Seasonal changes in the nutritional status and yielding of Anthurium cultorum Birdsey. Part II. Microelements

The experiment was carried out in the years 2002-2004. Its aim was the determination of the tendencies in the microelement nutritional status of the standard cultivars of Anthurium cultorum Birdsey (‘Baron’, ‘Choco’, ‘Midori’, ‘Pistache’, ‘President’, ‘Tropical’ from Anthura B.V.) in the autumn-winter and spring-summer vegetation periods. The plants were cultivated in expanded clay using a drop fertigation system with standard nutrition. A significant influence of the vegetation periods and the light conditions associated with them was found to be exerted on the microelement plant nutrition. In the autumn-winter period, characterized by light deficit, the plant age significantly modified the nutrition (increase or decrease of content with a plant’s aging) with regard to zinc (-23.7%), copper (-25.8%) and boron (+25%), while in the spring-summer period, iron (+12.9%) and copper (-21.7%) nutrition was modified. During the three years of the study, the autumnwinter period showed a significant increase of iron content (+9.8%) with a simultaneous decrease of copper content (-6.5%), in comparison with the springsummer period. The awareness of the cyclical nature of the changes in the nutritional status of plants, depending on the given vegetation season, supplies a valuable instrument in the interpretation of plant analyses for diagnostic purposes.