Find Your Ask the Expert: Can you help with my peace lily. I have had this for about 5 years. This is the worst it has ever looked. Any ideas what could be wrong with it ? Randy
Randy,
Take at look at Peace Lily Plant Care. Many of issues that cause peace lily distress are addressed in the care sections. If you can’t determine the problem send me a picture (you can upload photo through the Ask the Expert page) and I will try to determine the problem.
Here are the pictures Randy sent of his peace lily.
I have taken a look at the link for Peace Lily Plant Care. I still cant figure out what is wrong with my Peace Lily. Any Ideas? Thanks Randy
Randy,
I think you have two issues:
1. It needs to be potted into a large container or it needs to be divided and place in two separate containers. It maybe root-bound.
2. Once it has been re-potted and settled in it’s new home for a couple of weeks, you can start fertilizing it. Remember to maintain a regular watering schedule — keeping it moist but not soggy.
Good luck. Please let me know if you need any thing else.
Last August I potted it into a larger container, could it be to large of a container? The peace lily has plenty of new growth but when the new growth gets so high it stops growing(which is several inches smaller than the tall leaves. Thanks
Randy,
I don’t think the pot is to big. What would be more important is the drainage of the pot. You want a pot that drains well. Water has been part of the problem. The first picture on the right has a leaf than indicates water issues and so do the next three. Usually re-potting and a normal water schedule will help with those issues. So if you re-potted in August your pot should be sufficient.
That leads me to problems that you don’t often see on peace lilies. Get a magnifying glass and look at the back side of the leaves. If you see a very small object that is crawling around you have spider mites and you will need to spray it with a houseplant insecticide. Aphids and mealy bugs can also infect peace lilies, so check for them as well.
What was the root ball like when you re-potted it? Was it healthy? Did it completely fill up the pot? From all but one of the pictures, it looks as if the plant fills the pot. When you replanted the peace lily did you pot it at the same level? In other words the origin root ball top should have been at the top of this pot and you should have only filled soil in at the sides to close the gap. If you place soil on top of the original root ball, the plant could be essentially suffocating. If this is the case remove some of the soil from the top of the plant and in a few weeks you will be back to normal. Please let me know if you need anything else or if you see other issue that could help us pin-point the problem.
I have re-potted the peace lilly it still doesn’t look right. I have some pics I can show you where do I send them Thanks Randy
Randy,
You can send pictures to jadams@flowershopnetwork.com
I sent the pictures. Do I need to add some dirt to the top of plant. Some of the dirt on top may have fell off when I re-potted it. If so how much would I add? Thanks Randy
Randy,
I got the pictures. Add about a 1/4 of an inch of soil and then water the pot — try to disperse the water evenly. Then give it a little time. I think I saw some new growth forming which is a good sign. Try to keep the peace lily evenly moist but not soggy. BY next week you should see some new leaves as long as the plant is forming new leaves it should make a full recovery. You might need to create a little more humidity around the plant — mist it about every third day. Keep me posted.
I have the new growth coming up.Something seems to be wrong somewhere the old growth would be a stem come up with a leave on it . The new growth though comes up and it break off unto several more then its so heavy just fall over. Do you you know what is causing this. Thanks Randy
Randy,
I’m a little confused. You are getting new growth but the new growth is weak and droops? Can you tell if the stem have any lesions?
I sent two more pics to you, you can see where it is one stem that breaks off into a bunch of stems. What would I exactly be looking for when I look for lesions? Thanks Randy
Randy,
Actually your new growth looks fairly healthy.
There are a few things that you should do:
1. Fertilize the peace lily with a water soluble fertilizer like hi-yield general purpose
or miracle gro.
2. Water the peace lily so that all of the soil is moist
3. Give the Plant a little more light. The new growth is trying to find the light.
Try these suggestions and give it two weeks. You should start to see the new growth become stronger and thicker.
As far as I can tell you have no lesions. They show up on the stems as black or brown spots.