Large Wilting Peace Lily

Plant Parent

This short stocky guy wilts very very often. I’d say…. every other day maybe every 3 days. I don’t want to over water him but what’s the deal?

What’s the best way to deal with that? Let him go limp for a few days? How many days? Or water him every time he’s limp? I’ve had it over a year and don’t really have a method yet. He’s not dying. Sprouts new leaves often. But I would like it to be perky more often and hate to leave him wilted cause I think it damages the leaves a little.

Darryl

This is a large peace lily – one of my favorite plants! Since the plant is in front of the window, I would say it is getting adequate light. Given that it is getting adequate light, the watering strategy for a peace lily is to keep the soil evenly moist or even wait until the soil is partially dry and the plant is SLIGHTLY limp – notice how I didn’t say anything about what watering frequency that would be. It’s purely based on observing the soil/plant given adequate light.

Now if you are satisfying this watering requirement but feeling that every 2-3 days is inconvenient for you, then you can repot the plant into a larger pot. I’d also recommend it as I see that the foliage of this plant is quite a lot larger than the pot volume (this kind of comparison doesn’t always apply but because I’ve seen a lot of peace lilies, I can make the assessment). When you repot, be sure to gently loosen some of the roots that have become entangled at the base – don’t worry about breaking a few here and there. Loosen off at least half of the old soil – don’t just plop the whole root ball, untouched, into the new pot. Use a pot that is 3-4″ larger in diameter compared to your old one.

While I’m talking peace lilies – if your OLDEST leaves turn yellow and die off, that’s unavoidable. Don’t worry about it.

Tired of your houseplants dying on you?

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