Caring for Your Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum)

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Caring for Your Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum). One of the easiest houseplants for everyone to enjoy, follow these few tips and tricks for successful Peace Lily growing.

Being the plant lover that I am I have several house plants that make me happy.  Plants are known to help reduce stress and thus blood pressure in not only the home but also the workplace.  One plant that is a trooper in both environments is the Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum).  

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Another benefit is the Air Purifying of your indoor air.  I have an entire post on that along with the names of some of the most beneficial house plants widely available today, I called it Clear the Air with House Plants CLICK HERE TO READ
Researching for this post I found that the information out there on the care of the Peace Lily is as varied and contradictory as can be.  So what I am going to share is my experiences with the Peace Lily and how I get my plants to look their best.

Peace Lily care

I have about 7 Peace Lilies in my home and studio.  The one you see above on the far right is nearly 3 feet tall.  The two on the left are a variegated variety that came from a small division that my mom gave me a couple of years ago.

(since they love being moist they are a prime candidate to be a haven for Fungus Gnats, I use these traps to keep them under control) Safer Sticky White Fly Trap
The sticky traps are all I use and they work great.

So here is how I have successfully grown healthy Peace Lilies the past 20 years.

Watering

They like lots of water for a house plant.  Yes, contrary to other house plants that take less watering these beauties love a good drink of water more frequently.  Root rot would be a problem if you keep them saturated all the time so do let them dry out before really watering again but for the most part, it is hard to overwater them.  I water enough that water runs through to the dish I have underneath.  I let the water remain in the catch dish and the plant typically absorbs even that within hours, that being said, don’t keep water in the dish beneath the plant all the time.

If I am going to be gone from my home for a week or more I do keep more water in a dish beneath the plant and let it sit in it to absorb as needed, but I only do this once in a great while.   I have not lost one Peace Lily from overwatering or letting them sit in water from time to time. I have a friend who actually only grows her Peace Lilies in water, no dirt.

They do not like chlorinated water and will get the brown tips on them from the chemical.  To eliminate this problem I use a porcelain pitcher, fill it with water from the tap and let it sit out for 24 hours or longer.  Being a pretty pitcher it is a decorative element that I love.  It comes in various sizes but the 32 oz works the best for me.

Feeding

Some say no feeding in winter and others say yes.  I actually do feed mine every 6 weeks year-round.  I only use an organic kelp-based liquid that is good for many types of plants.  It promotes lush growth.  This is the actual one I use, Grow More Seaweed Extract.  Don’t worry it does not have a bad smell. My plants love it and my Peace Lilies bloom often.   I have read that Peace Lilies do not like chemical fertilizers and that can cause browning of the leaf tips but I have not used one so I can’t verify that.  I should do a test and see so I could report on that.

Maintenance

The broad leaves of the Peace Lily do get dusty.  You can sit there and wipe each and every leaf with a damp cloth but who has time for that!   I just stick them all in the shower and turn on the water.  I adjust it to a lukewarm setting but other than that I just make sure each plant gets a good shower then I leave them there to dry off enough to put back into their regular spots around my house.

During warm weather, I take them outside and use the spray nozzle on my garden hose to get the job done.

Caring for your Peace Lily

Dividing and Repotting

Peace Lilies are easy to divide.  Many of mine have shot up entirely new plants alongside the parent in the same pot.  As you can see in the pot below there are 3 plants now.

Caring for your Peace Lily

I don’t feel it is crowded and it is growing just fine so I can just leave it be but if I wished to divide it I could.  To do so I will remove the entire plant, soil and all from the pot, gently pull apart the roots, which may be growing together under that soil and re-pot each plant in a new pot with fresh good quality potting soil.  Another way I do it is to fill a bucket with water, put the soil into the bucket and wash it off the roots, then separate.  When I do this method typically the roots come right apart with little effort on my part.

I usually use some extra perlite in the base of a new pot for good drainage but other than that nothing special.  A good quality potting soil will have many nutrients in it already and you most likely will not need to feed the freshly potted plant for a good 3 months or so.

Lighting

Peace Lilies will tolerate very low light conditions.  Some feel they prefer them.

I have mine in several locations and some get bright light (never direct) and others are in the darkest parts of my home.   All my Peace Lilies seem to react the same in all conditions, blooming in both bright light and low light situations and generally growing well.  So my experience is they are not that picky about lighting as long as they are not in direct sunlight.

Toxicity

The Peace Lily contains insoluble crystals of calcium oxalate that are in bundles called raphites. Chewing or biting into the plant releases the crystals which penetrate tissue resulting in injury. But that being said I raised 4 kids and all types of dogs and never had one eat a plant in my home.

The level of toxicity is considered mild to moderate by a pet poison site but noteworthy to put here.

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Happy Indoor Gardening!

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Clear the Air With House Plants
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20 Comments

  1. You are so welcome. One thing that makes Peace Lily so easy is it is one plant that you almost can’t overwater.

  2. Thank you for this article!! Every where I was reading peace lily thrive with normal water routine but my florist and even my own experience has said that they love water. I probably should give them a nice a shower too. And thanks for the info about light I also have one in indirect light and the other in partial. Lovely article!

  3. I just bought this flower a few days and it is now losing value and I keep on thou I water them as instructed…..plz help me

  4. I have found that Peace Lily seem to do that for awhile after being transplanted. Just take good care of it and it will come out of it. And if those leaves don’t recover you should have new growth soon to take their place and you can just cut them out. But it sounds like it is doing okay as you say it has grown. Your patience will be rewarded.

  5. Rikki L Warner says:

    Thank you for the great advice. The leaves are droopy on my Peace Lily, and after reading your article, I stuck my finger in the soil and it feels quite damp. I repotted it about a month ago, and it seems to have grown quite a bit, but the poor thing doesn’t have nice leaves standing up like yours. Any suggestions? I also believe it was a fungus. I put it in the shower right after I bought it and several of the leaves turned black. I cut those off and the plant recovered from that.

  6. Yes, Peace Lily is a thirsty plant and I often must water mine twice as much as my other house plants. House plants are the perfect accent in any decor, too few home decor bloggers use them enough IMHO. 🙂

  7. My leaves seem to droop often. I guess I’m not watering it often enough. Most of my other houseplants are ok with once a week. Thanks for the tips. Yours look beautiful. I love houseplants too. I have them in every room of my house!

  8. Sometimes when re-potting it takes a bit for the roots to engage with the new soil and keep the plant upright if it is very tall, you can stake it until the roots fill in and do the job. Blooming is hard to predict, my mom has the parent of the varigated Peace Lily and it has not bloomed for a couple years either while mine has. I can only say that I use a seaweed based fertilizer well diluted once in a while and that may make the difference but I cannot swear to that.

  9. Thank you for the great Peace Lily tips. I recently repotted a lily that my brother received two and a half years ago after the death of his wife.
    Somehow this plant has thrived. My question is that the stems seem very long and unable to support the leaves. Is staking it the best thing to do? It also hasn’t bloomed in two years.
    Thank you!

  10. I have some that are both, and they all seem to be happy as long as they get plenty of water. They are such an easy going plant.

  11. Do you find they like to be a bit pot bound or like space?

  12. One other thing I thought of that can cause the leaves to droop is the plant gets too cold. Peace Lily do not like temps below 60 degrees at all. So if you house gets cold while away or anything like that the plant will droop and look to be suffering for sure.

  13. The only time mine has become droopy is when it needs more water. The larger plant in my photos is very crowded and probably should be repotted but it only droops if it needs more water. When overcrowded they really use the water quickly and may need more sooner. I need to find a heavier pot as it is so large and top heavy that it has a tendency to get knocked over easier, so I am thinking a nice pottery one.

  14. Will the leaves appear to become droopy if the plant becomes overcrowded. My leaves always stood until I had a lot of new growth. I have had the opportunity it to divide it yet. I’ve had it for one year and it has bloomed 4 times.

  15. You are welcome. I love my house plants!

  16. Yes, I can’t say what the trick is though. Before I took the photos of my Lilies I had just cut off the spent blooms. My Variegated ones have bloomed every couple of months this year but my regular just green ones only about once every 6 months.

  17. Thank you, Allie. I appreciate you letting me know my time and effort here has value. 🙂

  18. Thanks for the great advice!

  19. Are you successful at getting them to bloom? Mine has never re-bloomed since I got it. Thanks for the dechlorination tip–might explain why tips of my leaves are brown. Will have to try that method of watering.

  20. Your postings are always so lovely and informative.

    Happily subscribed,
    Allie

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