The Anthurium Plowmanii is a tropical epiphyte native to a few places in South America which means this plant usually grows under trees and not in soil directly.
With that said, Anthurium Plowmanii also referred to as birds nest anthurium, wave plant and other names can and is regularly grown in containers with soil as a houseplant.
This plant is well known for it’s crinkled green leaves that can grow to be a few feet in length as a houseplant and can also grow larger in the wild.
So if you’re looking on what needs to be done to properly grow and care for your Anthurium Plowmanii, then let’s get started.
Plowmanii Light Requirements
Since this plant naturally grows under trees or shade in general, you will want to mimic this and provide bright indirect light to medium light on a consistent basis.
Direct light can and will scorch the leaves and low light will slow or completely stop growth so you want to avoid these types of light as much as possible.
A few good ways to give indirect light for Anthurium Plowmanii outdoors will be by growing under trees, under porches or balconies or just anywhere that you can provide a good amount of shade under light.
For indoor growth, you can place Plowmanii near most windows or under a quality grow light if you have one.
Pro Tip: Keep your plant a few feet away from most windows so direct light doesn’t have a chance to touch the foliage but still be able to provide a good amount of light.
Plowmanii Soil Selection
When it comes to soil selection for Anthurium Plowmanii, you want well draining soil as this plant is a pretty drought resistant plant anyway.
With that said it’s ideal for the soil to be able to keep slight amounts of moisture as well but not soaked soil or anything like that.
So a good combination of things to use will be Peat Moss and Perlite as this is my go to for this type of soil selection.
Peat moss is able to retain some moisture but still drains quite well and Perlite will speed up the drainage so you don’t even have to worry about water retaining for too long.
You can do 2 parts Peat and 1 part Perlite and be good to go.
Other airy materials can also be added and you can experiment for fun to find what you really like for this plant, but Peat moss and Perlite alone will do the trick.
How To Water Anthurium Plowmanii
The key to watering Anthurium Plowmanii is to do so fully each time and then let the soil get near or completely dry before watering again.
This will take 1 or 2 weeks on average during the warmer seasons and will take much longer during the winter for example.
It really just depends on a few different things like soil, temperature, humidity, container size and so on.
The best way to know when it’s time to water is by checking the top inch of soil.
If the top inch has completely dried up then you can water, if not then hold off until it’s dry.
For Anthurium Plowmanii, it’s better to underwater this plant than it is to overwater since it’s drought tolerant and you really don’t want to waterlog your birds nest Anthurium.
You can treat this plant more so like a succulent in regards to watering.
Otherwise if you end up overwatering, you may run into the following.
- Drooping leaves
- Leaves turning yellow
- Leaves turning brown
- Curling leaves
- Stunted growth
- Fungal issues
Temperature
Plowmanii likes to have pretty warm temperatures, but nothing too crazy.
An ideal growing range will be somewhere between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit with more wiggle room on the warmer side compared to the lower end.
Anthurium Plowmanii is not a cold hardy plant so you want to avoid cold temperatures as much as possible, even if that means bringing your plant indoors each night when temperatures drop.
If you’re planning on growing as a houseplant indoors then you don’t have to worry about this at all.
In my opinion, Anthurium Plowmanii is a super cool looking houseplant anyway and will look great in most spaces.
Humidity
Unlike most other Anthurium’s, Plowmanii doesn’t require as much humidity as others and will do fine in the 40% to 50% range but more is still welcomed.
Most places will be able to provide the minimum, but if you see signs that it’s not getting as much humidity as it needs then there are a few ways you can increase these levels.
- Use a water pebble tray under the plants container
- Group other plants nearby if you can
- Grow near water sources in the house or outdoors
- Use a humidifier if that’s your kind of thing
Overall you really shouldn’t have much of an issue with humidity with Plowmanii.
How To Propagate Anthurium Plowmanii
There are many types of propagation you can use for this plant, but I have to say the easiest way to propagate Anthurium Plowmanii is by using offsets or plantlets.
These will be smaller versions of the plant which will be found in the middle lower part of the plant once the plant has matured enough to be able to produce these.
Keep in mind that this can take several years of healthy growing for this to be possible, but I think it’s worth it more so than trying to do leaf propagation as we all know how the results on that can vary wildly.
So to do this you want to wait until at least the spring or during the summer when the plants actively growing.
Here are the steps.
- Wear gloves when interacting with the plant as it is a bit toxic
- Use some sterile gardening shears and carefully cut away an offset from the main plant with roots attached
- Prepare a container with fresh soil
- Place the offset on top of the soil with the roots in the soil
- Wet the soil and keep the container in a warm shaded location
- Keep the soil slightly moist but not soaked during this time
That’s all there is to it.
Repotting
Repotting Anthurium Plowmanii can be done every few years to freshen the soil or to provide a larger container if the roots have started to outgrow the container.
Like if you see roots growing through the drainage holes, then it’s time for a repot.
This is also best done during the spring or summer and you should only go up one pot size at a time to prevent stressing out your plant and future problems with watering or drainage from a container that’s too large.
Fertilizing
Fertilizing is a great way to provide nutrients to promote growth and or blooms.
For Plowmanii you can use a balanced liquid fertilizer once or twice a month during the spring and summer at 1/4 to 1/2 strength.
This will help prevent the buildup of salts which can cause fertilizer burn over time from too much fertilizer.
Also you don’t want to fertilize during the winter as it will do more harm than good.
Pests
Over time if the conditions are right for them then you may run into some pests.
You may encounter pests such as mealy bugs, spider mites, aphids or more.
If you ever notice white spots, webbing, holes in the foliage or if the plant just looks extra dehydrated then you probably have a pest issue going on.
These pests can be treated with either water and a towel or by using a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol.
If this alone doesn’t get rid of the pests then you can try things like neem oil or other options.