Hi guys! I'm new to the forum and I'm excited to learn new stuff from you all. My name's Heather & I'm 17 years old. =) I'm somewhat new to taking care of plants. I received a Christmas Cactus for Christmas of 2009. and a Cactus that I don't know the name of [In march]. I bought an Anthurium and a Golden Pothos last week. All the plants came from wal-mart I need some help with identifying one of my cactus. I'm also wondering what this white and blue stuff is on a few of my plants. I'm thinking the white stuff might be dust, cause that's what it looks like. and the blue stuff to be paint. Also I'm wondering special care they may need and if they're in good health. I hope you guys can help me. :) Here are some pictures I took. :)
OK. The Anthurium is A. anderaum, likely a hybrid, but which one won't be knowable until it blooms. There are hundreds and hundreds of cultivars of this plant. You'll want to check what kind of soil both it at the Epipremnium aureum (Pothos) are in, because Wal Mart is notorious for just using any old dirt, and these plants have some fairly specific requirements if you want them to be really healthy. If they seem to be in regular potting soil, you should consider repotting them into pots with drainage holes at the bottom, using a mixture of orchid bark, peat moss, leaf mulch, a small amount of black soil, and a pinch of charcoal. This will give you the extremely fast drainage that the plants prefer. After that, watering them whenever the soil is dry and allowing it to run out the holes at the bottom will keep them happy. I'm sure that Exotic Rainforest will weigh in as well - he's the real expert. For both of the aroids (the Pothos and the Anthurium), wiping the leaves with a soft, damp cloth will keep the dust off and may even remove the paint. It's a good idea to do this at least once a month - it keeps the plant's "lungs" unclogged and helps with photosynthesis as well. The other point on the Pothos is that it's a plant that absolutely loves to climb. You can grow it as a hanging vine, but it will never fully mature, and it won't be as happy as if you let it go up a pole or trellis. At about 10' of climbing, too, it will start to do some interesting things - the leaf shape and style will change - it will develop longer leaves with windows in them. The cacti will thrive on neglect. The one thing I'd do, though, is remove that fake flower from the top of the Echinopsis - it may be pretty, but it's not healthy for it to remain there. It's likely hot-glued on, and should come off with a gentle tug. The real cactus gurus, Joclyn and Rosemary, will likely have more advice for you; I tend to forget about my cacti and I'm sure they're not quite as happy as they could be.
Thanks for the advice! I never knew people put fake flowers on the plant and glued them on! How deceiving.. cause to me, it looked pretty real. I tried pulling it off but only the top came off, the bottom is still attached. I tried pulling a bit harder but the caucus started to come up. So I guess I'll just leave it there. I tried wiping with a cloth, but all the dust and paint didn't come off. Is there anything I could use to get the paint and dust off? Like.. I dunno... some sort of solution maybe?
Hi Heather, here are a few links that should answer most of your questions. Lorax is very right about the porous soil and climbing as you will see in some of the photos: Growing Anthurium: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Grow or Growing Anthurium species.html Epipremnum aureum: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Epipremnum aureum pc.html Schumbergia subs. Zygocactus (Christmas Cactus): http://www.exoticrainforest.com/zygocactus.html After you read these you might want to consider reading the page on Natural Variation: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Natural variation within aroid and plant species.html All of these plants are rain forest species and the information often supplied by Walmart and others is almost always wrong. All grow up in the canopy of the rain forest on the branches of trees, rarely in soil. They will grow in soil but need a very porous soil mix and moderately bright light to flourish. Keep them near a fairly bright window and keep the soil evenly moist, never soggy. The suggestion to use a pot that drains is imperative since the roots of these tree dwelling species cannot survive long term in soggy soil. Good luck and feel free to ask again if anything is not clear. There are many good growers on this site that can point you in the right direction. Steve
I failed to comment on the cactus bloom. I have seen many flowering cactus (I don't grow them) that produce bizarre flowers. You might want to check the website of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. They have a good photo database, offer excellent advice as well as a way to ask for help: http://www.cssainc.org/
