Anthurium Black Queen - everyday life of the Black Prince
Perhaps one of the most beautiful and unusual varieties of anthurium is the Black Queen variety. It belongs to the green-leaved group and is a hybrid. Due to its unusual coloring, the flower is also called the Black Prince.
What is the peculiarity of the variety?
The plant has all the features of the parent varieties: the ear of anthurium is colored yellow-green, but the cover itself on the flowers of one bush can be either one-color or different colors. In the budding phase, a rich cherry color predominates, but when the coverlet is fully opened, it turns black with a dark red tint. However, there are anthuriums, which on one plant can have flowers with both black stipules and cherry ones.
Black or red bedspreads on the cobs of anthurium are in perfect harmony with dark leaves, which have a glossy shine and are painted with lighter veins.
Connoisseurs of exotic plants try to get Black Queen in their collection, although some growers prefer to avoid it due to its almost mourning color.
What does Their Highness the Black Prince love?
Like all anthuriums, Black Queen needs careful care, in which the bush will not only grow well, but also bloom profusely. To do this, you need to provide him with:
- Diffused lighting... The southern room is suitable for plants only in winter, and it is advisable to place the pot not on the windowsill itself, but on a stand or a curbstone by the window. For the rest of the year, anthurium should live in the east or west, direct sunlight is destructive for it.
- Watering and spraying... Enough in winter water anthurium once a week, with the arrival of spring - double the frequency, preventing water from stagnating in the pot and sump. Anthurium is very fond of showering and spraying, but only on the leaves, without affecting the inflorescences. You can wipe the leaves with a damp sponge.
- Comfortable temperature... Prevent the temperature from rising above 25 degrees in summer and falling below 12 degrees in winter.
- Periodic feeding... It is especially important to fertilize the Black Prince during the formation of inflorescences with complex preparations.
Every two years, the anthurium needs to be transplanted into new nutrient soil, but the pot should not be taken too large. Of course, the flower will grow in it, increasing the roots and deciduous mass, but flowering will not come before the root system fills the entire flowerpot.
What do the spots on the leaves of anthurium indicate?
The dark green leaves serve as a kind of health indicator for the flower. At the first signs of a change in their color, you should immediately take measures to save the anthurium:
- yellowing of leaves - lack of light, improper watering or lack of nutrients;
- light or brown spots - from cold;
- black spots - excess calcium in the soil.
Spots on the bedspread indicate that droplets of water have entered them during spraying.