Anthurium Growth Rate: 6 Key Factors To Consider

Anthuriums are known to be slow to moderate growers with an average growth rate between 5 and 7 inches per year. This can vary depending on a lot of factors, which I’ll dive into shortly, and these factors can be optimised to improve the growth rate drastically.

Want to learn how to make your anthurium grow faster? Keep reading to find out how.

What Factors Affect Anthurium Growth Rate? (6 Key Things)

As a long-term anthurium owner, I’ve found that the most important factors that affect anthurium growth rate are using the right fertilizer, providing enough sunlight, providing enough water without over/underwatering and ensuring humidity and temperature are within the correct range.

Other factors such as soil type are important to get right, but when it comes to growth rate it’s better to focus on the most important factors to see a quick improvement.

1. Fertilizer

Supplementing with fertilizer is a great way to boost the growth rate. I recommend using a complete fertilizer once or twice per month during the growing season; complete meaning it contains the three primary nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

These three nutrients are essential for growth rate:

  • Nitrogen – Boosts leaf growth.
  • Phosphorus – Supports root growth and flower development.
  • Potassium – Boost overall plant function which improves growth rate.

This becomes even more important if you use LECA instead of soil.

2. Sunlight

Everybody (hopefully) knows how important sunlight is for plants.

It is responsible for providing the energy that plants need to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen (also known as photosynthesis). This means sunlight is absolutely crucial for anthurium growth rate.

Choose an area with plenty of bright, indirect sunlight for optimal growth rate. Too much direct sunlight can lead to sun scorch, and too little sunlight will slow growth drastically.

3. Watering

Water is the other essential ingredient for photosynthesis, and it’s also needed for absorbing other nutrients from the soil via transpiration.

The key to growth rate is to water the correct amount – too much water can lead to issues such as root rot and too little can dry out the leaves and slow down growth.

I water my anthurium when the top few inches of soil are dry to the touch. I also make sure that drainage holes are in place to prevent overwatering.

4. Humidity

Anthuriums rely on absorbing moisture from the air both from their leaves and also aerial roots due to their epiphytic nature in order to grow.

This is why humidity is so important for anthuriums, and you should aim to keep the humidity at least above 50% and ideally between 60% and 70% for optimal growth conditions. I know from experience that this can be tricky to achieve, so I would recommend keeping your anthurium in the bathroom or kitchen where the average humidity tends to be higher.

It’s also worth using a hygrometer to measure the humidity to get an accurate reading; these are inexpensive and worthwhile if you have multiple houseplants.

5. Temperature

Temperature affects plant growth rate, and in terms of anthuriums, you should aim for a daytime temperature between 75°F and 90°F (roughly 23°C to 32°C), and down to around 60°F (around 15°C) during the nighttime.

6. Season/Climate

Depending on where you live the climate will vary greatly, which impacts things like average temperature, humidity and sunlight which all play a key role in anthurium growth rate.

Do Different Types Of Anthurium Grow Faster Than Others?

With upwards of 1,000 species of anthurium, you would expect that some of them would grow faster than others, and this is definitely the case.

An anthurium plant with 2 flowers

Anthurium warocqueanum, for example, can grow not only much larger in size than your common anthurium andraeanum (pictured above) with a total height of up to 6 feet; but it also grows at a much faster rate achieving most of its height within 2 to 3 years.

Other types of anthurium might not grow faster, but they have other advantages such as being much easier to care for. Anthurium veitchii is a great example of this.

FAQs

How Long Do Anthuriums Live?

Anthuriums live between 3 and 6 years on average.

I’ve covered this topic in depth in a separate article, which you can find here if you want more information about anthurium lifespan. As you would expect, most of the factors that are important for growth rate are also just as important for the lifespan as well.

How Big Do Anthuriums Grow?

Anthuriums usually grow to reach around 2 to 3 feet tall, according to the latest research.

My 5-year-old anthurium andraeanum is around 2 feet tall, which would agree with these findings. I would suspect that indoor anthuriums reach a lesser height than those grown outdoors as they are restricted by care and also the container that they are placed within.

How Long Does It Take For An Anthurium To Grow A New Leaf?

In my experience, I usually find a couple of new leaves every 1-2 months during the summer.

Over the winter, my anthurium will typically produce one or two new leaves, but keep in mind that it gets particularly cold (less than 32°F) where I live so this might not apply to your location.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Joe! I'm the head of SEO and content management at Bloom and Bumble. I'm a huge plant lover and over the years my home has become more like an indoor rainforest. It has taken a lot of trial and error to keep my plants healthy and so I'm here to share my knowledge to the rest of the world.

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