I'm afraid that no one could really speculate on this without actually seeing 'the patient' in person....or at least a very good image.

Peace lilies are one of the top ten problem plants, however. If this poor thing is going to come back from the dead, you will have to figure out what the previous owner was doing wrong....and then correct it.

i will endeavour to post a picture up on here tomorrow, my office is in desperate need of some plant life! i shall also consult the previous owner and interrogate her!!

Andy,

Be prepared for the previous owner to be (1) uncooperative (2) a lier & (3) maybe even hostile.

I've had this experience, having taken over a peace lily (Spath) from other folks' neglect. Once I brought it back to flourishing, I soon started having problems w/ it again. Even tho' I had stuck a stick w/ a note in it asking folks NOT to water it, I later caught someone both watering it & dumping coffee in it (they had sworn that they weren't watering it; they seemed not OK, maybe even jealous, that I had brought it back to health).

Just so you know, I wouldn't count on much help from them.

Also, if it's got brown growth in the middle of the green growth, it may be a goner. If it were me, I doubt I'd bother, but then again who's to say?

Andy, a lot of people sincerely don't know what they're doing wrong with plants - otherwise their plants wouldn't be sick/dying. If the plant is shooting out new growth, it's still alive. If you offer it optimal growing conditions, it won't just grow for you, it'll thrive. Either way, it's worth a try, no?

Thanks for the help guys. I have spoken with the husband of the previous owner, who tells me it was his mothers plant and is 10years old! He told me it was about 50cm tall and wouldnt stop growning! his mother is a chinese medicine woman, he tells me she has very green fingers! apparently she used the plant for cuttings so the 3 green stumps wont grow back, but she said that if i feed it & water it, shoots will grow and the plant will come back. Im pinning all my hopes on this one green shoot i've got!

Can anyone tell me how often i need to water the plant & how often i need to feed it (and what with!)? pictures to follow shortly!

here are the pictures of the patient , as promised! (Please copy & paste into your internet browser address bar)

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/1.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/2.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/5.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/4.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/3.jpg

Are you positive that was a peace lily? From the stumps, it looks more like a lucky bamboo. One normally doesn't take cuttings from peace lilies, you divide the clumps.

I take care of office plants for a living, and I get SO ANGRY when people dump stuff into plants. Sometimes it's just water - they think they're helping but they're actually drowning the roots. Other times I find chewing gum, bandaids, toothpicks, cookies/crackers, beer cans (!), etc. Haven't found a used diaper yet but a coworker has (ew!).

Oh...I agree with watergal. It really doesn't look like a Peace Lily. From the look of the stumps, it can also be an Aglaonema or Dieffenbachia plant...

Andy, I'd suggest that you remove it from that container, dispose of the gravel and potting medium, and place it in a small container with drainage holes. Perhaps the one that is it already planted in will do....as long as it has holes in the bottom. Select a good quality potting mix and mix it with extra perlite. There's no way of telling what's going on in the soil under all of that stuff.

I wouldn't hold much promise for that shoot, but perhaps another one will emerge elsewhere.

its definately a peace lilly, im assured by my coworker who has seen it in flower! it does have draining holes in the pot. As for re-potting it sounds like a good idea, but i've not done it before. Wont it mess up all the complicated root systems? and if i do should i just fill it with compost?

thanks

Andy

Any chance someone can post a direct link pls? I can't cut & paste URLs on office 'puter. I'd really like to see this pls. as the plants in question are decidedly different plants & I'd suspect most GW folks can readily distinguish btwn Peace Lillies & Ags &/or Diff.

I wouldn't do ANYTHING major to it like a repot before the ID is definate, could be the wrong thing.

The stems don't look like a peace lily to me either, they look more like Aglaonema perhaps as suggested. They have spath flowers like the peace lily, only smaller.
If they are Aglaonema plants, new leaves should grow just below the cuts, but it can take a while before you'll see anything sprouting, I think mine took a couple months.

If it where mine, I would get rid of all those little stones on the top so the soil doesn't stay wet and be careful on the watering since there are no leaves.

Billy Rae

Pirate girl, I'm probably a little late...but here are the photos... Now we can see them directly.

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NL: Thx for providing the pix directly.

Folks are right, that DOES NOT appear to be a Peace Lily, they simply don't grow like that, these are cane-type stems, like on Ag or Diff. as suggested. The person telling you it's a Peace Lily is simply WRONG!

Prove it to yourself, do a search for Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily) & observe the growth habit, the leaves form from a clump at the base of the plant, definately not a single stem like these canes.

I too would take the rocks off & leave it be w/ careful watering. One could pot it in slightly smaller pot, since you sound pretyt new, I'd leave it alone. In the meantime, don't know what you mean by "compost", pls. read up on houseplant soil& even on general plant care, maybe here or any basic gardening books, they'll give you enough knowledge abt this so in futyre, you can repot & not worry abt the roots, etc.

These are pretty sturdy plants, you needn't be that concerned, except abt overwatering them. Good luck. If you can post us back some pix in a month or 2 & we'll all see that these aren't peace lilies at all!

Actually, I have seen ancient peace lilies that do have sort of a trunk that sprawls sideways, but it looks different than what you have. I agree that yours is probably an aglaonema or dieffenbachia - the flowers look similar to a peace lily, which may have confused your coworker.

pirate girl is right on - take off the gravel, water sparingly, letting the top get nearly dry before watering again. Do NOT repot in compost - use a good "soilless" potting mix. I would not repot at all until you get some leaves, but maybe fertilize at half strength to help jump start growth.

Thanks guys this input is great, The small green stem seems to be growing, grown about 4mm in a week! i will take off the stones & water sparingly as suggested. I did give it a watering with some baby bio included so this should help get it back on track. I will definately put pics up in a couple of months if i get some results! thanks for all your help, im excited to see what this actually turns out to be now!!

AndyK,

I know it's only been a couple of weeks since your last post, but I was wondering how the plant is doing now.

hi guys & girls, so its been quite some time since i posted about this but i decided to be brave & repot with interesting results! The plant is definately alive and the green shoot is growing of one of the main stems & is very healthy!

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/plant1.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/plant2.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/plant3.jpg

and i've also managed to get pictures of the lilly which these cuttings were taken from, she says it is a peace lilly and it was brought over from china over 10 years ago! here are the pics!

[IMG]http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/lilly1-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/lilly2.jpg[/IMG]
the one on the right in the next pic
[IMG]http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/lilly4-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/akisby2006/lilly3.jpg[/IMG]

Oh, it all makes sense now:

The plant is a Chinese evergreen, but it's a less variegated, less showy species, Aglaonema modestum.

A. modestum has leaves which are *very* similar to peace lily (Spathiphyllum) leaves, except that in Spathiphyllum, the leaves emerge from just underground, and the plant never develops a cane, whereas in Aglaonema, the cane appears almost immediately, and the leaves grow off of it.

So, yeah, she's wrong, but the leaves actually *do* look a lot more like the typical peace lily than like the typical Chinese evergreen. And the flowers are similar on both as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aglaonema modestum

great thanks! i dont know how to post the pics up properly, i tried [img] tags but that didnt work either! Does this aglaonema modestum have any other names, maybe a more simple one?!

Just "Chinese evergreen," as far as I know, and it shares the name with several other species so it's not as specific a name as one might want.

I got my peace Lilly from my grands funeral about a month ago, it was very beautiful and full of flowers. Now the flowers are brown and dying what do I do? Also I re potted the plant and its a fairly large pot I don't know the size of the pot,but I would have to say its two sizes bigger than what the plant came in is this a problem?