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At Peace With Peace Lily: Proper Watering

Ask The Plant Expert: Recently someone gave me a large peace plant.  It is inside in a relatively low- light area within air conditioning. During the last 2 weeks the leaves have been turning brown around the edges, and a few days later look completely dead. I water them with a quart of water every 4 or 5 days  ( do not water until water leaks out the bottom into the tray) I see no sign of infestation. Help! – L.R.

Peace Lily House PlantFlower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply: It could be a couple of things:

  • If the leaf is turning brown without any yellowing first I would say it is lack of water.
  • If the leaf is turning yellow and then turning brown it is too much water.

Check the following – stick your finger into the rootball up to your first joint, if the soil feels moist, the plant doesn’t have good drainage, and too much water is likely the cause.

Reply from L.R. – Thank you.  You have answered my question.  The leaves are turning brown around the edges with the brown gradually moving to the center of the leaf.  Not enough water.  Will concentrate on taking better care of the plant.

 

 

Help! How Do I Revive My Peace Lily?

Spathiphyllum clevelandii - Peace LilyAsk the Plant Expert: I bought it a month ago at Home Depot. After returning from Sweden.  I have it in my basement by a window, but it is pretty low of light.  I guess I didn’t water it enough and now the leaves have wilted; a couple are yellow.  The two flowers I had are brown.  How can I revive this plant?  It is still green is that a good sign??? – Gloria

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply: You can try. First remove any dead or drying leaves and blooms. If the soil is dry, saturate it, and make sure any excess water can drain away from the plant.  Monitor the plant; give it water when the soil begins to dry out. In a week or so, you should see the sign of new growth.

Hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you need anything else.

Should I Feed My Peace Lily From The Top or Bottom?

Spathiphyllum clevelandii - Peace LilyAsk The Plant Expert: Should I feed my peace lily plant from the top or bottom? – Cheryl

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply: When fertilizing any plants, you want the fertilizer to go through the soil where the roots are located. I find that water soluble fertilizers used when watering work better than leaving it in a saucer and letting the roots soak it up.

Hope this information was helpful.

How To Prune A Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum)


Ask the Expert:
How to Prune?

I have a large peace lily. Where the white flowers have bloomed, they have died and turned brown, but are still attached to a new, fresh, green, stem. I assume this is for the new flowers to bloom.

Can the brown, dead blooms be cut off to the green stem? Or should they stay on until they fall off?

It really takes away from the beauty of the plant itself to leave these on.

Please advise. Thank you. Janie

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply:
Each bloom has it’s own stem, therefore the green stem will not produce a new bloom. So you will need to remove both the bloom and the green stem which will eventually turn brown. To remove the spent bloom, you will follow the bloom stem down to the base of the plant and cut the stem off as close to the base of the plant as possible. This will help make the plant more attractive and stimulate the plant to produce more blooms.

While we are talking about pruning peace lilies, we need to discuss pruning unsightly leaves off. You will follow the same procedure as de-head the blooms. Follow the leave stem to the base of the plant and cut it off. You can also prune the leaves themselves should they get brown tips. To do this make an angled cut below the brown tip. This angled cut should keep the new tip from turning brown.

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Peace Lily Blooms Are Green Not White – What’s UP?

Ask the Expert: Re: Peace Lilly
My Peace Lilly’s blossoms are/stay green and never turn white. Wazzzzupppp? Glenn

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply:It depends on a few things. First we need to know what constitutes a bloom on a Spathiphyllum (peace lily). What most people call the the bloom is actually called a spathe. This structure is similar in shape to a leaf and surrounds the spadix which support the actual flowers of the plant. The Spathes can range in color from a pure white to a pale whitish green depending on the hybrid.

So to determine what is happening with your plant, I need to know a couple of things. Are the Spathes a pale green or a dark green? Do the spathe’s have any white on them? What color is the spadix?

Factors you can work with to achieve better blooms: humidity, water light and fertilizer. Giving the plant the humidity and proper water will help make the formation of leaves, spathes and flowers stronger. The right fertilizer and light will help with strength the color and structure of the plant. So, follow the care instructions for Peace Lilies. Hopefully this will change future spathes from green to white

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Saving A Peace Lily

Ask the Expert: How do I save my peace lily?

Spathiphyllum

My peace lily’s leaves are soft and limp. Someone told m I overwatered it. I let it dry out, it did not improve. Can this plant be saved or is it too late? Debbie

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply:
The plant can be saved.
Check the roots. Make sure they have not rotted and that the container has drain holes that will allows excess water to drain away from the roots.

The soil looks a little dry right now. Moisten the soil and keep it evenly moist but not soggy. You want the soil to hold water, but you should not be able to squeeze water from it. Also create a humid environment around the plant by misting the air around it with lukewarm water every day or every other day. Remove any of the yellow or brown leaves.

Make sure the plant is receiving light. However, the light source should not be beaming directly on to the plant.

Once you get the plant settle with the right conditions it should make a full recovery.

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Why Does My Peace Lily Have Yellow Leaves

Ask the Expert: Peace lily lower leaves turn yellow and then die?
I repotted my peace lily about 18 mos. ago. The lower leaves turn yellow and then die. At first I thought it was just the shock, but it continues to lose leaves. It was a huge plant and now is looking rather pathetic. HELP!!! I love this plant. It is in a south window, but gets limited direct sunlight. I have it in a self-watering pot. Any ideas would be appreciated. Linda

Flower Shop Network‘s Plant Expert Rely: This peace lily problem is directly related to a water issue. Normally, I would assume too much water. With self-watering pots it is hard to tell. It could be getting too much or not enough.

Spathiphyllum clevelandii - Peace Lily

Peace Lily

Another issue could be that the plant was planted too deep when re-potted. The top of the root in the old pot should have been the top of the root ball in the new pot.

In other words, you should not have added any soil on top of the plant. If you think you place the plant deeper than it was, you might need to raise it up. This would be a good time to see if the roots are rotting.

Once you have taken care of the repotting issues, start caring for your plant by creating a humid environment. Mist the air around the plant with tepid water every day or at least every other day. Then make sure the soil is evenly moist (a self watering pot may not be the best for keeping the soil evenly moist.)

Usually a once a week watering will keep the soil moist but not soggy. If your plant is in really low light levels, you may be able to water your plant every other week instead.

Once you have evened out the water issue the plant should make of full come back.

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Help! My Peace Lily Has Caterpillars

Ask The Expert: I have two peace lillies. I had the two of them sitting in my kitchen sink to spray the leaves today. I noticed lots of insects that look like baby caterpilars…brown or black in color. What can I do about them, and could that be why the plant doesn’t seem to be growing? Lisa


Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply:
You can do one of two things: pick off the caterpillars or spray them with an insecticide. I use the Fertilome Red Spider and Mite spray. It Kills Red Spiders Mites, Two Spotted Spider Mites, Whiteflies, Mealybugs, Aphids, Thrips and Scale Crawlers on house plants and is safe to use on peace lilies and a multitude of other houseplants. It comes in a ready to use (rtu) form, so all you have to do is spray it on the plant. You can pick this product up at any local garden center. If they don’t have the Fertilome brand ask the nursery professional what they use.

As for the stunted growth of your Peace lily (Spathiphyllum clevelandii), you may need to fertilize the plants. You can use a water soluble fertilizer once a month. It is best to use a balanced fertilizer – one in which the N, P, and K all have the same ratio like 10-10-10 or 20-20-20. If you can’t find a balanced fertilizer try one in which the number are as close as possible like 9-8-5.

Make sure you are keeping your peace lily evenly moist and that it has good drainage. Keeping your moisture level correct is a big part of keeping a peace lily healthy.

Here are a few Peace Lily Requirements

Peace Lily Care: Light Requirements

[Read more…]

What To Do When Tips OF Peace Lilies Turn Brown

Ask the Expert: Tips of the Peace Lily plant

What do you do when the tips and the sides of the leaves of the Peace Lily plant start turning brown. I have a huge plant in the office and so far it is doing extremely well but the tips of the leaves are turning brown right at the very point.

Thank you for any help you can send my way. Shell

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply:
You can trim the brown tips and sides off the leaves. What is more important is to figure out why the leaves are turning brown in the first place. What and sunlight are the major causes of browning in Spathiphyllum (peace lily) leaves. Make sure the plant is staying evenly moist and that sunlight is not beating directly down on the leaves. I would alos check for any signs of insects. Once you correct the problem the leaves should stop turning brown.

Peace Lily Leaves Are Drying And Turning Brown, Why?

Ask the Expert: why RE THE LEAVES ON MY PEACE LILLY TURNING BROWN

TURNING BROWN ALL OVER AND DRYING Christeen Baker

Flower Shop Network’s Plant Expert Reply:

Peace lily (Spathiphyllum) leaves can turn brown: if the water used is highly chlorinated – if intense sunlight bears directly down on the leaves – if the plant has not been kept evely moist.  Only To detyou will be able to determine which of these factors is the culprit.  To remedy the situation:

If chlorinated water is the problem, expose your open container of water to the air for 24 hours before using. Or, water your plant with distilled or bottle water.

If sunlight is the issue, move plant away from the intense sunlight.

If irregualer watering is the cause, check the plant every couple of days and water when soil begins to dry out.

With in a couple of week the plant should begin to produce new growth.