How I Pollinate Anthurium
So many Anthurium collectors are jumping on the pollination bandwagon and I am unashamedly one of them! I've been refining the way I collect and store pollen and the way I pollinate - it's changed a lot since the pretty slapdash way I did it when I was gardening outdoors and trying my hand at echeveria hybrids on a windowsill. I've had a few questions about how and why I do what I do, so thought this guide would be useful. As ever, this is how I do things and it works for me but I'm always open to new ideas. If you have questions or suggestions please let me know in the comments below or drop me a message.
What equipment do you need to pollinate Anthurium?
The basic anatomy of an Anthurium inflorescence
When will an Anthurium start to flower?
How do you pollinate an Anthurium?
How do you collect Anthurium pollen?
How can you tell if an Anthurium pollination has been successful?
How long do Anthurium berries take to grow?
What equipment do you need to pollinate Anthurium?
Technically just your finger: run it along one inflorescence to get the pollen and rub it against another inflorescence. Job done. However, if you want to collect and store pollen, then you might need a few other bits. This is what I’ve found works well for me.
1. A piece of black acrylic
I used to use black card but hated the waste and struggled to brush off all the pollen, especially when it got a bit wet. The acrylic makes it much easier to brush up all the pollen and it's easy to wash and reuse endlessly.
2. Lip-gloss applicator
I used to use children’s paintbrushes but found it difficult to get all the pollen from between the fibres. And not so easy to store. These applicators are gentle on the inflos and fit perfectly inside the tubes so all can be frozen together.
3. Test tube / centrifuge tube
I like the 10ml ones with the screw lids. The little applicators fit perfectly.
4. Silica gel sachet
The silica is a desiccant which draws water out of the pollen and helps to keep it fresh when stored. The 0.5g sachets fit perfectly inside the 10ml tubes.
5. Organza bag
Used to cover the inflorescence to minimise stray pollen landing on it or stray pollen flying off elsewhere. Outdoors I used to use them to catch ripe berries but we are (well, I am) such helicopter parents of Anthurium that it’s unlikely to be as useful.
If you want to buy any of these products you can find them on my Amazon Storefront (I will earn a small commission if you buy via this link). I do reuse all of the products. I label them well and use them on the same plant to avoid the possibility of contaminating crosses with stray bits of pollen.
The basic anatomy of an Anthurium inflorescence
(Some of the terms below are explained more in the glossary)
What we call an Anthurium ‘flower’ is actually many flowers. They’re called ‘perfect’ flowers as they go through both female and male phases, though usually with a gap of a few days to prevent self-pollination. The inflorescence (inflo) is what we wait so (im)patiently to see and that’s made up of the peduncle, spathe and spadix with the flowers covering the spadix.
When will an Anthurium start to flower?
Once the Anthurium has reached cataphyll stage (where the new leaves emerge from cataphyll rather than the previous leaf’s petiole sheath) the plant is ready to flower.
In my experience plants will grow at least 1 or 2 leaves (and often more) from a cataphyll before producing the first inflo. Quite often the first inflo will be smaller than later ones and / or it can skip either of the flowering phases. The general consensus seems to be to not pollinate a plant’s first inflorescence. I have done it a few times and mostly the pollination failed. One was successful (the inflo was huge!) and the berries, seeds and seedlings were a good size and have grown well. So it's not a hard and fast rule but be prepared for a failed pollination or weak(er) offspring if the plant is not yet mature.
How do you pollinate an Anthurium?
When the inflorescence emerges, the spadix will be enclosed in the spathe
Once the peduncle has grown, the spathe will pull back to show the spadix. For me, this is what makes an Anthurium so much easier to pollinate than many others in the Araceae family. Plants like Philodendron and Alocasia keep their spadices concealed within their spathes and only open a little and for brief periods. Anthurium put their flowers out there on full display so we can see what’s going on. Much easier.
Once the spathe has pulled back, I cover the spadix with one of the organza bags. I’m trying to avoid it being pollinated by something accidentally - what we would call cross-contamination. You can never eliminate the possibility but it's good practice to try to minimise the risk.
The female phase
Next the flowers will go through the female phase. That's when they're receptive to pollen that might come their way via a pollinator (or a lip gloss applicator). Starting from the bottom of the spadix (nearest to the peduncle), the flowers will exude droplets of stigmatic fluid and get nice and juicy. This is the moment you've been waiting for.
Applying pollen
Once the droplets appear, it may take two or three days for them to reach all the way to the tip (and in some plants, especially immature ones, the fluid will not reach the tip). I tend to wait until the fluid is at least half way up. I know some people will save pollen and apply over a few days but I tend to use it all at once and then just leave the flowers to do their thang.
You can use fresh pollen from another inflorescence if the stars align and you have it available. I tend to rely on freezing pollen so I have more flexibility on what to cross.
If I’m using frozen pollen I’ll let it defrost for an hour or two and then tip it out onto the black acrylic sheet. I start by brushing the applicator along the spadix to transfer the pollen that's stuck to it. I invariably end up using my fingers. Once they’re got a bit of stigmatic fluid on them it’s much easier to pick up all the pollen and distribute it evenly along the spadix.
A few days later I use a very wet, soft cloth and gently wipe the pollen I’ve applied off the spadix. This just helps to prevent cross-contamination. It probably won’t be viable, but I don’t want it to be hoovered up when I collect the pollen that the plant is about to produce.
How do you collect Anthurium pollen?
The male phase
After the female phase there is a wait for the male phase when we can collect the pollen. In my experience that’s anywhere from 6 to 31 days so be patient.
Does an Anthurium produce pollen if it has been pollinated successful?
A definite yes. I’ve seen this asked many times but yes, flowers will still produce pollen, even if they have been successfully pollinated.
Collecting pollen
You want to collect it when it’s as fresh as possible. If there’s a lot of pollen I’ll store it in multiple tubes so I can use each on a different cross. If it’s only a little, I’ll freeze immediately and add to the tube over a few days to catch as much as possible.
When you’re collecting turn off any nearby fans (yes, my fan and I have run into trouble before). I bend the peduncle so it’s as horizontal as possible (much easier on some than others – I swear luxurians refuses to bend at all). Then brush the pollen from the spadix onto the piece of black acrylic.
Then just brush that into the tube, drop the applicator in too and finish with the little bag of silica to keep it fresh. If you’re a nerd you’ll label it with the code that corresponds to the record in your plantabase. If you’re normal just label with plant and date.
How long does Anthurium pollen keep?
I’ve had successful pollinations keeping pollen in my fridge for 8 days and in my freezer for just over 4 months. I know others have reported it staying viable in the freezer for at least 6 months.
Once the pollen has been collected we wait… And we watch… And wait…
How can you tell if an Anthurium pollination has been successful?
It can be hard to tell at first. Different species and hybrids have different coloured spadices and the colour they turn is variable too. My big magnificum always turns from pale green to yellow after pollination and every single time I think it hasn’t been successful. And then it turns dark green and I breathe again. If the spadix or peduncle is shrinking or becoming less rigid, that’s not a good sign. As soon as the peduncle loses its colour and rigidity you know it’s lost. I tend to leave the inflo until it withers as I believe, like with dying leaves, the plant can reclaim some nutrients from the inflo as it dies off. This inflo is dying:
The first positive sign is usually the flowers starting to swell. I pollinated this inflo almost 4 weeks ago and signs are good so far:
How long do Anthurium berries take to grow?
The million dollar question! And the answer is, it depends. It depends not only on the species or hybrid but I've also found it depends on the growing conditions and I believe the pollen used can have an effect too but I need to verify that. My shortest period has been 11 weeks from applying pollen to the first harvest. My longest is my clarinervium x pedatoradiatum which is 7 months in and still growing. I understand both luxurians and clarinervium can take upwards of a year. We're in it for the long haul! Totally worth it though.
Data
I’m a data nerd. I’m not ashamed to admit it (ok, a little bit). I have a plantabase and record the date of all the stages from first spying an inflo to the last harvest of berries. I’m still building data but I am planning another blog post to talk about that side in more detail (feel free to give it a miss if the very thought is sending you to sleep). If you'd like to collab and send me data please do drop me a message. I'd love to build the plantabase and share the data.
Constructive criticism is always welcomed so don't hesitate to drop me a message if you think I've got something wrong or I could have explained something more clearly. I hope this has been helpful in some way and I wish you masses of luck with your pollinations!
