Anthurium Crystal Hope Care - Watering, Soil and Propagation

Last Updated on March 19, 2022 by Admin

The Anthurium Crystal Hope is high in-demand hybrid of the Anthurium Crystallinum. As a result, if you come across the plant you may notice it have a high price tag. Even young plants can be expensive.

It is best known for its stunning dark green leaves and light-green/silver veins. If you come across a Anthurium Crystal Hope, you may notice that its leaves have different colors as the plant grows.

The plant is native to the tropical regions of Central America and particularly Costa Rica. Thus, it is accustomed to tropical conditions.

How do your care for Anthurium Crystal Hope? The Anthurium Crystal Hope needs bright, indirect light, moderate temperature (65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit), high humidity (>70%) and well-draining soil.

Avoid overwatering it as it can be susceptible to root rot.

Table of Contents

Anthurium Crystal Hope Plant Care

Light Requirements

The Anthurium Crystal Hope grows best in bright, indirect light indoors. However, it does well in medium light and can tolerate low light conditions as well.

That said, if you want to see its leaves maintain their vibrant green colors and silver veins, bright, indirect light is ideal.

Outdoors, it will thrive in partial shade.

Whether it is indoors or outdoors, it is important to avoid both extremes.

Too little light will prevent the plant from growing optimally. It will experience slow growth and can become leggy.

Additionally, its leaves will tun more solid green as the plant will try to absorb as much light as it can to support its functions.

On the other hand, too much intense light or exposure to direct sunlight is likewise bad.

This can burn its beautiful leaves. If it doesn’t, it will make their dark green color turn pale.

As such, while the plant relies on light to stay healthy and grow, avoid too much or too little.

Temperature

The Anthurium Crystal Hope enjoys more moderate temperatures compared to some other Anthurium varieties. Its ideal temperature range is between 60 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is one important thing to be aware of when it comes to this genus. Their needs vary.

If you look at other anthurium varieties, you’ll notice some of them will prefer temperatures up to 80 or 90 degrees.

As such, always consider each variety based on its needs.

Because of its preference, it is important to keep the plant away from both cold and hot environments.

Since it is tropical in nature it does have higher tolerance for heat than cold. However, the farther away from its ideal range you go, the slower the plant will grow.

More importantly, try to keep it away from temperatures over 90 degrees as it can experience heat stress.

Also, avoid anything colder than 50 degrees as this will harm the plant.

The good news is, most homes keep temperatures around the plant’s ideal range because we humans are most comfortable there as well.

Humidity

For best results, the Anthurium Crystal Hope needs humidity of 70% and 80%. Thus, it is perfect for terrariums and greenhouses.

However, it can tolerate humidity as low as 50%.

This means you should try to keep humidity indoors around this level.

Unfortunately, that can be tricky depending on where you live. Most homes have humidity ranging form 20% to 50%. And this can drop depending on the time of year.

If you live somewhere with tropical conditions or near a body of water like a lake or beach, then humidity won’t be a problem.

However, if you notice humidity usually staying in the 30s, you will need to find ways to increase it to keep the plant happy.

I do suggest getting a hygrometer to make it easy to track humidity on a daily basis.

This will let you know of you need to take action.

If humidity consistently stays low, you’ll notice your Anthurium Crystal Hope’s leaves turn brown and crispy on the tips and edges. This is a sign it is struggling with the dry air.

Thus, you can:

Get a humidifier
Move it to the bathroom, which is the most humid spot in the house
Mist the plant a few times a week
Place it on a humidity tray
Group it with other plants
Give it a shower every couple of weeks or so.

You can use one or a combination of these methods to increase humidity.

How Often to Water Anthurium Crystal Hope

The ideal watering schedule is to keep the soil moist during the plant’s growing season and allow it to dry out during winter.

This means it is not a good idea to stick to a fixed watering routine. Instead, adjust how often you water based on the climate.

The reasons is that that plant needs and likes water. However, it cannot stand too much water.

Overwatering or waterlogged soil will increase its risk of root rot.

As such, the best way to water the plant is to wait until the top 2 to 3 inches of soil dries out before adding more water.

On average this comes out to around once a week during the warmer months and about once every 2 weeks during winter.

But I don’t suggest just following this schedule blindly. Nor should you compare how often you water with other people who own the plant.

That’s because they can live somewhere else with different climate conditions. Additionally, they may be using different kind of soil and their plant may be getting more or less sunshine.

Instead, stick your finger into the soil before you add water. Make sure to do this each and every time.

If the soil feels dry about 2 inches from the surface or more, you can water. But avoid doing so before that.

Some people can tell by simply lifting the pot. A heavy pot means there’s moisture in the soil, while a much lighter pot means the soil is dry.

However, this method requires practice and experience.

Alternatively, you can use a moisture meter and just check what its gauge tells you.

Either way, like light and temperature, moderation is key. Avoid too much water or too little water.

But in this case, you want to be extra careful to excess water as it can ultimately destroy your plant should root rot happen. This is why overwatering is the number cause of plant death.

Related

Anthurium Crystal Hope Soil

The best soil for Anthurium Crystal Hope is well-draining soil. This reduces the risk of overwatering and waterlogging.

The simplest way to get this is to just pick up a bag of Aroid mix from your favorite nursery. Note that I’ve noticed that not all nurseries or garden centers carry aroid mixes.

So, you may need to search for hem or find them online.

On the other hand, you can likewise make your own potting mix for Anthurium Crystal Hope This is actually quite easy to do.

All you need is to combine equal parts of:

Peat
Perlite
Pine bark

This will give you a light, loose and well-draining soil that holds enough moisture to keep the plant hydrated and quickly drain excess water.

In addition to well-draining soil, it is also important to use a pot with drainage holes.

The holes at the bottom will allow the water that drains from the soil to exit the container. This way the liquid does not just pool at the bottom of the pot and cause waterlogging.

Fertilizer

Fertilizer is another important aspect of optimal care. And the Anthurium Crystal Hope needs it to grow fast and maintain is lovely leaves.

However, avoid overfeeding the plant. This is the single most troublesome thing you can do with fertilizer.

The reason is that fertilizers leave mineral salts in the soil after the plant absorbs the nutrients and the water dries. As these salts build up they become toxic to your plant.

Thus, too much fertilizer will give your Anthurium Crystal Hope problems.

just as importantly, the plant is not a heavy feeder.

All it needs is a high quality water soluble fertilizer diluted to half strength applied once every 2 months during the spring and summer. You can stop feeding by early to mid fall and don’t feed it during winter as it does not grow much during cold weather.

Pruning

The Anthurium Crystal Hope can grow into a big plant outdoors. Indoors it size is more manageable. Yet, I does get bigger than many other anthurium varieties.

Its leaves can grow as long as 18 inches indoors. Outdoors they can reach between 24 to 30 inches.

Just as importantly, a well cared for Anthurium Crystal Hope can get quite bushy even in a pot.

Therefore, how much you prune ultimately end sup to what size you want your plant to get and how bushy you like it to look.

That’s aid, I’ve found the plant to look amazing when it gets dense and thick. So, you may want to hold off on pruning too often.

However, if you don’t like a lot of leaves and don’t want it to get too big, you may need to prune it every few months or so. On average, a happy Anthurium Crystal Hope will produce a new leaf every month.

How to Propagate Anthurium Crystal Hope

In addition to water, another aspect that can be challenging is propagating the Anthurium Crystal Hope. It is a bit finicky here. Also, you cannot propagated it from stem cuttings.

Thus, the most effective ways to propagate the Anthurium Crystal Hope are from plantlets, by division or from seed.

Of the 3 methods, propagating it from plantlets is the simplest as you can easily remove the plantlets from the parent.

However, since the plant will only grow plantlets on its own time, you’re at the mercy of nature. This makes it an inconsistent and unreliable method despite is ease.

On the other hand, division takes more work. But you have more control on when you can propagate the plant, at least to a degree.

That’s because you need the plant to get a good enough size before you can divide it. Otherwise, you end up with very small plants.

Finally, there is propagation from seed. This takes the most time and the most effort as you need to germinate the seeds and allow them to grow into seedlings.

Propagating Anthurium Crystal Hope by Division

The best time to propagate the Anthurium Crystal Hope is during spring or early summer. You also need a mature plant with enough size.

You can divide the parent into 2 or more depending on how many new plants you want and how big the plant is.

Some people also divide the plant to limit its overall size.

To propagate the Anthurium Crystal Hope:

Carefully take the plant out of its pot
Brush off some of the soil and separate any tangled roots.
Check the root system for any problems including root rot, pests, diseases or anything else.
Decide where you want to divide the root system. But make sure that each division has stems and leaves above the soil and corresponding roots beneath the soil.
Next, prepare an extra pot and fill up until about 40% of the way with soil. Then put the new plant into the pot and fill the remaining space with more soil to keep the plant steady.
Repot the parent plant.
Water the soil and keep them moist. Also, place the plants in bright, indirect light with high humidity and moderate temperature.

How to Repot or Transplant Anthurium Crystal Hope

The Anthurium Crystal Hope is not particularly a fast grower and it likes being a bit root bound. Therefore, you only need to repot it every 2 to 3 years.

That said, you want to avoid letting the plant’s roots get overly crowded in the pot. This will cause stress and make the plant struggle.

If this happens, you may see it wilt, stop growing or even drop leaves depending on how pot bound it is.

As such, once you see quite a few roots coming out of the bottom of the pot’s drainage holes, it is a sign to repot.

When repotting, choose a container that is 2 inches wider. Avoid overpotting as this increases the risk of overwatering.

Also, prepare fresh, well-draining soil to replace the spend soil in the pot. This will help the plant grow faster once you’ve repotted it.

Is It Toxic/Poisonous to Humans, Cats & Dogs

The Anthurium Crystal Hope is toxic as it contains calcium oxalate crystals. This means you should avoid letting young kids, dogs or cats ingest any part of the plant including the leaves and stems.

If your kids or pets happen to ingest any part of the plant, immediately call your pediatrician or veterinarian. They will tell you what to do next.

Problems & Troubleshooting

Pests

Pests are not a huge problem for the Anthurium Crystal Hope provided that it stays healthy.

However, if the plant is stressed, weak or not getting all the requirements it needs, it becomes more prone to pests.

The most common pests that will attack this plant are spider mites, mealybugs, thrips, aphids and scale. And they will feed on its sap.

This makes it very important to regularly inspect the plant and treat any pests once your discover them. The longer they go untreated, the bigger the risk of pest infestation.

Pest infestations are hard to deal with because they cause a lot of damage to the plant due to their sheer number. Additionally it can take several weeks to eradicate them.

Diseases

Root rot, bacterial and fungal infections are the most important things to watch out for here.

Root rot is the most serious problem for the plant. As such, try to avoid this as much as possible.

The main cause of root rot is almost always overwatering or waterlogging. Therefore, don’t water the plant too often and make sure it has good drainage (both in the soil and in the pot).

Similarly, too much moisture is the most common cause of both bacterial and fungal infections. Thus, keeping the plant on the dry side helps you avoid all these problems.

Anthurium Crystal Hope Care – Watering, Soil and Propagation