Hi All,

I've had this indoor Peace Lily for about 3 years now and it seems to be doing well overall.



I repotted it last July from a 6" to a 9" ceramic pot. I had a few questions I was hoping you guys an help me with.

1. As you can see in the pictures below, many of the leaves are browning and I end up cutting them back from the base. Any recommendations to prevent browning leaves? I tend to give it a good watering (making sure water is draining out the hole in the bottom and making sure it drains out well) when I see the leaves start to wilt a bit. Am I waiting too long to water? In the winter, I had some bowls of water around it for added humidity. I don't think that's an issue anymore now that we're in spring. It gets low/medium indirect light from a window. Would more light help? I also just realized that I have not fertilized it since last August. Could that be a factor?



2. Is it possible it needs another repotting? As you can hopefully see here, the root ball is higher than the surrounding soil. It slopes away downward from the plant to the edge of the pot. It was not always like this, but must have happened over time. Should I just add some more potting soil around the edges to fill it or is it indicative of needing a repotting?



Any help is appreciated!

Not sure I can help much. But my peace lilies have never done this. So it seems NOT to be caused by being too dry, or by not watering enough, or by humidity too low. Mine experience those things and haven't made big brown patches.

it may need more light. Mine is directly in front of my big east facing window and has never gotten any spots like that. It's in bloom right now and does so repeatedly throughout the year.

Hi! I would recommend watering more often because peace lilies, originally grow in rain forests where they keep moist. They also need indirect sunlight. You can also try dividing the plant. https://facty.com/network/answ...

When you repotted, did you leave the root ball and old soil intact, then fill in around the edges with new soil? I think that's what you're seeing with the soil separation.
I also suspect that at some point the soil dried out so much that it no longer soaks up water very well, and water runs right through it without really getting it wet. The cure for that is to submerge the pot and soil in water, and let it soak for several hours or even overnight.
I would:
Add more soil to level out the pot.
Trim off the leaves that are turning black.
Soak the pot in a bucket for several hours.
Water more--Peace Lilies are streamside plants that like to stay moist. Don't wait for it to wilt.
Bowls of water actually do very little to raise humidity, I'd skip that and just keep it well-watered.
Feed with a complete fertilizer, diluted to half the recommended concentration. Repeat every month through the summer, stop in the cooler and darker months, resume in Spring. (I use Miracle Grow All Purpose, or leftover orchid food, or Miracid, or pretty much anything, very dilute.)
Maybe give it a little more light, no direct sunlight and not outdoors unless you have a place with deep shade all day.
If it doesn't perk up, I'd consider repotting next Spring. Use a rich houseplant mix, I've had good luck with Miracle Grow Indoor Potting Mix.
(I'm not endorsing Miracle Grow, just sharing what works for me and is readily available here. I'm sure there are plenty of other good choices!)

Thank you all for your suggestions!
I'll try them out and see if it helps.

So I decided to have a look at the roots to see if I could get to the "root" of the problem. I lifted the plant out of the pot and this is what it looked like:


What you're seeing there is only about half of what's in the pot. There's another half-pot's worth of soil in there (it's a 9" pot). The soil on the bottom was pretty compacted.
Here's what the underside and roots look like:


I'm wondering if this is due to an issue I had about 6 months back. The pot originally was glued to the drainage saucer and the drainage hole was completely sealed by the glue. This was before I knew of the importance of a drainage hole... but I did know not to overwater and so I would water it with about 2 cups of water every time it needed a watering. I did that for about 4-6 months. Eventually I learned and I was able to knock free the drainage saucer and started doing proper waterings, letting the water flow out the hole.

Is it possible that those 4-6 months caused this? Or am I way off base and this is totally normal growth? I guess I was thinking that those roots should have extended further down into the pot and not just resting on top of the bottom half.

Any help is appreciated!

*bump* (hope that's ok)

I agree, I think the roots were confined to a healthy portion of the soil rather than using the whole thing, maybe due to the bottom being too wet.
Yes I say OK to pull up and see what is there. You have to, to know what's there. I've been quite surprised and enlightened a few times by pulling up a plant to see what is down there.

Pretty ceramic pots usually have just one drain hole. That can easily get blocked. Result can be too wet, but too dry is possible if you are a low watering kind of person.
I now pot plants in thin plastic pots with many holes, and set those inside prettier pots.
I would try to choose a thin plastic pots to fit in the white one, lightly loosen just the surface roots of this rootball, and pot it. And water it in.

Thanks Sally.
Do you think this is something that will correct itself?
Before I put that top portion back on the soil, I used my hand to de-compact the soil on the bottom.
Do you think the roots will eventually spread down or does it look like they might be root bound to upper portion?

I think they will happily explore nice new moist soil.