Why are my anthurium leaves rapidly turning yellow?

Question

My white anthurium had been sitting in the entrance way with frosted glass (and therefore receiving diffused light) from last June to this January (Northern hemisphere). It was doing perfectly fine until I noticed a few leaves falling off last week. I moved it out of the cold entranceway into the living room on a window by the radiator thinking it was reacting to the cold temperatures. I also lifted the pot out of its container and realised it was full of water - clearly I've overwatered it. The next day I noticed brown spots at the edges of some leaves so I moved it to the other end of he room, about 8 ft from the window. Today I can now see the leaves have yellowed almost immediately. Is it too far from light or is the overwatering responsible? I'm really concerned and wondering what I can do to rescue the plant?

Answer 1

These plants like bright but diffuse light ( not direct sunlight ) and moist oxygenated soil but you've already identified that it has been sitting in stagnant deoxygenated water. This has lead to the chlorotic foliage you now see. I presume that you have a pot inside a pot so you can't easily see how much water the pot is sitting in so this might well happen again. I'd suggest using a container that allows you to more easily check that it's not sitting in water.

In the meantime you could try and drain the excess water from the soil with wicks, or, if you can invert the plant safely, do that and gravity will pull the water away from the affected roots and bring in oxygen.

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