How To Care The Peace Lily – 12 In-Depth Guides
Peace lilies are one of the most popular houseplants because they are easy to grow and look nice.
Peace lilies can be difficult to take care of sometimes, but once you know how to do it right, they are a beautiful addition to any collection of houseplants. Here’s everything you need to know to keep a peace lily at home.
About Peace Lilies
Peace lilies are tropical plants that never lose their leaves. They grow best on the forest floor, where they get dappled sunlight and a constant amount of moisture and humidity.
To keep your peace lily happy and healthy, you need to make your home like these places.
Peace lilies have white or off-white flowers that start to bloom in early summer and last all year if they get enough light.
Most types of peace lilies grow up to 16 inches tall, but the leaves of larger outdoor cultivars can grow up to 6 feet tall.
Peace lilies can only be grown outside in warm, humid climates because they can’t handle the cold (USDA Zones 10 and 11).
Is the Peace Lily Plant Poisonous?
Keep peace lilies away from pets and small children who might want to chew on them. Some other common plants that have calcium oxalate in them are philodendrons, daffodils, true lilies, and hyacinths.
How to Plant, Transplant, and Divide Peace Lilies
Use potting soil that can be used for many things and drains well. Soil should be able to hold on to water and dry out slowly over time.
Peace lilies don’t like it when the soil is completely dry, but they also don’t do well when the soil is always wet, because that makes root rot fungus grow.
If the peace lily is moved to a new pot every few years in the spring, the soil will be fresh.
If the peace lily grows too big for its pot, it can be split into two or more plants. Take the plant out of its pot and cut it into smaller plants, leaving a few leaves on each new plant.
Since peace lilies grow from rhizomes, they can handle being handled roughly when they need to be split.
Can Peace Lilies be Grown in Water?
Yes, peace lilies can grow only in water. They are often sold in vases with no soil. The base of the plant should be kept above the water line, either with a special vase insert or a layer of small river stones.
This lets the roots grow deeper into the water and keeps the base of the plant and its leaves from getting too wet, which can cause them to rot.
Lighting
Peace lilies should be kept in a place that gets bright, indirect light. Since the plant needs to be in the bright morning sun, an east-facing window is the best place for it. A peace lily could also grow well in a window that faces north.
Watering
When it comes to watering, it’s important to be consistent. Keep the soil just a little damp, but not too wet.
Peace lilies can handle short periods of dry soil, but their leaves will turn brown if they don’t get enough water or humidity.
One nice thing about peace lilies is that their leaves will droop when they need water. If the plant starts to look less “perky” than usual, use your finger to check the soil. If it feels dry, it’s time to water it again.
Fluoride and other chemicals in tap water can make the tips of the leaves on peace lilies turn brown. If you can, use filtered water that is at room temperature.
Humidity
Fertilizing
Peace lilies don’t need a lot of food, so only fertilize them when you need to.
Start using a balanced houseplant fertilizer in late winter to help plants grow in the spring and summer. Do this about every 6 weeks.
Temperature
Peace lilies are tropical plants, so they should be kept in temperatures above 60 °F (16 °C) and away from cold, drafty windows. They do well when the temperature is higher than 70 °F (21 °C).
Other Care
The peace lily’s big leaves bring a lot of dust into the house. Wipe them down often with a damp paper towel, because a thick layer of dust can stop photosynthesis from happening.
How to Get Peace Lilies to Flower
If the plant doesn’t have any flowers, it probably isn’t getting enough light.
Peace lilies can do well with low light, but “low light” does not mean “no light.” To get the plant to flower, move it to a place where it will get bright, indirect light for at least a few hours a day.
If you don’t fertilize properly, you might get green flowers, weak flowers, or no flowers at all.If the flowers are green, you may need to cut back on fertilizing because the plant may be getting too much nitrogen.
Recommende Varieties
Even though peace lilies are becoming more popular, it can be hard to find specialty varieties in most garden centers. You may have more luck if you order them from an online store.
- Spathiphyllum wallisii is a smaller peace lily that only grows to be 12 inches tall.
- Even smaller, “Petite” is 8 to 10 inches long.
- “Sensation” is the biggest type, and it can grow to heights and widths of 4 to 6 feet.
- Domino is a medium-sized variety that has leaves with different colours.
- The leaves of the “Mojo Lime,” which is a medium-sized peace lily, are lime green.
Wit and Wisdom
The white flowers of the peace lily, which rise shyly above the green leaves and look like white peace flags, gave the plant its name.
Even though it is called a “peace lily,” it is not related to real lilies.
The plant’s Latin name, Spathiphyllum, which means “spathe-leaf,” comes from its unusual flowers.
Pests/ Diseases
Brown leaf tips are often caused by too much direct sunlight, too much fertilizer, or not enough water and/or humidity. To increase humidity, you can mist the leaves or put the plant on a tray of wet gravel.
Yellow leaves can be caused by too much or too little water, or just by getting old. If the oldest leaves are turning yellow and the plant hasn’t been moved in a while, it may just need more room for its roots to grow.
Scale and mealybugs will happily live on the plant if they get the chance. They can be stopped by thoroughly cleaning the leaves with dish soap and water or insecticidal soap. This may need to be done more than once, though.
