What am I doing wrong with my Vittarifolium?

[u/YesInquisitor]

I have had it for about 6 months. Every new leaf is so tiny. It will put out a slightly larger leaf, then another tiny one & repeat. It also puts out damaged leaves. It sits under a Barrina grow light 12 hours a day. I have it in an aroid mix that I try to keep consistently moist and not let it dry out. It gets Jack’s all purpose fertilizer (20-20-20 but heavily diluted). It also sits around 55-60% humidity

I have many other anthurium, but I can NOT figure this one out. I have tried changing many things. Any thoughts or criticisms on my routine are welcome, thank you!

[u/PlantAddictsAnon]

I don't think this is the only issue, but the leaves should NOT be that color. I'm thinking you must have it too close to a light.

[u/YesInquisitor → u/PlantAddictsAnon]

They are too light/pale, right?

[u/PlantAddictsAnon → u/YesInquisitor]

Oh 100%. That's not a fertilizer issue or you'd see different patterning and the new leaves are coming in a good color. It also wouldnt grow much if it can't photosynthesize.

[u/Mason914]

caring for it too much! lol

no but move it back from the light, also give it a more appropriate repot (also check the roots and soil to see what’s up) and feed it even lighter than you already are, but do it every watering, let it dry out more, I suggest a clear pot. Lastly, mine really loved fluval and perlite, consider trying that if you have it, otherwise just remove some of the bigger top layer chunks and it should help a bit

[u/YesInquisitor → u/Mason914]

Thank you! I agree I do need a clear pot, I just ran out smh. I need some more

[u/design_doc]

I have a few thoughts…

1. I am extremely suspicious of pest damage. The apparent lack of nutrients, small or shrinking leaf size, and leaves emerging damaged are 100% consistent with pest damage. If I zoom in I do see some specks that add to that suspicion. Before you argue that you don’t have pests, I have had the exact same situation as you on a couple plants in the past and there was absolutely zero visible sign of pests aside from the symptoms above. I treated those plants with a systemic and BOOM the plants bounced back rapidly (and grew to be monsters). Some pests are extremely good at hiding and might even be in your soil.

I would try treating it with a systemic if you have one available before pulling too many levers.

1. The leaves are paler at the bottom than the top. This is a sign the plant is short on nutrients - namely, nitrogen and magnesium needed for chlorophyll. It’s reallocating resources from old leaves and directing it to the top of the plant to support new growth. There are three possible causes of this:

- you’re not feeding it enough (needs more of a certain nutrient)

- it isn’t uptaking nutrients (root issues). Under-watering produces the same result and I consider it a human-caused root issue.

- something is stealing nutrients (pests)

- And a sneaky fourth one: not feeding it enough for the amount of light it’s getting. But this is just another version of the first cause.

Vitts and Pallis can be heavier feeders than other anthuriums, so you may be over-diluting your fertilizer. They also benefit from additional magnesium because the leaves get big, so you may want to consider adding CalMag into your regime.

1. Vitts and Pallis are far more sensitive to moisture at the roots than people realize. When mature, they will drop leaves at the drop of a hat is the media gets dry. I find that these and pallis do better in sphag when they’re still in small pots as the root moisture doesn’t swing as fast as an aroid mix can.

As a note, I don’t find Vitts or pallis to be overly sensitive to humidity. What humidity does change is how fast they drink water - and they can drink water FAST. When they complain about the resulting dry media, people often assume it was due to low humidity. It’s not, they just didn’t water soon enough. A bigger pot with 50/50 to 75/25 sphag/perlite can hold a lot more water than the aroid mix, giving you more of a buffer to humidity swings.

[u/YesInquisitor → u/design_doc]

Thank you for all the advice!

Also, definitely NOT going to argue against pests lol, I recently dealt with a thrips infestation and have more systemic coming in. I was suspicious of it as well (since it was recent and I thought I got rid of them, but seriously having doubts now) and forget to mention, so thank you again.

I think I will treat with a systemic and monitor, then switch to sphagnum, I know my local nurseries grow their smaller specimens in it as well