I may have done something drastic and, possibly, irrevocable. I have a Peace Lily. It has been around for more than a decade. It has lasted through all sorts of hell. It got big. I re-potted it several times. And then it got bigger and split. Two large tubers in one pot. So, I decided to split the tubers and transplant one to another pot. I got over-zealous--just a bit. I hacked off the roots on each tuber because they were insanely long--Couldn't get each plant to sit nicely in the middle of each pot. This may be a silly question, but will the plants die? They look really sad. I am sad. Thanks

Yeah, "just a bit" ? You surely should not have cut off all the roots if the plant had healthy growing leaves on top. A tuber would maybe grow again if it had gone dormant and was not supporting any leaves. Only time will tell. Luckily, those plants are not hard to come by. Go get yourself a nice new one, put it in a pretty pot, and forgive yourself.

Planticide . . . Trust me, we've all done it.

Welcome to ATP, and, um, maybe ask us for advice before you cut next time?

Give it time, maybe it will try to rebound hopefully. Typically if it is too root bound, they do vertical cuts to separate the mass of roots, and trim accordingly removing dead or rotting older roots. Just keep it warm and in shade to adjust and acclimate again.

I have seen it survive with almost no leaves and too dried out, but the roots were not disturbed, so keeping it moist helped it revive. But yours is the other way around, removing the roots but with leaves. So cannot really say it will be okay, it has no roots to drink moisture from. It is looking unhappy since it is getting thirsty, and they like to drink a lot. Maybe try to mist lightly the leaves, so it has some way to drink. If it fails..well, as Elaine said, just get a new one and start anew.

Thanks for all the input! I figured my hasty decision left no hope for my plant I really appreciate the quick responses.

I've divided and repotted my boyfriends' "old" peace lily this spring. I cut ALL the leaves and most of the roots because they were rotting anyway. It took several months before any signs of growth and now I have two beautiful young divisions and some others that are sadly left outside because of no room (they're slug dessert atm :S ).

Just cut most, if not all leaves, away because the root system cannot support it anyway and give it time. That's all you can do at this point.

Both tubers have bounced back! I trimmed leaves as they yellowed, kept the tubers watered and in a warm sunny spot. One has completely come back to life and the other has brand new growth.

That's good to hear. These plants are fairly resilient. I have one that I seriously over watered by accident recently. I had a lot going on at the time didn't pay close attention to my plant. At first, I noticed that the leaves were drooping and the soil was very dry (peaty soil ) and seriously in need of water. The root ball had also shrunk and separated from the sides of the pot. I watered it well (dunked it in a bucket of water) to revive it. Shortly thereafter, I had to go out of town unexpectedly for a few days (family crisis) and when I returned, I saw wilting leaves. I assumed that I had forgotten to water it before I left town, and watered it again. I should have checked the soil (finger test) before I watered it. The leaves will droop when under and over watered. I had to learn that the hard way. I cut off all the leaves as they were turning yellow, and cut off roots that were rotting and allowed the soil to dry out good bit before I repotted it in a different medium and resumed regular maintenance. I placed the pot outdoors and now, it is recovering nicely. I hope that you continue to have success with your plant.