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  Re: [Aroid-l] ?? Water-loving Anthurium species
From: <ju-bo at msn.com> on 2009.09.27 at 13:42:16(20079)
Dear All Aquatic aroid lovers,

Another note w/ info. on the group of aroids I love best.
A special 'hello' to Christopher ''the Younger'' Rogers and to Devin, there will be a few snippets in this which apply to both of you.
First off, Christopher, cultivate the contacts w/ my dear friend Jay Vaninni in Guatemalea, he is THE man concerning info. on most obscure aroids and growing methods, especially Anthurium and Philo. sps.!   Dr. Tom Croat, in one of his talks last w/end paid tribute to Jay and his knowledge.  He if anyone can tell you how to grow A. amnicola, though I`ll give a suggestion on a method I used with a VERY difficult to cultivate Caladium cf. picturatum which grows under very wet/swampy conditions.  Jay`s invaluable observations and information is below!
OK--Devin, I have not heard from you as yet as to IF you have acess to back issues of the older Aroideanas or Deni Bown`s EXCELLENT book on aroids, but there is info. that you need to read on growing aquatics in them.   Two articles come to mind, both by me.  In Aroideana Vol. 16, pgs. 33-36, "Experiencing Urospathas", and in Aroideana Vol. 20, pgs.13-26, "Observations on New World Araceae-Lasieae''.  In them you will find good information on the cultivation methods I used to grow these usually most difficult plants to show-winning specimens.  Some of these plants, plus the Asian genus Cyrtosperma, are in MY opinion the KINGS of all aquatic aroids.
Later on I`ll give info. on some improvements made to these methods by Enid and Sam of "Natural Selections Exotics" (www.NSExotics.com).
Your method of cultivation of aquatic aroids in aquariums does limit what species can be grown, you can grow only the smaller species, while some/many aquatic aroids grow to be close to 6'+ (up to 18'!) in height!   If you have a green house, and by incorporating Enid`s method, many of the larger species CAN be grown in cooler/cold areas as long as you have the space inside your greenhouse.   Most do NOT tollerate cool/cold air temps. AND cool water, but there are ways to overcome this.
Devin---first off, I have been thinking of SMALLER species of aquatic aroids, both native AND exotic which would be fantastic if obtained and grown under your aquarium conditions.   The most beautiful and interesting Orontium aquaticum (a.k.a. "golden club", a native) and a small specimen of Peltandra (native) should work well!
On the exotic side, ask around for Colocasia affinis and others in this group.   They are remarkably beautiful SMALL wild Asian species (10" tall max.??), and grow very well with ''wet'' roots.  Their beautifully marked leaf blades rival in markings and beauty the much larger Colocasia ''illustrus" in your photographs, Google them??  Our friend Pete Boyce may be able to give some info. on species, etc., and maybe Enid just MIGHT either have specimens for sale or might know of a source, I`ve seen them in collections from time to time around S. Florida.
The beautiful Caladium steudnerifolium (Ecuadorian, but up to 30" tall) also grows wet, in nature it is sometimes seen with its roots actually growing in flowing streams, I am told.  Enid may have this.
The method I used to grow a good, undamaged specimen of the swamp-loving Caladium sp. was to pot the plant in a well-draining mix, in the pots bottom was about 3" of larva rock.  I put about 2" of pea-gravel in a LARGE shallow plastic saucer (30" dia.?), I kept the saucer 1/2 filed with water and placed the pot in its center on the pea gravel/water with only about 1/2" of the potted plants bottom in the water.  The very high humidity created by water in the large saucer seemed to keep the plants most delicate leaves from drying out and ''curling'' at the edges. (Devin, Steve Lucas might have plants of this Caladium sp. from me, VERY sagittate leaves, lilac v-markings, ask him), it WILL grow wet
Enids method of growing the larger Urospatha and Cyrtosperma sps. VERY well during the cooler Florida months, when the temp. of the water in the necessary saucers got cool/cold, causing the roots of these delicate plants to die, and the cooler air temps. caused the beautiful leaves to dry and look bad, was/is as follows.   She and Sam set up some large plastic ''kiddie pools'' and some smaller ''cement mixing containers", maybe 4' X 4' by 12" deep (availble at H/Depot, etc.)   They added about maybe 5" of water in these containers, plus a cheap aquarium water heater AND one of those cheap ''pumps'' which are commonly used to circulate the water of marine fish tanks with which to move the heated water around.   The actual potted plants were placed on bricks (with spaces between the bricks) so that only say 1" - 2" of their bottoms, sitting ON the bricks, were actually IN the water. (and these potted plants had about 3" of larva rock in THEIR bottoms, so NO soil was under water!).   This set-up allowed the warm (NOT HOT!) heated water to circulate, and rising heat in the cool g/house prevented a LOT of damage to their leaves from the cool/cold air from occuring!  The aquatics I saw growin under these conditions in the cool Florida winter were just fantastic!
Enough for now.

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