Peace lily (Spathyphyllum.)
Question from Crissy:
Hi, I have questions about growing a peace lily, which I’m keeping for the first time. Someone has delivered theirs to me, and the plant is quite big, though I’m keeping it indoors.
- Would it be OK to just cut off some of the stems with scissors as some are sticking out to the side?
- I really don’t want the plant to grow any larger. Would not letting it seed keep it in its present size?
- And is it true that you have to cut off the pollen part of the part in order to not breathe it in? Is it harmful to leave it.
- Do the leaves have to fall off before the plant flowers?
Answer from Pat:
Sometimes people ask me a question about a plant and provide me with the common name of the plant but not the botanical name. In this case the botanical name of the plant is Spathyphyllum and peace lily is its common name. It is best always to use botanical names when you can because then we know we are discussing the correct plant whereas common names often get muddled up. Have a look at a photo of a Spathyphyllum on the Internet to make sure we are talking about the same plant. Peace lily (Spathyphyllum) is a popular houseplant that’s easy to grow. It is well adapted to dark conditions inside a house. In my house, for example, it is the easiest of all common houseplants to grow and stays alive for many years without problems. So first let me discuss correct care.
Keep your Spathyphyllum in bright light in your home away from a window where sun will hit it. These plants are shade plants that are happier in bright light but will survive in low light. Try to keep your plant in a cool room, not a room that gets too hot. If a Spathyphyllum is growing in a room that is too warm it will wilt every day usually in the afternoon. (Leaves will become droopy.) Also, try to keep it out of drafts. (Drafts hitting leaves of houseplants can turn leaf edges brown.)
Grow the plant in a pot of well-drained, humus-filled potting soil. A Spathyphyllum will wilt for one of 3 reasons: 1. It is too hot. 2. It is too dry. 3. It is too wet. (The best way to kill a Spathyphyllum is to overwater it.)
The second reason for wilting (too dry) is actually helpful since it can tell you when to water the plant. Do not water too often! Let the plant go a bit dry between waterings and begin to wilt. Unless a plant is in a warm room where it wilts daily, it will let you know when it needs water by just beginning to droop. Make sure the top inch or two of the soil is dry and that is the time to water. Usually watering once a week thoroughly is plenty. Sometimes once every two weeks may be fine. Water when the soil goes dry enough that the plant just begins to wilt but not so dry that the plant completely droops. Even if this happens you can stick the pot in a bucket of water for 20 minutes and the plant will perk right up again, then take it out of the bucket and let it drain. Even if it doesn’t perk up right away, it will in a few hours once you have watered it.
When you irrigate the plant, always give it enough water so that quite a lot of the water drains out the bottom of the pot. This keeps salts from building up in the soil. During the summer you can fertilize every two weeks or once a month if you prefer with any good-quality liquid fertilizer recommended for houseplants and mixed according to package directions. If you do not want your plant to grow too wide fertilize it less frequently or almost never. These plants will live several years without fertilizer but they won’t bloom unless you feed them. I hardly ever feed mine so they won’t get too big. The more you feed it the bigger it will grow and the more frequently it will need repotting. It might even need dividing. You can have a whole lot of them if you want.
Now to answer your questions:
- Re: leaves stems sticking out the sides. Do you mean stems or do you mean leaves? Are the stems droopy? (See above about droopiness.) Or do the leaves look great? Some Spathyphyllums spread out like that and it’s just the sign of a healthy plant and good light. However, if the soil is wet you have overwatered, or if dry and the leaf and stem is droopy this means the plant needs water. Water it and the stem will stand up straight again. If the stem is bare with no leaf growing on it, yes cut it off down to the ground. This is just common grooming. These plants can get quite full and the leaves may stick out the sides but this is part of the attraction of the plant. If you want to cut them off you can.
- This plant will not make seeds. It doesn’t grow larger by seeds. It grows larger simply because it is a large variety and by sending up new stems. There are several varieties and they vary in size. Some are quite large, others smaller. Fertilizing it is what makes it grow wider and encourages it to send up more leaves, but each variety remains the height that is natural to it. If you don’t feed it too much, it will stay much the same size and yes you can cut off some of the stems to make it fit into your available space. Also trim off any leaves and stems that are brown or discolored. Cut off anything that doesn’t look good. If any leaf edges are brown, cut them off.
- When you speak of the pollen part of the plant I am wondering if you really do have a peace lily (Spathyphyllum)? Or are you speaking of an Easter lily or another kind of true lily with a lot of pollen? There is no danger that I am aware of from pollen with a Spathyphyllum, but that doesn’t mean you can eat it. This plant is an arum (Araceae) and contains poisonous calcium oxylate crystals. If you eat the leaves they will harm your mouth and make you sick but probably won’t kill you. So don’t eat it. The flowers are made up of a white bract , or spathe, with a central club-shaped spadix that is made up of many tight flowers. Some varieties are fragrant. I suppose a person might be sensitive to the perfume, but I have grown these plants many years indoors with no harm to anyone from pollen or anything else. It certainly won’t hurt you to leave the spadix inside the spathe where it belongs. When the flower fades, cut off the whole thing.
- No, the leaves don’t die before the plant flowers. If we are both talking about the same thing (and now I am wondering!) the leaves stay right where they are and the flowers usually come up through the middle of the the plant in summer, or sometimes twice a year if the plant is happy. If it looks as if the leaves are dying perhaps you overwatered?
Hi, thank you for your wonderful response! I appreciate it tremendously. You have no idea how surprised and grateful I am for your long, kind, helpful email.
I plan on responding to this letter as soon as I can, but I just wanted to thank you first. I feel like your love for plants and taking care of them really shows. A big pat on the back to you.
Hope you have a nice weekend,
Lovely to get such a nice thank you! I trust the info helped.
Hi again, I hope you had a good weekend.
Mine certainly is a peace lily (Spathyphyllum). I had the plant squeezed into a corner of the room right next to the couch at first, ’cause it’s sort of large (I hadn’t expected it to be so when I ordered it from someone who had grown it for years) and I didn’t want it to take up room anywhere else. And after a day or two I noticed that the leaves had suddenly become very droopy and brownish around edges (when it was very health when first arriving), possibly due to its tight space and lack of light, I thought.
But after receiving your email, I removed the plant to another, slightly brighter part of the room next to a large window where it gets sun but not that strongly, and also watered it so that a lot of water drained out of the pot — as you said to do. I also gave it a slight trimming (cutting off brown parts of leaves and a couple of self-breaking stems), giving it a bit of loving care. And then, after just a night’s sleep, I found that the leaves had straightened up quite a bit and looked healthier and happier! 🙂 I was so pleased. Most of them aren’t droopy anymore. So I’m not sure whether it was the watering or the squashed darkish space, or all of it, but I’m glad I thought to change its spot and take better care of it.
However, the tips of my leaves (even a relatively new one) are burning brown. Is this normal and just part of the leaf turning old, or is something wrong?
So can I just cut the stem off anywhere and at the bottom without hurting it?
And is it true that misting the leaves every day is best?
You said they’ll live several years without fertiliser; could they last infinitely with fertiliser then? And to keep it living without getting bigger, would fertilising once every few years be enough?
When can I expect the plant to flower, other than Summer, if it’s happy and flowers twice in the year?
By the way, I liked your expression about the plant being “happy”. 🙂 Maybe it’s used a lot in gardening but I’m new to it. This Peace Lily is the first plant I’ve ever really taken an interest in. My main reason was that I found it removes pollutants from the air, but I’m beginning to like it for itself and I’m starting to feel an interest in other plants and flowers more as well.
Speaking of pollutants, do you know whether it does this even when it hasn’t flowered? I asked someone who grows and sells lilies but they didn’t know. I suspect it does but would like to be sure.
I guess with the pollen thing, I might have been reading from someone online who might have been talking about another kind of lily. I appreciate you clearing that up and giving assurance.
I was surprised that you could take such interest and give so much help without knowing me or my plant. It was nice to feel like someone else cares about my plant, too (no one else in my family does much).
Thank you very much once more for your super kind and super detailed response. It made my day.
Here are the answers to your new questions:
Your plant wilted from lack of water. My first letter explained fully about watering. Water thoroughly next time when it just begins to wilt. Don’t wait until it has fully wilted. If some of the leaves have not yet stood up again, you should water again with 2 to 3 quarts of water, letting the water drain out he bottom of the pot.
When tips are brown, just cut off the brown part creating a new sharp tip like the original shape of the leaf. If the whole leaf went brown, then cut it to the ground. This will not hurt the plant.
Misting the leaves is best but I never mist the leaves of any of my indoor plants. I am not into that. I simply don’t have time.
No these plants will not live forever in a container without fertilizer. Eventually they would die. If you don’t want it to grow too much but do want it to flower, fertilize once a month in summer with a balanced fertilizer diluted according to package directions and give it enough to wet all the roots.
These plants won’t flower without having fertilizer in summer. Some varieties flower twice a year. You will know if it flowers twice that you have one of those varieties. If it is the twice-blooming kind, it will flower in spring and fall. If not, it will flower for a month or two once in summer.
This plant and many other plants will reduce pollutants in household air and it does this through the leaves, not through the flowers. I’m surprised the person you asked about that didn’t know the answer to that question. Plants breath in carbon dioxide through their leaves and breath out oxygen the same way.
I am very glad to know that my answers to all your questions “made your day.” It makes me happy to help people with their plants so they will not have so many problems with them and can enjoy life with plants and also develop and interest in them and appreciation of plant life as evidently you are doing. Perhaps you are a plant person at heart and maybe no one else in your family understands. That does not matter. If plants are a subject that interest you, just continue to learn more. Planet Earth has been called “the Water Planet”. It could well be called “The Plant Planet”. Without plants we would have no atmosphere. As I said about plants breath in carbon dioxide and breath out oxygen. In this way they contribute to the fresh feeling in your home and when one goes for a walk in the woods, this is the reason one feels so exhilarated. The trees are breathing out the breath of life to us and to all living things on earth.
Hi again and thank you for your advice. In that case, how long could I expect it to live on for with fertiliser in a pot?
I read a couple of times online that this plant won’t flower well if it its leaves are always healthy and tall, and that we should let them droop quite a bit if we want to see flowers. Is this incorrect?
I do appreciate your time and help.
I can’t guarantee how long your plant will live. Too many variables are involved. Basically, you could keep it going forever if you give it the
the world’s best care because it will continually make off shoots and as it grows larger you, being a brilliant plant person by then and in love with this
particular plant, would divide it and make new plants and pot them on into larger containers etc. etc. forever amen. I am not inclined to be that perfect
myself. I keep my spathyphyllums alive for 4 to 6 years, before they get ratty looking and then I purchase another one.
I have given you pretty good advice on the watering so I think we don’t need to repeat that information. Yes, let the plant get slightly stressed before each watering. Going dry between waterings might help it bloom. Stress can make some plants bloom since they might fear they are about to die and need to leave
seeds, but the main thing is fertilizer in summer as I have already stated. You cannot believe what people say on plant forums. Anyone can write in and give answers. Many times the answers are totally wrong. Even newspapers often print incorrect information. Here is the fact: Growers of houseplants don’t let the plants wilt unless they are in a warm hothouse and wilt from heat and that would be a sign of bad growing, since it’s up to the grower to provide correct
temperatures along with everything else. Growers of houseplants keep spathyphyllums moist but not soggy. They fertilize them continually for quick growth and bloom and then when the plants are filled out, flowering, and looking their optimum best, they sell them.
Hi, my peace lily plant has started to break off from the stem, and the leaves are drooping and turning yellow. HELP!!!! I love my plant!
Peacy lily(Spathyphyllum) is a multi-stemmed plant, so I am not quite sure what you mean when you say it “has started to break off from the stem.”
When one stem bearing a leaf or a bloom has faded, clip it off and throw it away. More will grow from the surface of the soil mix inside the container.
Continue to fertilize with a balanced liquid fertilizer recommended for houseplants, according to package directions, at regular intervals throughout the
growing season, spring through fall. Water thoroughly every time you water and allow the water to flow out the bottom of the container. Do not keep the container inside another pot with no bottom on it or it may sit in water. Sitting in water can kill this plant. Allow it to dry out between waterings and then water thoroughly. Spathyphyllum can take darker conditions in a home than most house plants, but it must have some light, but not full sun or it will burn. If you do all these things your plant should never go yellow. When leaves droop you have either over-watered or under-watered. When you let the plant go dry between waterings, if then the leaves droop slightly this is fine. The leaves will not turn yellow and the slight droop at the tips of the leaves, or “primary wilt”, as it is correctly called is the sign that the plant needs water. When you see this kind of wilting, then water immediately and deeply. If, however, leaves droop and the soil mix is damp, this means you have overwatered and the plant has root rot and may die from it. If the plant dies, go and buy another one. Next time follow my instructions for care exactly and add this instruction: Fertilize with Oxygen Plus fertilizer for houseplants instead of what you were using. Oxygen Plus was made for people who chronically over-water their houseplants. It actually puts oxygen onto the roots of plants and stops them dying from root rot as it sounds as if your plant is has already done or is in the process of doing.
Hi there, i am wondering if Spathyphyllums thrive in office conditions? i.e. air-conditioning, low to moderate lighting levels
Spathyphyllum is one of the better houseplants to use inside offices. Whether it thrives or not largely depends on giving it good care. Office conditions are not ideal for any houseplant, but in general this is as good as any of the leafy type of house plants for an office. Other good choices of easy plants for offices are corn plant (Draceaena fragrans), Euphorbia trigona, and Sanseveria trifasciata. Cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior) is just what its common name suggests. It’s more likely to thrive longer and is easier than Spathyphyllum.
I hope you can help me, my peacelily insted of sending up a new green stem, insted turns out a brown stick? any suggestions?
Dark conditions, lack of fertilizer, or soggy soil each could cause flower spikes to die and go brown. Make sure your peace lily (Spathyphyllum) is in adequate light. Feed it during warm weather with a balanced fertilizer recommended for houseplants and make sure the bottom of the container is not standing in water.
thats not what I meant, you know how the new stem and leaf grow from the older one kinde from inside then get s bigger , inside the stem insted of a new green stem coming out theres a brown stick, theres no new growth its just brown sticks and leaves, I do have it in front of a west window with a white thin curtain when the sun is visible, and i do fertalize once a mnth or less, water when the soil is dry, any other suggestions.
Now I know what you mean, and there is nothing wrong with your plant. Sorry I didn’t understand at first. The brown stick is the remaining stem of a former flower. Each flower arises from the stem of a leaf. Once the flower faded, either you or the former owner of this plant has cut off the flower. What was left was the remaining stem of the flower. Once the flower was gone, this stem turned brown and now it looks like a stick. There may be other brown stems sticking up from the soil around the base of the plant. If so, these are the dead stems left when you or someone else cut off any faded or damaged leaves. You can cut all these down shorter if you wish to make the plant look better, but when doing so be careful not to damage the existing leaves. Spathyphyllum plants do not branch. They are evergreen, monocotyledonous, flowering perennials of the Araceae family. New growth arises from the ground and each leaf gives rise to just one flower.
Hi again, thank you for helping. the brown stick is actually inside the green sheath, that a new stem and leaf come out of. like this Y, the new growth comes out of between the sides in the middle of the Y, but insted of green growth, its a brown stick, I m thinking my plants a goner, I killed one other, its like spiderplants, the new growth comes out of the center, any more ideas?
The “stick” you mention still sounds to me like the brown stem of an older leaf or of a flower that faded and was cut off either by you or someone else. If not, don’t be too concerned. If your peace lily dies, throw it out and buy another. House plants don’t live forever. Spathiphyllum is usually an easy houseplant to keep alive but some houses and apartments do not offer optimum growing conditions for indoor plants.
This is a p.s. and now I see what you mean. Sometimes a leaf gives rise to a flower and sometimes to another leaf. Could not the brown stem be where you took off a leaf that had faded?
actually, lets forget the brown sticks, I have two leaves that have not unfurled, in like 3 weeks, they stay closed up, and have a brown tip? any clue off that?
Brown leaf tips on new leaves are usually caused by build-up of salts in the soil mix thus burning roots. Salts come from too much fertilizer or from hard, alkaline water. Unfortunately, modern potting soils often retain too much water instead of allowing water to flow through freely thus flushing the salts out. Watering with purified water or distilled water can help to flush salts from soil mix. Stop fertilizing. Allow the plant to dry out slightly between waterings, then water enough with distilled or purified water so that water flows out the bottom of the pot. Never let roots stand in water. When it is time to water, put the plant into the kitchen sink and water enough so that water flows out the bottom of the pot and down the drain. Then place the plant back where it belongs and wait until the soil dries out somewhat before watering again.
I changed the pot to a better one with more hole in the bttm, the two closed leaves, opened after 3 weeks. and got a couple new leaves. hope it comes back. thank s for the help, I think it was salt, and poor drainage