Just an update. Looks like those 'concerned' plants aren't doing so well. They have started to wilt and develop brown spots and holes in the leaves. I'm going to let them go on their own until they fully die but I'm not holding on to hope. Ah well, 3 out of one still pretty good and at least one more seems to have a chance to grow a new leaf but its not doing well, it's developing holes in the existing leaf. Already gave one of the 3 healthy plants away to my co-worker. Another will go in my office. I replanted those 2 again because I think the pots were just too small, but I didn't re-do the soil for fear of shocking them again. I pulled out the plant retaining as much of the soil ball as I could and added more to it in the bigger pot on the bottom and sides. They seemed to not care and are still going strong. Going to do the third one that way too. I've found the self watering pot my coworker wanted to use actually useful, but not the way they were intended. I can flush from the top without directly draining and then pour off the excess out of the watering funnel. If given the option between the normal attached saucer or the self watering saucer, this is better. Though I still like the idea of draining into the saucer of stones. I may do that one yet. Aside from the Peace Lily, I've been taking advantage of this new experience. Replanted a rather healthy but root bound poinsettia in the second batch of soil I made with the 1/2" screen. This batch turned out much better, a lot less fine that the first, still a lot of sapwood though. I mixed this batch with the 5:1:1 ratio. My seedlings are doing well, currently they are in a store bought seedling soil in a tray. Can't wait to get them in the window boxes, but they have a month or so before that happens. I have Unwin's Dwarf, Columbine, English Daisy, Alyssum (purple and white), Bachelor Button, Coleus, and a white and purple "bluebonnet looking" dwarf plant I can't remember the name of. I just wish I'd started them in January, another week and we will be beyond the last possible freeze for my area... unless we have a weird April again. Even still, it's balcony gardening. I can always bring it inside.

In riparian settings where PLs naturally occur, root physiology is adapted to provide a pathway for O2 from the atmosphere to the roots. Roots use this O2 sourced from outside of the rhizosphere (rootzone) to fuel root function/metabolism. Plants grown in a solid medium (potting soil) have root systems adapted to use O2 from the rhizosphere. When the rhizosphere is flooded or partially flooded, the root system is functionally crippled and the entire organism suffers (spoiled/blemished foliage, poor water/nutrient uptake, poor health/growth, reduced ability to resist insects/disease [like root or crown rot], ....). Unfortunately, roots can't transition back and forth, allowing them to utilize O2 from outside the rhizosphere today and from the rhizosphere tomorrow, which is exactly what we ask them to do if we use a water-retentive soil. BTW - fading blooms should be removed from plants, but whether or not foliage you might think unattractive should be removed is a little more subjective. If your plant is healthy, you can remove leaves that are going over with very little impact on the plant's vitality; but, if the plant is weak, there are advantages to leaving the leaves on. First, we should clear up the notion that the sad looking leaves are an energy drain on the plant. They aren't. If a leaf is using more energy than it's creating, chemical messengers inform plant central that the leaf isn't pulling it's weight. At that tipping point, the plant will start 2 processes. 1) to shed the leaf lackey, and 2) while the shedding process is advancing, the plant will be salvaging mobile nutrients and other useful biocompounds from the offending leaf and translocating them to other plant parts - another way Mother Nature recycles. If your plant is struggling, you should be a little more reluctant to remove leaves until the plant signals it's done with them. Al

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.

Thanks Tamela. Shock might be it, given that nothing else really changed. I just hate to see those large green leaves lose color. Would you have any suggestions for helping the plant settle down with more ease? I heard its not a good idea to fertilize or water the plant at normal pace until roots take hold (not sure how long to wait for this either).