How to care for a peace lily
The peace lily is the plant that talks: it flops when thirsty and stands up again after a drink. With bright indirect light and watering on time, it’s one of the most rewarding. Here are the essentials, kept simple.
To care for a peace lily, give it indirect light (it tolerates low light, but only blooms in good light), water when the top centimetres of soil are dry and use a pot with a drainage hole. Beside an east-facing window, in a 16 cm plastic pot, it needs water every 2 days in July. If it topples suddenly, it’s thirsty.
What light does a peace lily want?
The peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii) grows on the floor of tropical forest, where light arrives filtered through the canopy. Indoors it does well in bright, indirect light: near a window, out of the midday direct sun that scorches its leaves. In dim light it stays green but grows slowly and rarely blooms. See why a peace lily isn’t flowering.
How do you water a peace lily?
It asks for faintly damp soil, never soggy. Push a finger down to the second knuckle: with the top two or three centimetres dry, water thoroughly, until it escapes from the drainage hole, and empty the saucer. The gap shifts a lot with light:
| Where it lives | In July | In January |
|---|---|---|
| South- or west-facing window | 2 days | 4 days |
| East-facing window | 2 days | 4 days |
| North-facing window | 3 days | 7 days |
| Hallway or corner with no window | 5 days | 10 days |
When thirsty, it topples completely and stands up hours after a drink. That’s a warning rather than a catastrophe, though it’s best not to rely on it. In winter, water less: the app already counts on that. The finger test, the pot and the season are covered in how often to water a peace lily.
What soil and pot are best?
- A light, general-purpose mix, with perlite or fine grit to help it drain.
- A hole in the bottom, always.
- A pot only slightly above the root ball (about 2 to 5 cm wider), since a very wide one holds too much water. The peace lily is happy a little snug.
- Repot when roots get crowded (roots showing, or soil that dries soon after watering), ideally in spring.
Does a peace lily like humid air?
It does: it prefers moderate to high humidity. It enjoys days of roughly 20 to 29 °C with no draughts, and below about 15 °C it starts to suffer. It does badly in the very dry air of radiators, which crisps its tips. Keep it clear of them and stand it among other plants, or on a tray of damp gravel, so the air around it turns a touch more humid. A bathroom with a window and good light suits it too.
What water should I use?
The peace lily is sensitive to the fluoride and minerals in tap water, and brown tips give it away. Rainwater or filtered water helps; leaving tap water out overnight removes only the chlorine, not the fluoride or the minerals. Brown tips have an article of their own.
How should I feed it?
From April to October, a general liquid feed, well diluted (a quarter of the label strength), every six to eight weeks. In winter, a pause. Too much feed leaves salts in the soil and burns the tips.
How do you propagate a peace lily?
In spring, with the plant out of its pot, split the clump into two or more parts, each with roots and leaves, and pot them up in small pots with a hole. It’s the simplest way to get more plants for free, and to relieve a crowded pot.
How do you tidy and clean the plant?
Wipe the leaves with a damp cloth from time to time: it clears dust and lets them work. When the spathe (the white part of the flower) turns green or dries, cut the stalk at the base. Old leaves that have turned yellow come off at the base too.
When things go wrong
| What you see | What it usually is | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow leaves | Overwatering, repeated thirst or age | Yellow leaves |
| Brown tips | Dry air, thirst, salts in the water | Brown tips |
| No flowers | Low light, young plant | Not flowering |
Summary: peace lily care
| Care | What to do |
|---|---|
| Light | Bright and indirect; tolerates low light, but won’t flower |
| Watering | When the top centimetres are dry |
| Soil | Light, general-purpose |
| Pot | With a hole, only slightly larger than the roots |
| Humidity | Away from radiators; rainwater or filtered water |
| Feeding | In spring and summer, well diluted |
| Cleaning | Damp cloth; cut spent flowers and old leaves |
Quick questions
Can a peace lily live in shade? It can, and it stays green. It just rarely blooms without bright, indirect light.
Does a peace lily need a big pot? No: it prefers a pot a little above the roots, and moves up when they get crowded.
Where can I read more about the species? On the peace lily page.
Caring with little effort
The peace lily tells you when it’s thirsty, but it gives more when the rhythm is right. In Verdejar, you pick the plant, the room and the light, and the app works out the watering and reminds you at the right moment.
Sources: Royal Horticultural Society · Missouri Botanical Garden · Clemson Home & Garden Information Center · NC State Extension · UF/IFAS Extension · University of Illinois Extension · Michigan State University Extension · Encyclopaedia Britannica. The days between waterings come from the Verdejar watering engine.