I have about a dozen giant peace lilies from Lowes in Tampa FL. Because I have very little sun in my garden due to the number of the giant preservation grandfather oaks that are protected by law on my property, I must plant only shade loving plants. These giant lilies are not varigated in leaf patters and they are about 6 feet tall. The flowers are as large as my hand...gorgeous tropical plant. We may have a maximum of 10 evenings a year in winter when I cover my impatients, and other plants effected to near frosr/freeze temperatures etc., which protects them, and when I uncover them after the day or so deep in temperature,they are fine. I think the several times of covering and uncovering the plants during these sporactic temperatures are worth it. My impatients grw up to my waist, and stalks almost as think as my thumb in a mass planting. Every time the plants got leggy , etc, I would cut them back, use root tone and fetilizer, and place back in the ground. I was advised if I covered my giant peace lilies also in this same manner, that they will remain green and not die back or go dormant. Has anyone had that experience? Thanks. Linc Marie Benkert

I have wanted to try some of these for years. There's a lot of shade in my yard, and I love bright color in Fall: whatever I can get that will show through fallen leaves is likely to be aces with me. [grin] A month ago, I purchased small starters: two each of two different varieties. I gave them a little peat and chicken manure, because I've read that they like acidic soil. They are in two different locations. (Both get some morning sun in Spring, but less sun later on as the trees leaf out.) It's only in the last week or so that I've seen any new growth on them, but I'm optimistic. I was also warned that slugs regard them as the caviar of the plant kingdom, so I've been keeping traps near both areas. (I've seen a few nibbles of the lower leaves, but nothing serious.) Wish me luck! :) This post was edited by ms_xeno on Tue, May 6, 14 at 15:53

Did I interpret the following correctly regarding your water retention thread? If I need to use a heavier mix, I can trick the water by adding a brick or a wick so that the PWT is below the root system. and this could help prevent the cycle of too wet roots to dried out roots, with resulting root damage? I think I understand the general concept. A brick or ballast, used appropriately, can reduce the amount of perched water your planting can hold. A PWT for any given soil is the same ht, regardless of the size or shape of the container. If you have a soil that supports 4" of perched water in a 5x5 square pot, you have 100 cu in that support perched water. If you add ballast in the form of a Styrofoam block in the bottom of that pot that is 4x4x5, it reduced the volume of soil that CAN hold perched water by 80 cu in, or by 80%. As long as there is a small continuous column of soil that forms a bridge from the main body of soil to the container's bottom, water won't 'perch' above the ballast. If you just fill the bottom with 5" of gravel, the PWT will occupy the first 5" of soil above the gravel, so using a "drainage layer" is just a way of shooting yourself in the foot. A wick is just a substitute for a small water column. Drops of water will get pushed down the wick by the weight of the water above it until the weight is no longer enough to push additional water off of the bottom of the wick. Tipping the pot and using a wick works very well, too. Next, should I add another part of sphagnum-- 1 or 2? If you add so much peat or there is a volume of fines sufficient to fill up all the potentially large air spaces that serve as the reason for making your own soils, you've defeated yourself before you're out of the gate. If you need/want those watering intervals measured in weeks instead of days, why bother putting together a soil that is the functional equal of hundreds of other soils that more conveniently offer excessive water retention? If you're going to make a soil, make one that's going to offer an advantage over what you can acquire easily from multiple sources. You can start with ingredients from which an extremely productive and root-healthy soil can be made, and assemble the ingredients in such a way that the end result leaves you scratching your head and wondering why you bothered. In order to take advantage of ingredients with lots of potential, you have to assemble them in such a way that ensures the potential will be realized; otherwise, why bother? I think I read that I need to wait 2 weeks after I make the mix before I use it? The lime goes through a reactive phase and then a residual phase. During the reactive phase, it's possible that not enough Ca will be available. For some plants that can be an issue - tomatoes, peppers, melons, for example. For houseplants, it probably isn't anything you'd ever observe as an issue. And I am confused about fertilizing. Do I need to add a CRF to the mix for PL? No Then how often to PL need fertilized? That's a difficult question to answer. How to best fertilize depends on your watering habits and soil choice. If you're flushing the soil every time you water, you could fertilize every 4th time you water at full recommended strength in the summer and half recommended strength in the winter. That's a broad generalization. Much depends on temperatures and light levels, but that would be a good starting point. Linking fertilizing frequency to watering frequency just makes soo much more sense than fertilizing by the calendar. Al

Thanks for helping me to correctly identify the plant I have. That has helped me find information regarding it's care, which seems to be a bit different than for peace lilies. floral_uk: Zimmerpflanzenerde is exactly what I have now and what seems not to be working very well. It's the best thing I could find in my area, though. I know I need to repot the plant, but my issue is that if this soil is not the right one for my plant, then I'm not sure what other kinds are available to me, so I'm trying to think of the best solution that I think I can manage. In every online resource I could find, the recommendation for anthurium is a soil composed of sphagnum peat moss, orchid bark, perlite, and sometimes regular houseplant soil. Orchid bark is something I've seen around here, so I'll see what I can do about that. Karen: Thanks for the tip about keeping the humidity high. I have been wetting the leaves of the plant (also to keep off dust), but I also saw today a recommendation for a tray of water with large pebbles in it so that the pot can sit on the pebbles, keeping the roots from becoming waterlogged, but the plant can enjoy the humidity as the water evaporates. It also looks nice, so I might try that out as well as misting the plant every day. I'll see what I can find to add to the soil to help it drain better. Thanks to everyone for the help!