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Help with peace lily

10 years ago

Hi,
I hope someone can help with a peace lily I have in my possession. My neighbor has had it for 7+ years, and is moving to the the east coast in a couple of days. She asked if I would take care of it indefinitely because she forgot to send it by car with her husband. It looks kinda thin, and although I have a decent peace lily myself (except for brown tips), I'm not sure what I need to do to help this little guy (or gal :) put on some weight. It's not planted very deeply. I'm hoping to attach 2 pictures, one of the full plant and one of the base of the plant, which is above soil level. It looks like I can only attach 1, so I may have to send the other separate. Again, any suggestions will be really appreciated. TIA -Gerri

This post was edited by G3rri on Thu, Apr 10, 14 at 12:32

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Comments (7)

talb3rtg
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is the other photo :)
summersunlight
10 years ago
I have found that peace lilies REALLY enjoy hydroculture if you want to experiment a bit. Link attached if you are interested.

However even if you don't want to attempt hydro, I do think it looks like it could benefit from being repotted into some better soil. Its current soil looks pretty heavy. I'd repot it into some fresh soil that is light and drains well. Even though peace lilies like moisture, a heavy, wet soil doesn't let the roots get enough oxygen. While repotting I would remove all those dried out brown leaf remnants since those things only give pests a place to hide.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydroculture how-to

This post was edited by summersunshine on Thu, Apr 10, 14 at 11:40
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Haylee, i have three peace lilies myself, and i have found that they are pretty tough. it sounds like your's is suffering from over-watering like you've said... my advice is to let it be; i water mine anywhere from every 7 to 14 days depending on weather ( i water every 2 days in the summer when they are outdoors) but if it dries slightly between waterings and gets bright but indirect light it should bounce back. good luck! -Matt
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I agree with tisha: it does seem like kind of a big pot, considering that there are only about four individual plants in there. My instinct, which has been wrong before and which may be wrong now, would be to take it out of the pot, pull the pieces apart, shake off whatever soil and dead roots will shake off, and then repot the pieces together in the smallest pot that will hold them. (My guess from the picture is that it's in an 8" or 10" pot now; you should be able to fit the pieces that are still alive into a 5" or 6".) The leaves slowly dying a little bit at a time sounds to me like it's too wet, and I don't really see four plants going through that much water that quickly. It's not that you're watering too much -- drenching is good -- but I think you're probably watering too often. Which can be fixed. The light is probably fine. Fertilizer can cause dead tips and leaves, but if you're reading the directions and giving that amount or less when you feed, and letting water run through the pot when you water, that's probably not the problem. I doubt humidity is the issue either, though it can also cause dead tips. Let the plant tell you when it needs water. In a pot that size, the top couple inches can be dry while the bottom four are still wet, so you can't go by a schedule at all. Spathiphyllums that have gone too dry will collapse flat: that's too late. The right time to water is when the leaves go a little bit limp and floppy, where you can brush them with a hand and not feel much resistance. This is usually a few days before they go flat. In a large pot, it could be a long time between spells like this, depending on the time of year, amount of light, etc.
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How should the roots look like to pass the "healthy" test? I don't think the insecticide did anything because the plant had started to look less than hot before I used the insecticide. Besides, the first time I only used it on the leaves and top of the soil - after I watered. It was only today that I used the insecticide inside the soil, by watering it in after spraying. I wold rather think that whatever little bugs I had found on the saucer is what caused the plant to lose its overall healthy look. Either way, it looks like it 's repotting time.
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Photos of all the removed leaves don't really tell anything. Have you asked the sitter friend what they did? How often they watered? Could anyone have dumped anything else it there, like old coffee or cigarette ashes or something like that (often happens in offices, but I got impression this was your home). Hard to assess recovery time w/out any idea of what actually happened (& I grow 3 of these, 2 at home, 1 at office).
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Vikki
10 years ago
Chlorine in tap water can make the leaf tips turn brown in peace lilies. Try letting the water set out overnight or, better yet, for 24 hours before watering.

I agree on the repotting. It looks like it could use a good refreshing of its soil.
talb3rtg
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks, vivey. I'll start sitting the water out before giving them a drink. I should probably make use of the abundance of rainwater we get here in OR as well:) Hopefully, I will be able to post a better looking follow-up pic:)
tropicbreezent
10 years ago
I agree with the others. But rainwater is the best, if you have enough all year then only use it. PLs don't like stagnant water around the roots, it's a real killer. Yet they grow well in fresh (aerated) water. I have some in a pond. The automatic sprinkler system sends a spray over them each day and that displaces any old water sitting around the roots.
garyfla_gw
10 years ago
Tropic
I grow them in pots ,in the ground but the best are in standing water,I say best because they flower more and they last longer.. Water is provided by the water garden overflow which comes from the roof though supplemented with city when dry. so would guess somewhat fresh though I have no pumps or filtration on either.
I have grown them totally submerged in aquariums but the trick there is very strong light and I suspect the correct specie??
Have seen them growing in Costa rica where they were periodicly flooded. Even some that were flooded by high tide which really surprised me !! May have been another specie of plant but sure looked like spaths lol gary
tropicbreezent
10 years ago
An open body of water will naturally oxygenate to a depth of about 2 metres. So a garden pond shouldn't have too much trouble with oxygenation if there's reasonable air flow around it. And then the nutrients (fish 'manure') added to that would make it perfect for watering plants. So no wonder the Spaths are doing so well. Even if your ponds are topped up by town water, going through the pond would 'fix' it up. My water is from a bore, 45 metres underground. I doubt there'd be any oxygen left at that level. But being sprayed through the air by the sprinklers would help.

Surprised they'd grow in tidal areas. But maybe the tide is backing up fresh water and it's the fresh that's actually inundating them.

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