Sorry no pretty pics, just a question... A few of my Anthurium will from time to time produce green spathes, I have a white one in particular that does this. They are outdoors and get some sun but it's minimal for maybe an hour max. It's not a major drama, but right now the white one actually has 4 green and one white flower, will they turn white with time - they have well and truly opened. What actually causes this is more what I was wondering?
Are they andreanum cultivars ? Many will turn green with age , and some have been bred to be green !! so strange .
One I bought as bi-colour it's supposed to have green and also tri-colour which again was supposed to have green, a few others which occasionally throw an odd colour. Then there are these two (here's the pretty pics - bit dark sorry), the white I think (I've had it a while) was named White Queen or Snow Queen it was definitiely one of those and the pink is a really old plant I've had for over ten years and I can't remember the name, the flowers on both are as large as my hand, a bit bigger even. The pink has matured into quiet a tall plant with leaves at least +50cm long, the white seems to still be more compact but it's not as old. Also the pink keeps that upright spathe and does not flatten like the other. The white shows how some will open white and some seem to stay green where others will change, it's the main one doing this (please excuse grasshopper damage, weather has been too difficult to get on top of them at the moment, though they'd nearly be drowned where you are). It does appear to be similar to the ones you have shown. I'm still a little new to i.d. on these and haven't ever really tried to find out botanical names yet, kind of got enough other plants to be happy labeling these Anthurium sp at the moment :}....for now, I'm sure you'll get to see more pics once I get to that part of my yard. It's good to now it's not abnormal and probably part of the breeding, I wasn't sure if light or fertiliser may have had influence here.
Light might be a factor. Wild adreanums here sometimes end up with green spathes when I find them in full shade conditions, but it's not terribly consistent. Do you hand-pollinate your Anthuriums? Because the other thing I've noticed with the green spathes is that the plant starts to produce them if it's in an area where it doesn't get visited by its normal pollinators, or doesn't get visited very often.
"the pink keeps that upright spathe and does not flatten like the other." the name of that Anthurium is Anthurium oaxaca, and it can grow up to two meters, it is endemic to Oaxaca Mexico. In this site you can see all the hybrids of the Anthurium: http://www.anthura.nl/page/nl/home
Okay that leads into my next question cross-pollinating these guys. I was given a few seed 2 years ago from someone who just kindly brought some in for me from home. I got 3 / 6 (had to share once everyone at work saw them:})to strike and 2 are now in the ground but yet to flower. Firstly how long from seed to flower with these? Secondly how do I go about pollinating them, it's something I've thought of doing but haven't put time aside to look into yet. Is it a simple straight forward process I guess there'd be a particular time after opening the flower is most receptive? I've been spending most of my time with Adenium lately to be honest, they've captured me at the moment :}
I would cut the green or off-white bracts as their pollinating cones will also likely encourage more... do you like floral arrangements? :) Sounds like you can supply cut flowers to your sub tropical oasis....at home?
Steve Lucas has the method of pollination on his site www.exoticrainforest.com - that's the technique I use, and he explains it better than I ever could. I have absolutely no clue how long from seed to flower on adreanum - I have only ever purchased or collected established plants.
With constant fertilizing you can get flowers in approx 1 year from a small seedling . A mate who imports TC plugs gets them to do so easily , but that is in the wet tropics and a very experienced grower . If yopu study the spadix , you will notice when the pollen is extruded , just give it a bit of a rub .. getting seed set is easy , its the growing that is frustrating . You will find that thew flowering ones seem to attract all of the pests imaginable .. needing toxic sprays galore .. YUK
They're interplanted amongst Cordyline which cop the brunt of attack. The Cordy's thankfully are the first plants to show damage which, if I can get on top of it then, tends to stop spread even to other parts of my garden. Snails and Grasshoppers are the biggest problems and they seem to build up their sizes in this area and then spread. Carbaryl has become a must have in my poisons cupboard, but I can get away with just a couple of sprays a year to keep the worst of it under control. (Other than fruit fly but they don't hang around these that I've seen, why would they with over a dozen tropical fruits to choose from in my yard :}) Cheers again for the info, I did a quick check up and it was actually Nov. '07 I planted the seed so hopefully soon for flowers, the plants still look somewhat small, but I haven't been force feeding them just the usual quarterly fert. that the rest of my yard gets.
You can get a flower for every leaf . Foliar feeding with kelp then a NPK .. but the lush growth is whaT PROB. ATTRACTS THE PESTS .
