Home Garden - Anthurium Flowering

01. Anthurium Gardening - Introduction
02. Anthurium Climate, Species and cultivars
03. Anthurium Growth and Flowering
04. Anthurium propagation - Seed propagation method
05. Anthurium Propagation - vegetative propagation
06. Different Anthurium cultivation practices
07. Anthurium - diseases and pests attack
08. Anthurium harvesting and pre-harvest handling

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Diseases and Pests

A large number of diseases and pests attack the plants damaging flower production and quality of the flowers.

A. Diseases

Fungi, bacteria and viruses sometimes attack the plants producing serious diseases.

1. Fungal Diseases in Anthurium

The major fungi attacking plants were colletotrichum, Pythium spp.

a. Anthracnose

Collectotrichum gleosporioides is the causal organism of this disease. It is the most damaging diseases of anthuriums. Also known as spadix rot or black nose, it is a problem in high rainfall areas. Spadices are damaged and flowers become unsuitable for commercial purpose.

Control of Anthracnose
Spray Maneb @ 2lb/l00 gal and Dodine or Dyrene @ 1 Ib/l00 gal gives good control of the disease. It is suggested that application should be made at 2 -week intef'7al and a sticker should be used. Certain cultivars like Marian seefurth, Uniwai and Manoa Mist are reported to be resistant to the pathogen.

b. Root rot

Pythium splendens is the causal organism of this disease. It attacks-the root of Anthurium andreanum, and often causes serious losses, especially during rainy season.

Control of Root rot in anthuriums
The disease can be controlled by a soil application of PCNB (quintozene) @ 80 ounce 150 gal water.

c. Leaf spot in Anthurium

Septaria anthurium and S. minima are the causal organisms for the leaf spot disease. A non-parasitic leaf spotting may occur under unfavourable cultural conditions.

Control of leaf spot in anthurium
The disease can be controlled by sprays of Carbileen (Zineb) @ 30 g 1100 Iitres of water, repeated at interval of 2-3 weeks. Among the several fungicides tested in vitro under different conditions of temperature and humidity, Oxyquinoline sulphate gives best control of S. minima.

2. Bacterial disease

Xanthomonas compestris poses a considerable threat to the commercial anthurium growers because of systemic infection.

Control of bacterial disease
Strict sanitation measures, the removal of affected leaves and spraying with Streptomycin sulphite or Oxytetracycline. are recommended. The bacterium appears to be resistant to copper based preparations, and those can also be phytotoxic to anthuriums.

3. Viral disease in Anthurium

Mosaic and malformation of leaves and spathes are observed in different anthurium cultivars in commercial nurseries. Up to 20% infection can be observed in pink and red cultivars and 94% in white cultivars. The virus could be transmitted by Bemisia tabaci and possibly also by grafting a piece of infected leaf onto the stem.

B. Pests attacking Anthurium

Though pests are not a problem in anthurium cultivation, insects like aphids, scales, thrips and spider mites are found to attack the plants and cause considerable damage.

1. Aphids

These insects suck (Aphids) the plant's sap, causing yellowing and distortion of leaves and poor growth. They secrete a sticky sugary substance called 'honey dew' upon which a black mould often grows. The mould not only looks very unsightly but interferes with the leaves as well.



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