Sad Peace Lily Will Recover With A Little Care
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.
Thanks so Much!
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Update!! Sad Peace Lily Will Recover With A Little Care
SO it’s been just over three weeks and my peace lily is doing a lot better. After transplanting it into a better pot I waited two weeks and it showed little improvement. I trimmed the dead leaves off at the base and I tied the stalks up in hopes that it would help it, which it did but the leaves remained droopy and “water logged”. Three days ago I decided that would try something different. I took the plant out of the pot and separated the roots and shook loose the soil checking for root rot. The roots and the root balls were still very strong to I decided I would split the plant into two separate plants. I followed the stalks down to the two separate clumps and I cut the plant in half with a bread knife. I transplanted the two separate halves into pots (the same sized one I had the original one in) with miracle grow soil, watered them throughly and loosely tied the stalks together. I also put chop sticks in the soil to support the stalks. The next morning the leaves perked up and were more firm. I untied them and they held there own, almost looking as good as they did when I got the plant. Success at last. Patience is definitely the key to these plants!