Ask the Expert: How do you care for the peace lily flower?
I keep my peace lily near a sliding glass door which has an overhang on the outside which provides indirect lighting. The soil is kept damp to the touch. The flowers on the peace lily never open fully,develop a brown spot on it and eventually dies.

The leaves are green and healthy.
What am I doing wrong? Jacquie

Plant Expert Reply:

It sounds as if your are caring for your peace lily plant properly.  Peace lilies need a humid environment.  Lack of humidity could cause the blooms to turn brown and not open.   So, I would start misting your plant every other day.  If this doesn't correct the problem, we will need to explore the possiblity of some fungal or disease issue.  A photo of the problems can help us pin point the problem.  Good luck and keep me posted.

Ask the Expert: Does my Peace lily have a chance? I read through the blogs about drooping PL and all the reasons, watering, sunlight and temp changes etc. Great advice!! I just want to make sure I'm on the right track. Mine, I think, either became too dry or went into shock from the sudden heat, so I gave it a little water and transplanted it into a bigger pot with moist
soil. That was three days ago and it's still green and the stems are still pretty strong, it just looks really sad. I took your suggestion and cut off the dead leaves at the base of the plant and a few others that looked injured. You had also mentioned to cut off leaves that were also bent. All of mine are bent in some area and I was wondering it cutting almost all of them off might keep the roots strong
and help it to produce stronger the second time. I thought I'd give it two weeks or so to adjust before making that drastic of a decision but wondered if you had tried that and had any success with it.

Jennifer
Plant Expert Reply:
Waiting two weeks before you do something drastic is a good idea. I have seen a peace lily that looked dead and beyond help come back to life. Are your bent leaves broken or more like dropping? If they are only dropping, leave them they will straighten up. Although I have seen peaces lilies recover when all the foliage has been removed, I don't like to cut off all of the leaves until I start to see some new growth. It sounds like you have a good handle on the situation. Just be patient. Good luck and keep me posted.

Ask the Expert: Peace Lily flowers are turning green
We have
several peace lilies planted outside next our patio out of the sun and for
several months they were blooming abundent white flowers but now the majority of
the white flours are turning green.  What can I do to correct this problem. Tyrus

Plant Expert Reply:

This is the natural process of peace lily blooms.  They will start out white then turn green and eventually turn brown.  You need to remove spent the blooms.  Follow the stem to the base of the plant and cut the stem off.  This will encourage the plant to produce new blooms.

Spathiphyllum

Ask the Expert: What kind of plant is this?
We have this plant at my work.  It is several years old.  We are trying to figure out the best way to care for the plant, since it does not seem very happy…  It does seem to be very hardy, since we often forget to water it.  Two pictures are attached.

It also has a brown scale growing on the stems.  I have attached that picture also.  It does not seem normal and, if it is a disease, I'd like to get rid of it.

Plant Expert Reply:

The plant you have is a Spathiphyllum (peace lily).  The photo with the "brown scale" was too blurry for me to tell what it is.  However, the brown tips on the leaves in the picture above are from lack of water.  We have information about how to care for peace lilies on our peace lily plant page (you will need to scroll down the page to see the information).

Your peace lily actually look rather healthy.

Ask The Expert: can pease lillies be put out side in summer months? Jill

Plant Expert Reply: Yes peace lilies can be placed outside during the summer.  I recommend placing pease lilies (Spathiphyllum) in an area protected from hot blazing sun.  Bright areas are good for peace lilies but sunlight beating down constantly on them will cause the leaves to scorch.  Keep them moist outside but watch for overwatering.

Ask the Expert: Peace lily flower turning black
I'm not sure what the technical name is for this part of the peace lily – it could be called a stamen (?).

It's NOT the white leaf part of the flower, but comes out from the stem at the point where the flower part comes out of the stem.

The very tips of these white parts are turning black.

Why?  Is the plant being over-watered?  Or is something else wrong?

Thanks for your help.

Kate

Plant Expert Reply:

The protrusion from the peace lily (Spathiphyllum) "bloom" is called a spadix which is a spike with minute flowers enclosed by the spathe  (the white  leaf).

The answer to the black coloring depends on the age of the bloom.  If the bloom is a couple of weeks old, the black color is a signal that the bloom is spent and in decline especially if the leaves are green and healthy.  This is a normal process that occurs with every bloom.  Simply remove the spent bloom by following the stem to the base of the plant and cut it off.

However if these are newly formed blooms, the plant is under stress.  If the leaves are showing the same symptoms, you are probably over-watering them.  Make sure your pot is allowing excess water to drain away from the roots.  Once you correct the water issue the plant should recover.

As long as your peace lily looks healthy, I would continue to care for it as you have been.

Good luck and keep me posted.

Ask the Expert: Can my Peace Lily be saved?
I had a large peace lily that was so heavy it kept falling over. I had to lean it against a wall until I got a larger pot to put it in. In the meantime, all of the stems drooped so low that the stems became permanently bent. I figured there was no way for them to unbend, so I cut each stem at the point right before the bending occurred. Now the plant has a few lily flowers, 1 leaf, & about 20 short, cut stems. Will the stems keep growing or did I kill it? Or should I cut the stems closer to the roots? Is there a way to save my lily or is it too late? Stacie

Reply:
I've got good news and bad news. The good news is your peace lily (Spathiphyllum) will survive. The bad news is you are being brought up on plant assault charges. Just kidding!

The peace lily will put on new leave shoots fairly quickly. In the meantime, you need to cut the stems off at the based of the plant. Why? The stems will not produce new leaves. However, the plant will produce new leaves to replace the ones it has lost. Give it a very light solution of fertilizer or vitamin b1 to add in the new leaf production.

Anytime you peace lily stem become bent and damaged, you will need to cut them off at the based of the plant. Peace lilies will produce new leaves from the based of the plant and usually quite often. So in a few weeks, you'll never know the peace lily had a bad haircut. Good luck and keep me posted.

Spathiphyllum with Leaf Damage

Ask the Expert: Pruning your peace lily
recently my peace lily suffered an unexpected "cold night". It has lots of dead edges on the larger leaves. Would it be best to cut the dead/dying leaves out of the plant to encourage new growth? Or suffer through the ugliness and hope that it flourished on its own? Toni

Reply:

Peace Lily With Damaged Leaves

I recommend pruning out the damaged leaves this way the plant will place all of its energy into producing new foliage.  To remove the leaves follow the leaf stem to the base of the plant and cut it off.  Since the plant is in stress from the cold temperature, make sure you keep the plant evenly moist.  You can give it a very light solution of fertilizer or vitamin B1 to help it overcome the loss of foliage.  Good luck and keep me posted.

Ask the Expert: My peace lily leaves have turned brown?
I transferred my peace lily to a larger pot and since then the leave have turned a dull brown and r really thin.  What can I do to save this plant? Courtney

Reply:

A peace lily with brown leaves is usually the result of too much fertilizer, too much light or not enough water.  However, the transplanting process can also cause problems. When you transplanted your peace lily did you keep the top of the original root ball at the same level?  If you add a lot of new soil to the top of the root ball, the peace lily will decline instead of thrive.  New soil should only be added to elevate the plant in its new container and to fill in the gap at the sides.  So remove any extra soil place on the top of the root ball.

Also, when you finish transplanting you should saturate the soil and then proceed with normal watering practices.  If you only lightly watered the peace lily see if it needs more water.  This doesn't mean just the very top layer of soil.  All of the soil needs to be moist.

Since fertilizer can cause issues, I wait until my plant has overcome transplant shock before I fertilize it.  If you fertilized immediately following the transplant, you might have more fertilizer than the peace lily can handle.  If this is the case and the plant is towards the dry side water it with fertilizer free water.

Last but not least, make sure that your light source is the same as it was before.  You don't want intense light beating down on your peace lily.

We have a great peace lily information page.  It might give you other clues as to what is going on with your peace lily. Good luck and please keep me posted.

Drooping Peace Lily

Ask the Expert: Peace Lily Drooping
Hi there,

I woke up this morning and found my Peace Lily drooping severely, although all the leaves are still in green color.

I bought the plant about a couple of weeks ago. It is about 1 feet high and the condition of the plant was very good.

I was told that once a week of watering is enough; placing a tray under the pot and pour water in the tray. I was not sure and am still not sure how much water I should give to the plant. Because after the first watering I checked the soil, it was still dry. So, I gave a little bit of water time after time but the soil condition was the same.

Then, this morning the plant was showing the sign of watering.

Could you tellme what should I do?

I"m glad I found this website. Taka

Reply:

Over-watering and under-watering will cause a peace lily(spathiphyllum) to wilt (droop).  When it comes to watering once a week should be enough provided that you give it adequate water.  You can water one of two ways:  Give it water until it starts to  over-flow into the saucer or you can water and then do a moisture test.  You want your soil to be moist but not soggy at all times.  This means that if you stick your finger into the soil about a knuckle deep and remove some of it that you can roll the soil into a ball.  When you squeeze this soil ball it should not produce a lot of water just a slight amount.

Another thing that will cause a peace lily to droop is temperature changes.  If your plant is directly under an air vent the drastic change in temperature when the air comes on will cause the plant to droop.

Check both of those conditions.  Once you correct the situation it should take a week or so for the plant to recover.  Be patient and give it time.