Find Your 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.
