sent the plant back to me and I of course, issued her a full refund.

I quickly began researching more about Anthuriums, lighting, and how to increase humidity. I chopped off all of the dying leaves and threw a plastic bag over the top of the rooted chonk, hoping the roots weren't quite as useless as they appeared. Though someone with much more experience rendered this plant hopeless, I had faith. After a couple of months with little to no visible progress, I removed the plastic bag and and let it breathe for a few days.

After about a week, I noticed a little nub of green appear on my chonk. I quickly grew excited but expected to be waiting a while for any new leaves. I moved the plant into a glass case with a few of my other high humidity plants.

No more than a couple of days later, I did my daily glass case misting ritual to increase humidity. I glanced over the plants and noticed a baby leaf had already started to unfurl on my Metallicum! I couldn't have been more surprised.

Just when I had begun to think that my efforts would be fruitless, here we are with happy new growth. You live and you learn as you grow. Things may not always go your way, but don't give up! Do your research and learn from your mistakes. Keep checking back for an update on this little guy in a few months! I am hopeful that he won't just survive, but thrive! Anthuriums should be arriving in our shop by spring!