Caring for Anthurium Hookeri (Birdnest Anthurium)

Caring for an anthurium hookeri hybrid

We purchase this Anthurium Hookeri (Birdnest Anthurium) variegated from House of Plants in August 2020. (If you are living in Singapore, we highly recommend you to take a trip down to their nursery in Punggol.) We like this plant for its natural variegation and wavy leaves. We were also told it is not a pure Hookeri and its parentage is unknown. Today, we will be giving our Anthurium Hookeri some care and attention to see if we can give it a better growing environment.

Anthurium Hookeri hybrid
Potting our Anthurium Hookeri in a 15cm pot
Anthurium Hookeri, Syngonium Batik, Syngonium Frosted Heart
Loots from that day. Other than the Anthurium, we bought two other Syngoniums. The batik is from @littlebotany

Anthurium Hookeri is a fast grower

This Anthurium got used to our environment really quickly and started to push out new leaves every few weeks until recently. When we got it, it had seven leaves. Right now it has twelve and we are not even counting those that dropped off when the plant was acclimatising.

Anthurium Hookeri hybrid
Photo right before repotting.

Roots of an Anthurium Hookeri

In the month of January, the plant stopped producing new leaves and started to focus on growing roots. We do not know the reason but we noticed that the weather and our watering patterns changed.

  1. The temperature was consistently cool in the day (26-28 degrees) and dropped to 24 degrees at night from December to January.
  2. Due to the wet weather, we also stopped watering and fertilising.

Roots started to explode near the surface of the plant and in no time, the base of the plant looked like this:

Roots of an Anthurium Hookeri hybrid
Anthurium Hookeri hybrid’s explosive roots

You can see that there are roots everywhere and they are slowly creeping out of the pot. Roots were also poking out from the base of the pot. It took me more than 15 minutes to try to gently remove the pot that is fully packed with the root ball.

The result was satisfying.

Roots of an Anthurium Hookeri hybrid
You can see that the new growth of roots starts of pinkish.

Upgrading the pot

The new home for this Anthurium is a pot that is around 20cm wide and slightly deeper than the old one. We did not bother to untangle the roots as it would take too much effort and the roots are relatively fragile.

We will be taking more photos of the newly potted plant and will be sending updates on this Anthurium as and when it starts to grow leaves again. Sign up for our newsletter and we will notify you!

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of soil is best for Anthurium Hookeri (Birdnest Anthurium)?

Use a well draining media that consists of coco-chips, pine bark, pumice and peat moss. The roots of the Hookeri are thick and dense so give it room to grow and it will be happy.


How frequently should I water my Anthurium Hookeri (Birdnest Anthurium)?

Like most plants, only water when the top few inches of the soil is dry to touch. In our experience, this plant is able to handle dryness and it is almost always better to not overwater it.


Why is my Anthurium Hookeri leaves browning

There can be many reasons why the leaves turn brown. It could be due to overwatering, underwatering, over fertilization or nutrient deficiency. Check out this post about browning leaves of common house plants to find out more.

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