My guess is that you might be overwatering your peace lily. I usually let mine dry out just a little, watering just as the leaves begin to look a bit droopy but before they wilt. You could be over fertilizing as well. Sometimes too much care is as detrimental to plants as neglect.

Peace lilies like to be somewhat rootbound to bloom. If you transferred it from a 8" to a 14" pot less than a year ago, I suspect it will be awhile before it blooms. Meanwhile, remove any dead leaves and trim brown tips.

Good luck in reviving this special plant - my condolences for your loss.
Peace Lily

Thanks so much for helping out. I will check for root rot, try watering & fertilizing in much smaller quantities, trim brown tips and keep my fingers crossed. At least there's hope. Again, thank you!

#1: My water softener is potassium-based rather than salt - does that make a difference?
#2: I had repotted only because I love the pot it's now in. I will just have to find a new plant for it - one that is already in a large pot so that it's not going to get root rot.
#3: If a pot has no drain holes, can small gravel be placed at the bottom in an appropriate layer to allow for drainage or will this still cause problems?

You mentioned to flushing the dirt - is it still necessary or should I just get new soil?

OK... Getting new soil doesn't seem to be necessary. Flushing should suffice.

There's been a million discussions on the pebbles in the bottom thing. In fact, it might have actually been Will who set me straight last year.

I've been told this actually causes more problems rather than fixing. More on that in a second. If the pot doesn't have holes, you don't necessarily need a different plant. Pot up what you've got in a smaller pot... something called a "grower's pot". It's the cheap plastic ones your plants normally come in from the nursery. Then just plop this into your pretty pot. You can cover the rim of your grower's pot with a little bit of sphagnum moss to make it a bit pretty. But I never do that myself.

OK. So "drainage" can actually cause more trouble... Here's how it was explained to me. Water has what's called "surface tension". It's why you can fill a tablespoon to more-than-full, sort of rounded. Surface tension actually works with "coheasion" (sp?). Coheasion causes the pebbles to actually act like a wick, bringing water to the surface. Water clings to the surfaces of the stones and is slowly pulled up through them. You can experiement yourself. Fill a bowl w/pebbles and pour it about 1/2 full w/water. Set a paper towel on top and see if it gets wet. Can you imagine what would happen if you put only 1" or so of stones in and then 1" or even 3/4" of water got poured in? You have no real way of figuring out how much water will end up at the bottom. Better safe than root rot.

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Woah, woah, woah!!! Slow down, skippy!

OK. I would do as Will says, remove the soil you added. What I meant is not to remove it from the original root ball because the plant is already ailing and might not take it very well. The root ball shouldn't have changed in size on you since you probably don't have root rot.

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Sachi IS a genius, and I will never again look at a tablespoon of water in the same light.
PMW, I have heard that bottom watering can also lead to root rot, as the roots never have a chance to properly dry out. Unfortunately, you cannot quote me on that, as I spend the most of my time name-calling and not researching. Perhaps one of the gods or savants can back me up on this.
Mr. Embarrassed, unfortunately I cannot comment because you are being punished.

Bottom watering causes root rot when you let the plant sit in water too long. For example, if you have a sealed, glazed pot and a grower's pot inside it, pour in a bunch of water, most flows out and you have 3" of water and ignore it for 2 hours or more... Blahddy, blah...

Fair warning that the remainder of this particular post has nothing to do with peace lilies or any other plant for that matter.

Will, I think you actually CAN be a god if you're athiest. We're athiests in this house and I bought DFiance a coffee cup that says "God's busy. May I help you?" so I have a god-like substitute living with me.

Thanks for the compliments on the whole surface tension thing... I actually had (and still have I hope) a very inquisitive mind as a child. Here's a fun thing to do with your kids to teach them about this...

First, show them how a drop of water placed on the counter doesn't just slide right off but rather sits there. Then fill small a bowl with water. I think a cereal bowl is too big. Maybe something that's no more than 4 or 5" across. Take a sewing needle (has to be a needle, not a pin) and roll it between your hands. Be careful! Get plenty of your skin oil on it. Then drop it on the water gently. It should float. Once everyone is done being amazed by the floating needle, put a drop of dishsoap in the water. The needle should drop to the bottom immediately.

Soaps and detergents break surface tension. They actually make us so slippery that the dirt rolls right off. Have you ever noticed that softened water sort of feels slimier whereas hard water (like Reno, NV) feels kinda squeaky against your skin? Firefighters use softeners to help water penetrate things like fabric, carpets, drywall, etc. It keeps water from becoming beads or puddles on top of a rug and taking minutes to soak in.

OK... Done now.... sorry. I just had to play show-off for a minute.

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Gently pull the peace lily out of it's pot. The roots should be white. If they're black and mushy or even smell bad, you'll have to do some surgery.

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You don't have much to lose by cutting off all the dead (black) roots. If there enough white ones, maybe the plant will come back but sounds like it's in bad shape.

if your peace lily has more than one "plant" to it, after you trim off the black/dead parts, put one of the sections in a vase that you can keep a close eye on. put it so the roots that are left are under water and the rest of the plant is supported on top. change the water frequently (every couple of days or so) and when you have several lengths of 1-2 inch roots, you can repot the lily. this is a drastic way to save it, but it can work, and will give you a visible way to monitor the root situation.

quote:

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Peace lilies rarely recover from root rot.

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I guess I always assume people have serious emotional attachments to each and every plant like I do. But of course your right... if it only cost me a couple bucks, why not go for a new plant.

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Well, yes I am attached to the plant. Not only because of the event I received it for, but because I sat with it on my lap for two days as we drove from Texas to Wisconsin when we moved two months ago. BUT, I have good news. I did try the vase thing. I removed all of the dead roots, which just left the base bulbs of the plant and only two visible 1/2 inch roots. Five days later I have a noticbly perkier plant. Some of the leaves are even standing up on their own! THey haven't done that for over a month. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Thanks for all of the advise.

I am reading and learning from these posts. Maybe someday I will again attempt another Peace Lily and not sentence it to'certain death'. Never had any luck with this plant, but sure do love them.

I have a suggestion for those that use the pots with no drainage holes in them, why not just drill some? If you are not as drill-skilled as I, then maybe another in the household or a friend is. I am praciticing on other non attatched pots first.

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Julia
"dreams & wishes are the start of fantastic ideas, follow them through"

masionary bit in good condition. A friend of mine is a carpenter and keeps his bits long after they should be gotten rid of which causes a lot of cracking he also has a bad habit of muscling the drill which also causes cracking. And a lot of frowns from me, but on the up side I've become pretty good with a drill.

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smh, i think you are doing well with not over watering. the drainage holes make that easier.

I do just those same things. Once per week water and I don't get any direct sunlight in my house but it sits in the brightest room away from the door/windows. I've repotted into a smaller pot with drainage holes but it's only been a few weeks so I'm waiting. As it gets warmer I've thought to put it outside for a few hours to get the direct sunlight but that's yet to be determined. I'm jealous of the 1st picture.. :-)

Careful placing your peace lily outdoors. Peace lilies live on the jungle floor, sheltered from the sun's burning rays by the tree canopy. Direct sunlight burns their leaves quickly, the damage sometimes not visible for several hours. A sheltered porch is a better idea if you want the plant outside. Good luck!

Cricket