I received a peace Lilly and I have tried very hard to keep it alive! Well I tried I have watered it and it still won't perk up. The whole thing has dropped over. I was wondering if I cut it of at the bottom if it would grow back? I really don't want to lose it, it from my dad's funeral! HELP

It sounds like your plant may be suffering from root rot, if it's tipping over. You don't want to overwater it. If giving it water didn't show any improvement, then don't give it more. That could cause further complications.

If you are able to, post some pictures of what's happening with it, please.

Yes, pictures would be helpful. And kindly describe the container, does it have drainage holes or does it still have paper/foil cover. Sometimes, people forget to remove the foil wrap around the container, or inspect if the container has drainage holes.

This plant is quite resilient, given the chance to have good soil aeration, good airflow around the entire plant and being moderately moist at the same time.

As with most indoor plants, they do slow down a bit during the winter season, and returns vigor in Spring, even if grown indoors as a low light plant. Describe the location where you have the container positioned as to amount of light received, whether from a north/south/west/east window and the temperature inside the room it is growing in.

If the leaves are drooping, it's either a lack of water (not absorbing into the potting soil) or too much which as others already said, would cause root rot. The roots need air in the soil in order not to rot and if it's too wet the water fills up all the air pockets.

The way to find out is first to just lift the pot in your hand. If it feels heavy, then the soil has lots of moisture in it, and you probably need to help the plant to drain and dry out a bit. As Tarev said, first check if the pot has good drain holes, and remove any wrapping or foil that's around the pot. Putting it on a pad of paper towels or old cotton rags or towels will "wick" moisture down out of the pot and help get some air to the roots. Once you've done this, put the pot in a saucer or on a plate so you can see when water drains through the pot, and don't ever let the pot sit in a puddle, pour out the excess water each time you water the plant.

If it feels light, though, you may have dessicated potting soil. You pour water through and it runs straight out the bottom of the pot without being absorbed because the soil has hardened into a brick-like block. In that case you should pull the plant out of the pot, crush up the root ball a bit, soak it in the sink or in a bucket of warm ! ! water, and then re-pot it with some new fresh potting soil.

The plant is in a pot that has a separate bottom to let water drain out. I did end up cutting of the top in hopes that it will grow back! I figured I didn't have anything to lose.

Hi Mommyof4, the only time my plant looked like that was when it was severely exposed to super dry and hot conditions. Was it ever exposed to drastic temperature change like being left outside in a car during transport or outdoors when seasons were changing?

But your plant is still hopeful in my eyes. Just keep it moderately moist, no direct sun, it is a low light plant. No fertilizers at this point too, plant is in severe stress, it has to slowly recover. Your plant is actually much better looking than my plant when it was almost too dead looking.

My plant suffered big time before, and I had to really nurture it slowly in shade, keeping it moist and warm. It did bounce back, just have to be patient.

Just to show you how bad mine was before and how long it took for it to recover. I did not repot, did not want to disturb it anymore, but I was hopeful since I still see some green:



It underwent another bout of being left dried out last July to Aug 2016, while we were away, thankfully it was indoors, so recovery was faster:
22Jul2016 still looking good before we left:


On my return 31Aug, half of the leaves are suffering big time again:


Finally much recovered now:


Hope that helps in making you as patient as you can in nurturing it back to good growth. Good luck!

I have a similar problem and my plant looks very much like thatbof Mommy of 4. The soil was not absorbing the water I gave it and would seep out but there were several issues that caused the negative turn for this plant. I left it in cold temperatures for a couple of weeks. That caused enough damage sonit wouldn't absorb water. I took it to a nursery and they watered the helll out of it. It started to droop over severely. This is what it looks like now. I've read the above. Shall I cut the leaves and at what point, near the root?

Mommyof4, your PL will come back like tarev posted, they are pretty hardy, I made the mistake of leaving mine on the porch and we had a hard freeze, she turned completely black, I cut her down like you did and she's coming back