is my anthurium dead or will it survive?

I just got this anthurium the other day and it has been going down hill since I got it home.

initially it was green, including the "flower" parts (not sure what they are called). no other colors except green.

it also had a glossy look to it, and seemed slightly under the weather at worst and I thought it just needed a bit of TLC.

I brought it home and watered it, making sure to drain the soil very well and in less than two days all the leaves are now brown and crunchy and the stems are turning brown as well. there is one flower that is still green and looks healthy and i really don't know what to do to save it.

the day I brought it home was very cold, so it was outside at -17 C for about 15 minutes tops, not sure if that would have caused this.

i'm new to gardening/plants so any input is appreciated :)

that is a very sudden event. I don't think it can have anything to do with watering.

I think it must have been the cold. That is very cold, especially for a tropical plant. I suggest you stop watering, but expect new leaves to emerge.

You might want to move it away from the window too.

Have say you have multiple problems, Firstly as mentioned above, remove the plant from the glass as the glass acts like a magnifying glas on plants, even ones that must have bright light means in a room where the sun brightens the room and floods with light is perfect BUT, not direct sun through a sheet of glass, i's like you sitting in a car stationary and the sun is hitting you directly through the glass, you begin to de-hydrate, wilt and loose moisture through your pores, well it's the same for plants.
Also these plants IF memory serves me correctly, require more humid shaded places, NOT dark but out of direct sunlight. they like to have water given from the bottom of the pot, sat in a dish of water till the soil turns darker indicating it has taken up enough moisture, so allow the pot to drain then set back onto an empty dish.
When you water, IF water droplets fall onto the foliage, the reflective sun magnifies the water drops and this shows up as brown spots on the leaves or flowers.
They do however need misting a lot, say every few days and this is replicating the humid tropical environment they actually grow in when in their own environment, Add to that, the like to have their roots almost pot bound (filled the pot) too large a pot means the plant gets too much water from too much soil around the roots, so never repot into a much larger one, just 1-2 sizes bigger.
I would gently remove All the brown and damaged leaves and flower stems, cut to about inch above the soil, your plant will look even more sick BUT, it will allow the plant to throw out NEW shoots, place the plant in good light But NOT direct sun and leave it to settle down to it's new home.
If you have to move any tropical plants from one environment to another, it's important you try replicate the temp they were in when purchased or gifted, I would take newspaper or a plant fleece to wrap the plants in for cold/frost protection, remove that cover once inside. I think your plant suffered shock by the sudden cold it had to sit in, like us having a Sauna and immediately taking a very cold shower.
Hope all this helps you out a bit and the plant rewards you soon, don't expect lots of new growth all at once, but new shoots will appear I'm sure.
Kindest Regards.
weeNel.

Hi, Mary. As a new grower, I'd hate to see you left with some misimpressions about what happened and how to move ahead. First, many plants, and especially tropical, can suffer chill injury at temps well above freezing - as high as 50*f/10*c if the ambient temperature drops fast enough; so it's a good bet your plant suffered tissue damage due to either chill injury or freezing.

Fortunately, it's unlikely the roots were affected, so expect your plant to return from the roots if given appropriate care. That means you'll want to keep the plant warm (21-29*) and avoid over-watering. Test the soil with a wood dowel rod sharpened in a pencil sharpener or a bamboo skewer to make sure it's almost dry before you water. You want to keep the soil barely damp - never wet or soggy. Your plant will be burning (oxidizing) stored food to create the energy needed to push a new flush of growth. The roots need oxygen for this to occur. If any part of the soil is soggy, it limits the plants regenerative ability.

Glass does not act as a magnifying glass. In fact, the glass in your home actually reduces the amount of light that passes through it by at least 30%. There isn't so much a problem with light intensity as there is an issue with lack of air movement. Heat stress is different from light stress (photo-oxidation). It's very likely your plant will tolerate full sun through the glass if there is air movement. No air movement is why a car's interior gets hot - not the 'magnifying' effect of the glass.

Water on foliage will NOT burn the foliage. It's physically impossible. If there are salts dissolved in the water that falls on leaves, the residual salt can pull water from plant cells and cause small brown spots, but the magnifying effect of the sun is such that it actually diffuses light - does not concentrate it.

Misting houseplants is as close to completely ineffective as you can get as it relates to raising humidity. The effect lasts only minutes - raising humidity in the air surrounding plants only very slightly and for a very short duration - until the mist evaporates. If you want to raise humidity, a strategy (like a humidifier or boiling pot of water) aimed at raising the humidity level of the entire volume of air in the room is best.

No plant likes to be pot bound. There are sometimes reasons we choose to subject our plants to that particular stress, but it's a stress and the plant doesn't like stress. See the link for an explanation.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1050729/

In the interest of a speedier recovery, do not remove anything that is still green, even if it looks bad. Green tissue means photosynthesis, which means food. If you remove the green parts, you eliminate the plant's ability to make any food. It's better to suffer the ratty appearance so the plant can help itself produce the food/energy needed to push new growth.

There is a sticky thread at the top of the 'Beginner Houseplants' forum that should help you avoid all of the most common issues you're likely to encounter as a beginner. If you read it, you'll discover that an appropriate soil goes a LONG way toward making live around containerized plants a LOT easier.

Best luck!

Al

i was referring to the cold temperatures close to some windows.