Sylvan and company: Thank you! I will try the downsizing and careful watering. I got my Peace Lily as a wedding present 21 years ago--I really, really don't want this baby to die. It is at work now as my kittens bit the poor thing to shreds. So, seeing as it had some black leaves (as well as fang marks) I researched about black leaves and changed the soil and, oops, enlarged the pot. Now it is putting out lovely little green leaves--which are turning black and brittle. Another peace lily at work got frozen during a power outage last year. Its leaves turned black and many fell off/were pruned, but it looks great now. We are kind people, who hate to see something killed--that's why we struggle with these plants. A 6-foot tall dracaena at work was locked in an unused office for a month or so and nearly died, but I've been watering it and it is sprouting new growth. I feel great! :-)

Thats funny because I usually use Miracle Gro but got Scotts instead this time. Well I scooped out again. I went pretty deep Some of the top roots are now exposed. If it grows back again in the next few days (crossing fingers) I will go ahead and replant but I want to avoid that since I just repotted them a few months back and I don't want to shock the plants. Hopefully I got it all this time. I will just have to wait and see. Thanks

OK Dave & Karen - here's my Friday visit update. I found the plant to be totally wet. The problem - as Karen pointed to in an earlier reply - is that there are too many cooks etc. There is one lady volunteer in whom I have full confidence to look after the plants, but there is another male volunteer who is over-eager on watering plants. I can tell just from looking at the top of the soil that he has saturated the plant from the top down. My coffee stirrer test confirms that. He will be told to leave the plants alone. The lady volunteer is at the Club every day, & I told her to stop all watering to allow the plant to dry out & wait until it shows signs of wilting. Then resume weekly reservoir watering. Meanwhile, the yellow leaves have shriveled & there are no new ones, but the flowers are not looking as healthy as they were. Also the lady volunteer said (before I even mentioned the matter) that in the mornings & early afternoons she will move the plant to the outer area where there is more daylight & sunlight, then in the afternoon when the sun gets hot she will bring it back inside. So I'm hopeful that in a few weeks time the plant will be back to a healthier state.

Jayme needs a haircut. ;-) "I don't believe I'm heavy handed on watering because it rarely floods through the drainage hole at the bottom of the pot and when this does happen I always empty the tray so that it's not standing in water." We know your soil holds water, but let me show you why your contention doesn't. Let's say I have a horrible soil that holds 6" of perched water at container capacity. Since that's probably Greek to most growers, it means that after gravity is done pushing water out of a recently saturated soil and it has JUST stopped draining, the bottom 6" of soil is fully saturated and essentially airless. This means that the function of ALL roots within that 6" tall column of saturated soil is being limited by a lack of oxygen. Using your contention, everything is fine if I only add enough water to raise the ht of the saturated soil column to 5-7/8", because water won't drain until the ht of the saturated soil column is greater than 6". Essentially, there is no difference of note between a saturated soil column of 6" vs 5-7/8"; which means that over-watering is surely in play as a potential limitation. Too, if you water consistently so no water exits the pot, you ensure ALL the dissolved solids in fertilizer solutions and tapwater remain in the soil. This increases the mineral salt level in the soil (TDS) and can very quickly skew the ratio of a singular nutrient to all of the others, which creates another significant issue. I can clearly see from the list of ingredients that you unwittingly made a very water-retentive soil. Compare what your soil looks like to these soils, which are what I grow in: You can clearly see there are going to be large pores between the high % of large particles that will be filled w/air instead of water after the soil stops draining subsequent to being saturated. Ideally, you would move in that direction. I promise it will make a BIG difference in your ability to manage your plants' moisture and fertility needs. This will provide information that will help you turn your plant around. and This link, which goes into considerable detail about How Water Behaves in Container Soils, probably represents the largest step forward you can make as a container gardener. If you make the effort to understand the concept it outlines, it should change the way you look at container media and significantly increase the rewards you get from your growing efforts. Al