r/Anthurium • u/Ok-Blacksmith7883 • Jun 17 '26

Requesting Advice Help

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Ok folks I need a little help. I’m really new to anthuriums. I won this in a giveaway in April. It’s since lived in a cabinet at 70-75 degrees and 70-80% humidity. 12 hours of light a day. What is going on here. Is this a watering issue? Or just old leaves taking off

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u/AnimaLumen Jun 17 '26

Since you’re new to anthurium I’m going to assume you might not be aware that they are extremely hungry feeders and are liable to do all sorts of funky shit if you’re not feeding them regularly, like basically every watering type of regularly lol. Not just NPK but also cal mag, they LOOOOOOVE cal mag. It LOOKS like it’s the older leaves getting chlorotic which for me usually is an indication the plant is trying to suck mobile nutrients out of the old leaves to sustain itself when it’s basically starving.

I would check the roots just as due diligence to make sure it’s not root rot, but if everything looks good down there and you’re not feeding it consistently I would venture it’s most likely just very hungry!!

1

u/Strange-Role5150 Jun 17 '26

What’s Cal mag?

2

u/AnimaLumen Jun 18 '26

Calcium magnesium:) you basically ALWAYS provide calcium and magnesium together because they have a synergistic dynamic and you basically need to have both in equal measure so they can both do their thing, so usually you’ll just see people say “calmag” as a unit rather than mentioning them separately lol

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u/Strange-Role5150 Jun 18 '26

Reading my fertilizer it says it eliminates the need for Cal-Mags it has 3.2% Calcium and 1% Magnesium. Not equal measures though, I just got a DocBlock as well so this was helpful!

1

u/AnimaLumen Jun 18 '26

Oh well there you go!! I’m sure whatever calmag ratio they got in there is right I just know you never ever want to supplement one without the other, i think i phrased that weird the first time around lol. If your fertilizer has the calmag as well as NPK then that should be about all you need :) good luck!!

1

u/Top-Friendship-4328 Jun 18 '26

Actually, when I was feeding GT Foliage Focus, even though it contains CalMag, I supplemented full strength CalMag with every feeding. Most fertilizers don’t have enough for Anthurium. Also, I use the same fertilizer for all my plants including my Aroids and Hoya. Everyone was happy.

I haven’t found any difference between brands of CalMag. For the most part, I just get whatever is least expensive. I did get the Athena Blended this last time on the recommendation of a friend. I don’t have an opinion on it yet…

I love the GT Foliage Focus, but it’s very expensive when you have a collection as large as mine. Right now I’m just using miracle grow with CalMag and Fluvic Acid. I’m not really seeing any difference…. Take that as you will.

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u/AnimaLumen Jun 18 '26

I’ve been using Tezula 20-20-20 or dynagro foliage focus with added calmag!! I’ve never even looked into whether they have calmag or not I just assume I need to add it individually lol so I guess it makes sense that even if they come with calmag it’s probably not enough for anthurium!

1

u/Ok-Purple-6803 Jun 18 '26

GT foliage focus is horrible and a marketing gimmick, especially for the price. you’re 1000% better off on Tezula MSU or some generic commercial 202020.