That window looks very bright and sunny. Other houseplants would love all that light, but it may be a bit too much for a peace lily. Move it 5-10 feet from a bright sunny window.

Yellow leaves are also a sign of overwatering. If the soil the plant is in stays wet too long, the plant will be unhappy. Is there a hole in the bottom of that pot? If there isn't, move the plant into one, so it can drain freely and dry out over the week. Peace lilies like moist soil, but it also needs some dry time. If your pot isn't getting dry on top within a few days, the soil is not a good mix. You can fix it by adding in a few handfuls of perlite. I do this with pretty much every plant I have. It helps the soil drain and dry, which is a good thing for most houseplants. Good luck!

I know what I'd do, but allow me to ask a couple of questions first. Do you fertilize it? With what - a bloom booster? When you water, are you flushing the soil - so AT LEAST 10-15% of the total volume of water you use exits the drain hole?

Al

Yes, dannie317, you are right about the window. I'll move it and see what happens. There is a hole and when I water, I never have runoff in the saucer. Whether that is important information, I don't know.

Al, thank you for your response as well. I was using fertilizer spikes fairly recently and noticed an increase in blooms and I suspect that's where the new growth came from. I've been told to quit using those and use a liquid fertilizer. I just bought some Miracle Grow all purpose plant food so we'll see. Any suggestions on specific "don'ts" when repotting?

Thanks so much for your detailed response, Al. I found a repotting instructional video on YouTube which shows using a layer of rocks, (I'm assuming aside from drainage, because the pot was perhaps larger than what the plant required? I wasn't able to watch the video with sound) then a square of synthetic fabric to keep soil in place. I feel like I'm reading too far into this! Thanks for your help!

I looked at the video, and it showed a plant being potted up into a pot much too large (over-potted), using a very poor soil and questionable technique (the fabric and rocks).

If I was making the video, I'd have made it clear that the soil I was using (it would be one of the two pictured below)

Al

Thank you once again, Al. I will go out this week and buy a new planter. I would love a potting soil suggestion. I plan to repot the whole plant. Once done, I'll update with new photos.

If you set aside some time when you won't feel pressured, I bet you'll enjoy reading this. It discusses soils, but there is another thread that goes into much more detail about container soils if you're interested?

Al

I will most certainly read this tomorrow. I skimmed through and noticed some of the commenters thanking you for all your help. It seems that you are beyond knowledgeable and definitely helpful. Thank you from me too.

*Please read down to the last section for my questions if you're low on time.

Wow, that was a wealth of information. So far, I've only read a few comments in and found your quote: "...I understand that everyone isn't interested in perfecting their growing
skills, or spending more than a few minutes at chosen intervals tending
plants, or in some cases even being bothered learning anything beyond
that plants need water. Those aren't the people I'm interested in. I'm interested in helping
anyone that needs or asks for it and keeps an open mind - the ones that
want to work a little at improving their knowledge base and skill level."

This is me. My entire life, save for the two times I moved away, I've lived on the very coast of south Texas. I've learned that gardening isn't a common thing here like it is in the other two places I lived. When I lived in Virginia Beach, a friend gifted me his peace lily. At first, I was one of the people who only knew how to keep it alive by periodically giving it water.

Recently, after living in 8 different rentals in the past 9 years, my husband and I have finally built a home and landscaped the entire property. I refuse to live with a weed and sticker burr-ridden rock yard like most of the people around me on this island. We installed a water well and irrigation system. I've always wanted pretty flowers, so I created a flower bed knowing nothing about maintaining it but have quickly learned a lot with the help of Google and people like you, Al (it's doing great so far). My foxtail palms and pygmy dates are all in major transplant shock but just after reading your piece on how important root pruning is (another thread I discovered), I can only assume that the careless replanting from soiled pot directly to sand was part of the culprit. I'm blaming my landscaper; it was his careless crew.

Anyway, my recent interest in taking care of my new flower bed out front made me realize that my peace lily was suffering from some major neglect. It survived a truck ride (in a makeshift box in the bed no less) and I revived it from that shock. Now I really want to make it thrive. Her name is Penelope and she deserves a better life! (Call me ridiculous, but I did name it and I do talk to her!)

So from what I gather from your linked post is this:

• I should definitely repot my plant to a slightly larger container and not just pot up. It hasn't been done in at least four and a half years.

• When repotting, I should remove all old soil and prune any large roots, upward traveling roots, and "j-hooked" roots. When I do this, where do I clip? As high as possible? This is the part that scares me the most!

• I should find a general potting soil (I'm thinking Miracle Grow brand because, as a beginner, it is the only thing I know of that has a seemingly good reputation) and mix it with Natures Helper and Perlite. If this is correct, what should my ratio be?

When I refill the new container with the soil mix, how far up should I fill it? There are a lot of stem cuttings that are visible. That's probably not the correct terminology but I assume you understand what I mean. Should I clean this up? Should I bury these any if at all?

Lastly, if I remove all of the old soil, will I need to pack in new soil to fill the void at the thickest part of the roots? I'm sure some of these are silly questions but I truly have no idea what I'm doing and this plant means a lot to me. I want to do what's best for it.

Once again, thank you so much.

I do try to be helpful, and I try to write with the idea that more than one person will read what I say and hopefully gain more enjoyment from the growing experience because of something they learned. I enjoy nurturing plants, and look at nurturing people who also enjoy nurturing plants as a natural extension of my own growing experience. If I couldn't know I was helping, my efforts would be for naught & I'd quickly lose interest; which is why kind comments like yours are always appreciated. Thank you ..... and I enjoyed your story. ;-)

In reference to the part you italicized ...... I always figured it's pretty hard to push someone up a ladder unless they were wanting to climb. ;-)

So from what I gather from your linked post is this:

• I should definitely repot my plant to a slightly larger container and not just pot up. It hasn't been done in at least four and a half years. You can repot or divide PLs for best outcome. If you repot, it might not need to go into another pot, but the root structure of PLs doesn't make them top candidates for root operations related to repotting. You can also simply cut the leaves off each plant and most of the roots, divide the plants and repot into the same pot they came from. They'll recover quickly & take right off. Of course, you have to look at a bare pot for a month, or just stick it in bright indirect light outdoors somewhere & ck on water needs every few days.

• When repotting, I should remove all old soil and prune any large
roots, upward traveling roots, and "j-hooked" roots. When I do this,
where do I clip? As high as possible? This is the part that scares me
the most! Honestly, IO'd divide thios plant and save the root pruning learning experience for plants that really need it as part of their care regimen.

• I should find a general potting soil (I'm thinking Miracle Grow
brand because, as a beginner, it is the only thing I know of that has a
seemingly good reputation) and mix it with Natures Helper and Perlite.
If this is correct, what should my ratio be? MGs reputation is more a result of its advertising campaign than its performance record. If I were you, I'd seek out a source for pine bark in an appropriate size. If you can find it, you can use perlite and the MG potting soil as small fractions of the soil (added to a large fraction of pine bark) to make a very good soil. A good soil can eliminate over-watering concerns and make a sound nutritional supplementation program monkey easy.

See pine bark from 3 different suppliers at 3, 6, & 9 o'clock, and finished soil in the middle:

Lastly, if I remove all of the old soil, will I need to pack in new
soil to fill the void at the thickest part of the roots? I'm sure some
of these are silly questions but I truly have no idea what I'm doing and
this plant means a lot to me. I want to do what's best for it. I use a wooden dowel rod, sharpened in a pencil sharpener (same tool as you can use as a tell to show when plants need water) to work soil into the voids between roots. See the 2 tools on the right. They serve the same purpose, except I favor the white one I made.

Al

Let me add to this conversation, that when I repotted my peace lily, I did trim off half the roots, and had zero problems with it. I also planted it in gritty mix. The only issue has been that while the roots are still growing and trying to colonize the pot, I need to water it very frequently. Otherwise, my plant is thriving. I would strongly recommend trimming the roots. Peace Lilies have very aggressive roots and become root bound very quickly

Thank you both! When I get time this week, I'll run into town to look for the things I'll need. I'll update once it's all said and done. I won't lie... I'm a little nervous ;)

I was nervous also when I did mine. This plant is very resilient if you treat it right.

I was in Home Depot the other day. My eye caught the sight of Peace Lilies that were huge. Both flowers and leaves.

I grow them and they do very well for me. I've had them for many years.I've never seen Peace Lilies this large. The leaves alone were scary. Wondering what they were and how they were grown to this size.

Out of curiosity, I stuck my fingers down in the potting mix to see what they were potted in. I was surprised to find they were potted in a peaty soil with some fine wood chips. But the soil was mostly peaty.

Peace Lilies like moisture. Mine do grow in Miracle Gro (which I know is not popular here), but I always add some orchid bark and perlite so it drains well but still holds moisture. They do not like to go dry.

I would offer, depending on your watering schedule, you consider that these plants do not like to dry out. If you cannot water on a regular basis, mixing some small bark with a peaty mix might work for you.

Just a suggestion to consider.

Jane

Home Depot Peace Lilies

All plants like moisture, but they like the right amount of moisture and plenty of air in the rhizosphere (root zone). Mixing a minor fraction (a minor fraction would be bark at less than 50% of the whole, but actually about 75% bark and the rest made up of equal measures of perlite and peat or a peaty mix like MG soils would be much better) of bark with a peaty mix doesn't change aeration or drainage appreciably, and though peace lily likes moisture in the same way all plants like moisture, it reacts to excessive amounts of moisture in the same way other plants react to excessive amounts of moisture - by exhibiting symptoms of impaired root function and often poor root health (so - a shabby appearance to start with), this, due to a dearth of oxygen in the rhizosphere and anaerobic conditions that allow the fungi that thrive in that type of environment to negatively affect root health.

Al

Jane

There are around 40 species of spathiphyllums and like most popular plants they have been hybridized . The range from under a foot to around 8 feet .I have one called "Sensation" that tops 6 feet leaves are over a foot wide There is also one called "Mauna Loa that also gets very large . Spaths are equally large . There are also variegated forms some with white edges and some with distinct spots and wavy leaves . All hybrids I would guess ,have never figured out how to tell the species apart.lol

.. Mine flower only in spring and summer yet when you go into nurseries they always have gazillions of them in full flower regardless of the time of year. Wonder how they do that??

Also happened to notice one in a large group that had pink spaths rather than white. Have never seen any color except white no matter which kind.

Thinking it a lost Anthurium but the leaves were wrong so I figured it was dyed . I was there for plumbing supplies so went inside to get those but decided to get it even if it was another species but it was gone lol

Has anyone seen any other color besides white?? You'd think with all that hybridizing somebody would have changed the color??lol gary