Can my peace lily be saved

2 years ago

My peace Lily hasn’t been doing too well since I put her in my outside shed and completely forgot to bring her in. Her leaves are quite mushy and dark and some parts are black, so I’m unsure of it’s cold damage or a watering issue. I’ll be devastated if she can’t be saved as I’ve had her since tiny. Here’s a photo of her in June/July

Temperatures haven’t gotten much lower than 8 degrees c by me and she was in an insulated outdoor building since around September 20th. I’ve watered her and the soil is wet but I’m unsure if this will do more harm than good. Could anyone help?

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Comments (3)

socks
2 years ago
I think it’s a goner, but you can wait and see. If I’m not mistaken, it’s plenty wet so don’t water it for now. Keep in a bright location inside inside, no direct sun as you probably know.
HU-46370764 thanked socks
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
agree ....

those leaves are lost .. so no amount of excess water is going to bring them back ... but if you rot the roots off.. then there is no hope for the future ....

so just water properly .. letting it near dry before the next watering.. and lets see if there are some dormant buds that will trigger.. and start new growth ..

its severely stressed.. fert is not a response to such...

ken
HU-46370764 thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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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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Hi, Holly. While the plant might be happy in a riparian setting where it naturally occurs, pots change things because water behaves differently in pots than it does in the landscape. An understanding of this idea is a critical part of becoming reliably proficient at growing things in pots, so ask if you have any interest in all. Undoubtedly, you're over-watering. I've never seen a peace lily from the final point of sale that was in a medium which would allow the grower to water when only the top 2 inches of soil were dry. Here's what's happening: When the top couple of inches of soil is dry, the soil closer to the bottom of the pot is still very wet. This means there is not enough air in the soil toward bottom of the pot to support normal root function. Since a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant, the plant suffers and looks shabby. As the soil drys down a bit and the volume of air increases, normal root function can resume. When you water too soon, the smaller roots die from hypoxia (lack of air). So, just as your plant is reaching the break-even point (where it is making at least as much energy [by way of photosynthesis] as it's using), the roots are inundated again. This causes a continuous cycle of roots dying then regenerating when conditions in the root zone allow normal function of roots. Root growth always precedes top growth, and the plant's chemical messengers "tell" the plant when there are enough roots to provide water and nutrients to fuel top growth. While roots are regenerating, top growth is stalled or severely curtailed, so you can see how important plenty of air in the root zone is to plants. I don't know how interested you are in learning more, but what happens below the soil line is absolutely critical to the plant's well being. This might also be helpful. Al
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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PLs usually produce from offsets that grow from the roots of the mother plant. They can be grown from seed, but it's fairly uncommon to do so, so the former method has garnered much more favor. At this point, it's important to avoid saturated soil anywhere in the pot. Do the following outdoors or while holding the pot over a sink: Move the pot downward, then reverse the direction sharply upward. Excess water in the pot will tend to continue moving downward when the direction is reversed, and out of the drain hole. The sharper the change in movement from down to up, the more water will exit the pot. Before or after this exercise, you can trim all the leaves off about an inch above the point where the individual leaf stems can be clearly seen.

It would be a good idea to make/use a 'tell' to keep you apprised of moisture levels deep in the pot. If your pot is deeper than about 5", the advice to "water when the top inch or two of soil feels dry to the touch, is a recipe for over-watering; and this would be most true when the plant in question has no foliage.

Keep the pot in a warm bright spot. It's quite common for the tops of some plants to collapse either as a drought response (too dry) or from over-watering (too wet). If you don't see the plant pushing new growth within a few weeks (a month or so), it's a good bet it isn't going to make it.

You'll find no credible information suggesting fertilizer should be withheld from stressed plants. It's a horticultural myth. A plant's systems are designed to work in concert with a full compliment of nutrients in the grow medium at all times. If a plant needs supplemental nutrition - it needs supplemental nutrition, whether it's stressed or not.

Al
HU-46370764 thanked tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

Can my peace lily be saved

Comments (3)

socks

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

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