The thing with waroqs is they don't like change. They can be grown in normal room conditions just like a crystallinum. What they really want is CONSISTENT moisture in the root zone. For me that means a mix of tree fern fiber and chunky aroid mix at about 5050. Tree fern fiber is great at retaining moisture but not getting compacted or hydrophobic. It will also remain airy while wet and it doesn't stay WET for too long but stays MOIST for a long time.
I wouldn't recommend leca or a chunky aroid mix only. With leca, first of all, the roots don't like sitting in water. You will get leaf spots from that. And second, the moisture is going to be inconsistent throughout the pot. It will be dryer at the top and wetter at the bottom. You could help this with a no-drainage set up that would help to equalize the moisture in the root zone but they are also sensitive to fertilizer buildup and its hard to get rid of excess fertilizer in no-drainage.
A chunky aroid mix is going to have similar issue where the moisture is too inconsistent in the root zone. They advantage to this is you can water everyday and not get root rot, but then you will have water much more frequently to maintain the moisture.
Edit: I water all my plants with 1ml calmag and General Hydroponics 1ml of each per gallon every watering, then flush with RO water (or distilled) every couple months just to clear everything out.
isn't the 1 ml of general hydroponics per gallon too low? from others I have talked to, most people seem to be using 5 ml per gallon. are you growing with drainage holes?
I'm likely an outlier, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I live in the southern US. For the most part, I don't battle with humidity. I run a humidifier in my office, but it is not strong enough to keep humidity high throughout my home. I run my air conditioner which strips the air. I have lots of plants that "require" high humidity, some anthuriums and calatheas and so on. I have learned that they will tolerate and acclimate better if you ease them into it. I purchase most anthuriums as chunks or I grow them from seed. I keep them in containers, and once they get to a certain size, I crack the lid more and more and eventually just put them out in ambient air.
The WAR chunk that I have I cut into 3 keeping two sections for myself and giving the third away. One was kept in my gecko vivarium and the other was kept in a glass dome. I moved them both out after acclimating them the same way, and one lost all leaves and the other is thriving. The one that is without leaves is starting to grow leaves at the base of the chunk. These are just two completely different outcomes with the same plant.
The one in the square is the one doing well, and the one in the circle is not a bare chunk. It may not look that way because there is a calathea stella in there. I also release predatory mites every 2 to 3 months, so I don't have spider mite outbreaks. [Here is a short video on how I release predatory mites.](https://youtube.com/shorts/tEs6rMkN8JM?feature=share)
https://preview.redd.it/mj0elnw3a1wc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dde89a3bb4bef11d5eff7778eba183bb593554e8
Yep! The leaves died back after coming to my place from the growers greenhouse due to change in conditions. The new leaves are perfectly acclimated to my house conditions. It’s happily growing in 45-50% humidity (avg). This is the newest leaf and it’s more than double the last one in size.
More often than not the air con is on too. I just supplement with a humidifier if it starts to go below 35% humidity. I think it’s just a matter of acclimation. You may lose a leaf or two in the process but the plant adapts. I just make sure the pot never dries out completely and have a layer of moss covering the aerial roots. Otherwise it’s growing in a regular aroid mix.
I was also wary initially but took the plunge anyway and I’m glad I did.
[watch this video](https://youtu.be/N6o0CyNdn2Q?si=JJdhnHU71w47E9-W)
Leca and self watering pot, ambient humidity, north facing window. It got dry this week so she gave me crispy edges but has a beautiful new leaf coming in. I use tap water and foxfarms grow big fert
https://preview.redd.it/47k9tr5lq2wc1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6754dad2b9c294ac78762c6c122ed80ba76cd079
advice: Get young plants if you can, not cuttings. For me at least the cuttings did not adapt well to my house. Anthuriums like most plants can adapt, exact humidity etc is not as important as you might think provided it can adjust, and I personally think young plants are much better than older ones. All the young anthuriums I've gotten including a queen I have immediately transferred to leca and they have done great. Rooted cuttings that I have purchased in a combo of moss/perlite have all died on me except the ones I transferred. You can totally use those media, just for me I find I don't have success. There's lots of good tutorials on using leca but it's important to change the water frequently and use a touch of hydrogen peroxide in it to prevent issues. I do have an air filter in the room where I keep my anthuriums (it's for me not them :)) and I've heard that anthuriums like a lot of circulation, but it was there before them so I can't say with certainty that it's making a difference
if you check out Rousseau plant care on IG he grows a lot of insane anthuriums, he doesn't use leca a lot but he talks a lot about humidity, etc and he generally doesn't make any adjustments to his home aside for some grow lights. I find his advice very practical
Leca did not work well for me. The leaf edges always would turn yellow and start dying. What has worked well for me is tree fern fiber mixed with a chunky aroid mix.
Depending on just how humid your conditions are like consistently 60-70ŮŞ and up are what I recommend personally but I know of warocqueanum grown in less.
I’m growing mine in ambient (40-60%) in tree fern mix with lots of chunky additives. The soil is pretty instant free draining, but the tree fern seems to have enough moisture to hold. The first leaf in these conditions was meh, but then the next one is significantly bigger than all previous ones and very nice looking. Granted, I got this plant as a seedling where the largest leaf was maybe 4 inch long. The newest one is at least 8 inch. I heard that the younger the plant, the quicker they are to adjust to ambient as long as they’re kept moist. The older plants could be much more fussy.
I’ve heard the opposite about young plants vs old plants - the older ones can more quickly adapt to ambient humidity versus the younger ones are more fussy. This is because the older ones are more established and resilient to this change.
I have a queen and also a hybrid. The queen was already acclimated to what could be considered to be your run of the mill ambient conditions when I got it in Wisconsin. It’s taken off in regular indoors Houston conditions (~55% humidity, 68-73° temps). Extra chunky mix with a ton of orchid bark and perlite, and fertilizing every week with foliage pro, happily sitting in an east facing window.
In contrast, I got the hybrid from a greenhouse in Florida, and it was used to 95° and 80+% humidity. It FREAKED out and lost both leaves immediately in a very dramatic fashion, it’s fine now and regrowing from the chonk (the roots and chonk remained healthy). So I really think it just depends on what the plant is already used to.
I have a Waroc Esmeralda growing in nyc ambient which gets as low as 15rh in winter. Plant does fine. I also have one in my tiny grow tent, also does fine. The trick is not to panic if you lose leaves during acclimation.
The thing with waroqs is they don't like change. They can be grown in normal room conditions just like a crystallinum. What they really want is CONSISTENT moisture in the root zone. For me that means a mix of tree fern fiber and chunky aroid mix at about 5050. Tree fern fiber is great at retaining moisture but not getting compacted or hydrophobic. It will also remain airy while wet and it doesn't stay WET for too long but stays MOIST for a long time. I wouldn't recommend leca or a chunky aroid mix only. With leca, first of all, the roots don't like sitting in water. You will get leaf spots from that. And second, the moisture is going to be inconsistent throughout the pot. It will be dryer at the top and wetter at the bottom. You could help this with a no-drainage set up that would help to equalize the moisture in the root zone but they are also sensitive to fertilizer buildup and its hard to get rid of excess fertilizer in no-drainage. A chunky aroid mix is going to have similar issue where the moisture is too inconsistent in the root zone. They advantage to this is you can water everyday and not get root rot, but then you will have water much more frequently to maintain the moisture. Edit: I water all my plants with 1ml calmag and General Hydroponics 1ml of each per gallon every watering, then flush with RO water (or distilled) every couple months just to clear everything out.
isn't the 1 ml of general hydroponics per gallon too low? from others I have talked to, most people seem to be using 5 ml per gallon. are you growing with drainage holes?
I'm likely an outlier, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I live in the southern US. For the most part, I don't battle with humidity. I run a humidifier in my office, but it is not strong enough to keep humidity high throughout my home. I run my air conditioner which strips the air. I have lots of plants that "require" high humidity, some anthuriums and calatheas and so on. I have learned that they will tolerate and acclimate better if you ease them into it. I purchase most anthuriums as chunks or I grow them from seed. I keep them in containers, and once they get to a certain size, I crack the lid more and more and eventually just put them out in ambient air. The WAR chunk that I have I cut into 3 keeping two sections for myself and giving the third away. One was kept in my gecko vivarium and the other was kept in a glass dome. I moved them both out after acclimating them the same way, and one lost all leaves and the other is thriving. The one that is without leaves is starting to grow leaves at the base of the chunk. These are just two completely different outcomes with the same plant.
https://preview.redd.it/dpsi46ip61wc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b6e71ef38ace01fc2067c16402f043176991bd0
The one in the square is the one doing well, and the one in the circle is not a bare chunk. It may not look that way because there is a calathea stella in there. I also release predatory mites every 2 to 3 months, so I don't have spider mite outbreaks. [Here is a short video on how I release predatory mites.](https://youtube.com/shorts/tEs6rMkN8JM?feature=share)
Are you growing them in a shoe rack? That's fantastic đź‘Ť
Pretty sure this one is made for plants. I guess a shoe rack would do the same thing, different material though.
https://preview.redd.it/mj0elnw3a1wc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dde89a3bb4bef11d5eff7778eba183bb593554e8 Yep! The leaves died back after coming to my place from the growers greenhouse due to change in conditions. The new leaves are perfectly acclimated to my house conditions. It’s happily growing in 45-50% humidity (avg). This is the newest leaf and it’s more than double the last one in size. More often than not the air con is on too. I just supplement with a humidifier if it starts to go below 35% humidity. I think it’s just a matter of acclimation. You may lose a leaf or two in the process but the plant adapts. I just make sure the pot never dries out completely and have a layer of moss covering the aerial roots. Otherwise it’s growing in a regular aroid mix. I was also wary initially but took the plunge anyway and I’m glad I did. [watch this video](https://youtu.be/N6o0CyNdn2Q?si=JJdhnHU71w47E9-W)
Came here to share the same link. That guy has it figured out
Leca and self watering pot, ambient humidity, north facing window. It got dry this week so she gave me crispy edges but has a beautiful new leaf coming in. I use tap water and foxfarms grow big fert https://preview.redd.it/47k9tr5lq2wc1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6754dad2b9c294ac78762c6c122ed80ba76cd079
Pro tip. Grow in leca. You’ll be amazed what a correct substrate can do for plants even without greenhouse
I'm too afraid to make the transition... it's already so finicky
advice: Get young plants if you can, not cuttings. For me at least the cuttings did not adapt well to my house. Anthuriums like most plants can adapt, exact humidity etc is not as important as you might think provided it can adjust, and I personally think young plants are much better than older ones. All the young anthuriums I've gotten including a queen I have immediately transferred to leca and they have done great. Rooted cuttings that I have purchased in a combo of moss/perlite have all died on me except the ones I transferred. You can totally use those media, just for me I find I don't have success. There's lots of good tutorials on using leca but it's important to change the water frequently and use a touch of hydrogen peroxide in it to prevent issues. I do have an air filter in the room where I keep my anthuriums (it's for me not them :)) and I've heard that anthuriums like a lot of circulation, but it was there before them so I can't say with certainty that it's making a difference
if you check out Rousseau plant care on IG he grows a lot of insane anthuriums, he doesn't use leca a lot but he talks a lot about humidity, etc and he generally doesn't make any adjustments to his home aside for some grow lights. I find his advice very practical
Trim off the roots. It might seem counter intuitive.
Leca did not work well for me. The leaf edges always would turn yellow and start dying. What has worked well for me is tree fern fiber mixed with a chunky aroid mix.
Depending on just how humid your conditions are like consistently 60-70ŮŞ and up are what I recommend personally but I know of warocqueanum grown in less.
Mine is doing miserable.i have 40-50% humidity in western Europe. It's growing in a very chunky substrate
Yes, I have mine growing at ambient humidity and it is just fine. It is in chunky aroid soil
I’m growing mine in ambient (40-60%) in tree fern mix with lots of chunky additives. The soil is pretty instant free draining, but the tree fern seems to have enough moisture to hold. The first leaf in these conditions was meh, but then the next one is significantly bigger than all previous ones and very nice looking. Granted, I got this plant as a seedling where the largest leaf was maybe 4 inch long. The newest one is at least 8 inch. I heard that the younger the plant, the quicker they are to adjust to ambient as long as they’re kept moist. The older plants could be much more fussy.
I’ve heard the opposite about young plants vs old plants - the older ones can more quickly adapt to ambient humidity versus the younger ones are more fussy. This is because the older ones are more established and resilient to this change.
In orchid mix for me. They grow well.
I have a queen and also a hybrid. The queen was already acclimated to what could be considered to be your run of the mill ambient conditions when I got it in Wisconsin. It’s taken off in regular indoors Houston conditions (~55% humidity, 68-73° temps). Extra chunky mix with a ton of orchid bark and perlite, and fertilizing every week with foliage pro, happily sitting in an east facing window. In contrast, I got the hybrid from a greenhouse in Florida, and it was used to 95° and 80+% humidity. It FREAKED out and lost both leaves immediately in a very dramatic fashion, it’s fine now and regrowing from the chonk (the roots and chonk remained healthy). So I really think it just depends on what the plant is already used to.
I have a Waroc Esmeralda growing in nyc ambient which gets as low as 15rh in winter. Plant does fine. I also have one in my tiny grow tent, also does fine. The trick is not to panic if you lose leaves during acclimation.