I've attached a picture of one of the leaves on my Peace Lilly. There is some browning and I don't know what the cause is. Has anyone else had this problem and if so, what was the cause and remedy?


Thank you
Dom

Welcome to ATP Dom!!

Browning leaves can be caused by a number of things such as too much water (tap water contains chlorine and that too can cause browning on many plants), too little humidity, too much fertilizer and too much sun. They prefer to be on the dry side with bright indirect sun. Direct sun can literally sunburn the leaves. If it's only one leaf don't worry about it. If others are starting to go brown then see if you can change their environment.

It would help to know where you live and the environmental conditions your plant is living in - As in sitting next to an east facing window or heat register.

Based on your response, the problem could be one of two things:

1. Generally speaking, the air in my home tends to be dry in winter from the forced air heat system. What humidity range should I target for the Peace Lily?

2. I have been using tap water but will use filtered water from now on to see if that helps.

Thank you.

Hi Dom, and welcome to ATP.

A tray of pebbles, or even hanging a damp towel near your plant at night will bump up the humidity around it. Or keep a spray bottle and give it a spritz of water on the leaves whenever you think of it.

Also, if you are letting the temperature fall in the house at night, and there is less light (winter, low or no sun?) you should definitely back off on watering and fertilizing. Let the plant dry out a bit before you water it, then make sure it is draining well too. Your plant is growing more slowly, if at all at this time of year, so if you are watering and fertilizing the same as in summer, it's too much. Even tropicals slow down when the temps get lower, and the light isn't as strong unless you keep them in a lighted greenhouse.

I live in the Northeast USA.

- The plant currently is in a room where two windows fast east and the third faces south.
- There is a good amount of indirect sunlight in the room.
- The plant is on a stand about 10 feet from the nearest east-facing window. That window has a forced air heat register.

What is the preferred humidity range for the peace lily?

It sounds like the air is just too dry. Hard to come up with a humidity number, but I don't think it would be really happy with the humidity below 50% - that's just a guess though.

Best bet is misting it a few times a day or sit it on a tray of pebbles sitting in water like Elaine said. Better yet, if your bathroom is big enough, it would probably enjoy being in there whilst you're taking a shower, but don't leave it in there unless you have a window in the bath.

My Peace Lily is outdoors, and our humidity ranges from 30% to 80% in winter. I don't water or fertilize it at all between November and the end of February but it gets a little rain. Our temperatures range from 40deg. on the occasional cold night to 80deg. days with high humidity through winter.

Summer's a whole different ball game and it grows like crazy and blooms all the time when it's hot and humid here.

I was going to suggest placing it in the bathroom; I thought that would be a good idea as I take long, steamy showers.

Well... I'm going to use filtered water and focus on raising the humidity. If this is the problem, how long before I might see a turn around?

The affected leaves won't get better but new growth should show unblemished leaves. As Elaine said, being winter, it's pretty much resting at the moment so don't expect a lot of new growth.