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What is wrong with this peace lily

3 months ago

Hello all,

Something is wrong with my peace lily. The outer sections of the plant keep dying back and the leaves are turning brown, advancing from the tips. It had grown quite large last year so I upsized the pot, then, the plant started to die back so I put it in a smaller pot. It is continuing to die back and I am not sure why.

It is in a mix of peat and perlite in one of those pots with some kind of planter drain insert. It has several holes on the bottom of the pot. While it does take a while to dry out, it is not an excessive amount of time. Last time I saw the roots, they did not look like they were rotting,. Roots are visible above the soil so the plant is potted a little high. It is never exposed to direct sunlight and spends its day indoors around 70F.

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 months ago
you didnt provide a time frame.. but one thing for sure.. its stressed from being repotted twice in a very short time frame ... this is usually bordering on loving a plant to death ...

finish up the facts scenario.. and perhaps we can hone in on the answer ..

if it a home made media mix.. if so.. what % of what???

did you dampen the media before putting the plant in it???

are those fresh new growth coming from the center.. hidden behind the ugly leaves ??

im think you should cut off all the ugly leaves ... remove all the brown stuff on the bottom.. and then leave the plant alone for a few months.. other than watering properly ... and allowing it to near dry before watering again ... with new media.. you need to learn a new system for watering .. you dont go back to watering the way you did with the old media you threw away ...

ken
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
3 months ago
How are you watering it and how do you determine when to water?

tj
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Well, I have found that my peace lily likes a fair bit of water. I let it droop only very, very slightly and then water, but then it springs right back upright again. Brown edging on the leaves of a peace lily are caused either by too much water or not enough water. If you say you let it dry out enough to wilt, then it could be you're letting it wilt too much before watering. The one picture you posted there is rather severe wilt. Don't let it wilt even a third of that much. The leaves should only be showing a hint of a sag and then it's time to water. Make sure your pot has drainage and water just enough to have water come dribbling out the bottom holes of the pot, let it drain fully, and dump out the water from the bottom tray. It doesn't like to sit in water. Also, a peace lily does not want direct sunlight or really bright light. I actually have mine sitting in a corner away from the window and it blooms happily there. They say if the flowers turn green it is getting too much light. That said, it's not one for total darkness either. Off to the side of a north window is really good.
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I wasn't able to view your photos from when you first posted, but was curious as to how your PL is doing now. I have gotten a lot of very helpful advice on this forum.I have a huge PL from grammas funneral two years ago, it seemed to be happy for a long time but lately I noticed it looking a little sick so I did some asking on here and now I ma happy to report it is coming back and looks really good. I water it with water that I let sit for a few days before using it, I keep it in front of a west facing window filtered by sheer curtains, I mist it or set in the bathroom and let shower run for 15 mins on hot then turn off the water and let it sit in there all day with the door closed, I check the soil regualrily so I can water when needed rather than when I think it should be watered, I repotted it in a size bigger pot, I diluted the fertilizer to 1/2 strength, all from advice I recieved here. All or some of the advice worked cuz the leaves all perked up, (they were very droopy, even the new ones)it has a lot of new growth, I don't see any more brown tips and it even has 3 flowers forming. I have a smaller one too that gets all of the same treatment as the big one, hopefully it will be a big one some day. Hope yours is doing well too.
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Hi! Apologies for the delay on seeing this post... The photos originally posted plantomaniac08(8) but the photo showing further down is the 'White Stripe' spathiphyllum we used to grow. Sadly, it didn't perform well for us, so we're no longer growing that one. Regarding tags and accuracy: I totally hear you --- our tagging isn't the most accurate in the world. We typically don't go variety-specific on our tags because it makes things MUCH more expensive for us... and we have to keep our costs within the threshold of what our retailer partners are willing to buy our plants for (while still being able to afford to invest in research and development to find and test new plants...). Another problem is that we're human --- everyone makes mistakes and with the volume of plants we produce, it happens from time to time that the wrong tag gets put in the wrong plant. We are always working on making things better, though, and we're testing some different systems that can help us be more specific on tags without becoming crazy expensive. But if you have any questions about our plants, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Oh, and by the way: I'm working to get every plant we sell photographed and put up on the website with the variety name, but it's a slow process... ---Justin, Costa Farms
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I agree - primary suspects: Root congestion, over-watering/ poor soil, a high level of salts in the soil solution. It's likely the plant needs dividing and repotting, but if you feel like the plant will be ok until next June (if you live in the US) I'd nurse it until then and take advantages of the plants natural tendency to better tolerate stress when it's in the strongest part of its growth cycle. "Losing pigment" sounds like it could be photo-oxidation (sunburn), which can occur with a sudden increase in photo load - like moving the plant from very dim to very bright. Al
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G K
Original Author
3 months ago
Hello all,

To answer some of the questions:

"How are you watering it and how do you determine when to water?"

I water it when it starts to dry out. This seems to take a long time though.

"not sure I understood you correctly..is the pot considered self draining?..no drain holes?..personally I don’t grow any plants in pots without drainage holes..I think good drainage in containers is important.."

The pot does have drainage holes on the bottom. About 8 of them. It is not self draining, The pot also had something like this inside it

"you didn't provide a time frame.. but one thing for sure.. its stressed from being repotted twice in a very short time frame... this is usually bordering on loving a plant to death...

finish up the facts scenario.. and perhaps we can hone in on the answer .."

The repots were several months apart. I repotted it originally mid-summer last year because it had outgrown its last pot and was extremely root bound and was starting to get stressed and wilt. When I repotted it that time, there was not even soil left in the pot when I finally took it out, just roots. Because of this, I upsized it significantly into a larger pot. After I did this, the browning and dieback started. By the end of December, I repotted it again and downsized it to the current pot.

"if it a home made media mix.. if so.. what % of what???"

It is a store bought mix called promix. It is moss and perlite I believe. It should be this stuff https://www.promixgardening.com/en-us/product/detail/promix-premium-all-purpose-mix

"did you dampen the media before putting the plant in it???"

Yes,

"are those fresh new growth coming from the center.. hidden behind the ugly leaves ??"

This is correct. The plant seems to be receeding and the new growth is happening in the center and the dieback is along the edges. It seems to be speeding up and even the new leaves are starting tp blemish a bit.

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