Anthurium Cultivation Guide 2018

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About the author View All Posts amar sawant Amar Sawant is an entrepreneur, farmer, and writer. He works more than ten
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September 24, 2018

Anthurium is tropical ornamental plant and Anthurium cultivated for its colourful, long-
lasting flowers or the attractive foliage. They have Gained importance as major cut flowers
of the modern world.

Anthurium is a native of Central and South America and the genus Anthurium, with over
700 species.

The word anthurium is taken from the Greek ‘anthos’, flower and ‘aura’ tail, referring to the
spadix.

The major countries importing anthurium cut flowers are in the USA. Canada. Germany.
Europe and Japan.
The popularity of growing anthurium as cut flowers has risen tremendously in the past few
years and it has now become an important export-oriented crop.

In India, Anthurium industry is still in its starting phage. There are very a few growers from
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu Kerala Andhra Pradesh North -Eastern states who send their flower
to big cities like Mumbai and Delhi.

Anthurium requires Greenhouse with shading for protecting from direct sunlight and
maintain humid condition. Bright, but a filtered light is essential for abundant flowering.

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Table of Contents

Climate
Growing medium
Greenhouse structure required for commercial anthurium cultivation
Anthurium Varieties
Preparation of bed
Bed Dimension
Planting
Irrigation
Fertigation
Greenhouse management
Temperature and Relative Humidity management
Cultural practices
Weeding:
Pruning of leaves:
Plant protection measures:
Harvesting and Grading –
Post-harvest handling
Anthurium cultivation Economic
Conclusion

Climate
Anthurium is a tropical plant hence humid and Moderate temperature condition is suitable
for anthurium plant.

The ideal temperature for growing anthurium is ranging from 27 – 30°C in the daytime and
10 – 20°C at night time. avoid Anthurium cultivation where temperatures are lower than
15°C and above 35°C

Anthuriums are not grown in open tropical region hence For Anthurium cultivation in a
tropical climate, shade nets with 75% shading are used.

Growing medium

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Anthurium plants require a growing medium in good physical and chemical conditions for
its proper growth and development.

Highly organic, well-aerated growing media with good water retention capacity is suitable
for anthurium cultivation.

Selection of good growing media is directly correlated with successful growing and
production of export quality flowers in anthurium.

In India, coconut husk is the primary growing media use for anthurium cultivation this
coconut coir pith must well-decomposed and washed thoroughly with good quality water
to remove the soluble salts.

Then equal proportions of coir pith and coconut husk were used as growing media after
washing in fungicide (Bavistin 0.2%) and insecticide (Chloropyriphos 0.3%).

Greenhouse structure required for commercial anthurium

cultivation
For commercial purpose, anthurium cultivated in the greenhouse. The greenhouse/
polyhouse required is naturally ventilated type.

Foggers are fixed inside the greenhouse to control the humidity. Shade nets of 50%-75% are
used to regulate the shade.

The temperature and humidity under the greenhouse were maintained throughout at about
20-28 °C and 70-85 percent RH respectively.

Anthurium Varieties
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There are many varieties of anthurium with different colours like dark red, orange, white,
pink and bicolour (Two colours).

The preference for colour in global as well as local markets for anthurium flowers indicates
that the red coloured varieties are the most favored with 45 percent share among the
varieties sold.

In India. Some of the varieties viz., Ivory (White), Chichas (Maroon) Aymara (Pink) and
Jewel (Red with green), Tropical Red, Mauritius Red, Red Dragon, Verdun Red, Acropolis (
white), Mauritius White, Manoa Mist( white)

Preparation of bed

The bed consists of plastic foil (0.1cm thick), with a drainage tube for removing excess
water at the lowest point.

The side of the bed consisted of a strong polystyrene sheet and a wire on posts covered
with plastic sheet used to create the bed shape.

The bed has the width of 1.20 meter and length of 26 meters. Path width of 0.8 meters was
maintained.

Plastic is used to separate the substrate from underground. The bottom of the bed was
sloped from the side to the middle of the bed (2-3 cm) so that the drain water flows to the
drainage hose.

A growing medium of coconut husk and coco peat were maintained at the thickness of 20-
30 cm which was disinfected by fungicides and pesticides and It is refilled after every two
to three years of interval.

Bed Dimension
No of bed per acre – 60-65
The ideal length of the bed – 80-125 ft
The ideal width of the bed – 4 Ft

Planting

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The beds were irrigated two days before planting. When transplanting anthurium plant
maintain distance 30cm x 25 cm by making small holes of about 5-6 cm depth and width
at each spot of planting.

Plants were inserted in the holes carefully so that the roots of a plant should not touch the
ground then, a handful of coir pith was put to avoid contact with the ground plastic cover.

Dead and diseased plants were discarded. Plants were sprinkled with water immediately
after planting and planting was done during evening time.

Irrigation

The method of irrigation practiced was sprinkler irrigation through which fertilizers were
also given and the water used for irrigation must be 0.5 electrical conductivity above
1 electrical conductivity is not suitable for irrigation purpose.

In each bed, two lines of sprinkler were maintained so that water reaches each and every
plant very easily.
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The plants are watered twice daily during summer and once in rainy depending on
environmental conditions. Even water was sprinkled twice a day over the paths in-between
the beds to maintain the humidity.

Fertigation
The major nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were supplied in the form of
complex fertilizer grade 19:19:19.

Entire dosage (3:1:1) @ 2g/lit, twice a week during vegetative period and 1:2:2 NPK mixture
@ 2-3g /lit, twice a week were applied during the flowering period.

Calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate were also supplied through fertigation.

Greenhouse management
Before entry of the greenhouse, make a small cementing structure for foot dip and add
KMnO4 solution with water so that the hygienic condition of plants and greenhouse are
maintaining.

Once every three years, change the cladding material and shade while changing take care
no sharp and pointed objects should come in contact with polyethylene cover so that no
damage to the structure.

The door of the greenhouse was always close so that temperature and relative humidity are
maintained.

Temperature and Relative Humidity management

The temperature and relative humidity maintained under greenhouse are 20-28°C and 60-
80% respectively With the help of fogger and shade net.

also, water is sprinkled twice a day over the paths in-between the beds to maintain the
humidity.

Cultural practices

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Weeding:
Hand weeding is required when weeds observe and it is helpful to avoid the competition
with the crop.

Pruning of leaves:
Pruning of leaves was one of the important operations as too many leaves often lead to
crooked stems and damaged flower buds.

The old and diseased leaves were pruned regularly and only 3-5 leaves were maintained on
the plant to get good quality flowers.

Plant protection measures:

To prevent and control pest and diseases the plant protection measures were taken as and
when noticed with appropriate chemicals.

Harvesting and Grading –

The flowers were harvested after unfolding of the spathe was complete. They were
harvested in the morning and were cut with anthurium long stalks.

The best time for harvest was when 1/3 to 2/3 of the true flowers on the spadix were open.
The flowers were cut with a sharp knife, leaving 3 cm of stem on the plants to prevent
rotting of the stem.

also, anthurium flower is withstanding for 20 days without damaging quality so according
to market need it harvested.

flowers having any sort of blemishes, black spots, discoloured spathe, short stalk as well
as deformed flowers were removed before grading.
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The flowers of spotlessly clean and shining were used these Flowers were graded into five
classes depending on their flower size in the Caribbean and Hawaii market standards.

The anthurium cut flower grades were as follows:

Grade Flower size (inch)

Peewee <2.5
Mini- 2.5-3
Small – 3-4
Medium- 4-5
Large- 5-5.5
Extra large- 5.5-6
Premium >6

Post-harvest handling

After harvest, the basal portion of the stalk of the flower was kept in water to prevent drying
out and Flowers were cleaned with shampoo in clean water to remove the adhering
particles of dust, pesticides or fungicides for shining effect.

The care was taken while transporting flowers by placing a piece of cotton soaked in water
at the end of the stem to
prevent desiccation.

Anthurium cultivation Economic

Particular Amount

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Area of Polyhouse –
2008 square/meter

Polyhouse Construction – 1,656,600

Polyhous as per NHB norms,
GI pipe structure & imported
plastic @ Rs 825 / per Sq. mtr.

Irrigation System – 150,000

Drip Irrigation system for plants
Fertigation unit, Water
Filtration unit

Shadnet – 50,000

Bed Preparation – 550,000

Table stand with Wire ropes and
Coco shells

Plants – 2,500,000
Plant Density:
10 plants/Sq.Mtr.
Total No. of Plants:
20,000 Nos.
Cost per Plant:
Rs.125/plant

Total Investment 4,906,600

cost of cultivation per year

Electricity – 3.0 unit/day 50,000

Water requirement – 50,000

Approximate per year

Fertilizers – 60,000
Water Soluble Fertilizers

Labour- 250,000
3- 4 labours per day

Crop Protection- 30,000

Spraying

Packing Material 162,000

Transport,Sales
Commission

Miscellaneous – 490,660
Maintenance, Depreciation

Subtotal 1,092,660

Returns Per Year

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 Yield / Plant / Year- 6 flower 120,000

Flower Production
1Year: 3 Flower/year

2-5 Year: 7 Flower/year

6- 7 Year: 5 Flower/year

Price per flower – 15 RS

avg price

Total Returns – Per Year 1,800,000

Cost of Cultivation -Per Year 1,092,660

Net Return-Per Year 707,340

Disclaimer: (The above calculations are indicative only.)

Conclusion
Anthurium is the best-cut flower for export, because of leafless stem and good vase life. If
cultivated scientifically, this crop can earn valuable foreign exchange to our country.

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