Question
I bought this beautiful giant Peace Lilly about 8 months ago and all was well until about two months ago.  I have it in a large sunporch were it gets filtered light and it is watered when the leaves droop.  The leaves began to droop all the time and I noticed the roots were potbound ( I had never repotted it from the store container), so I decided to repot it into a beautiful brown clay pot which was probably 3" larger that the original pot.  I know it was slightly larger than it needed to be, but had no idea at the time that is liked to be root-bound.  It takes a long time for this pot to dry out -- for some reason the brown clay holds moisture longer than red.  Because I though moisture might be the issue, I repotted this very large pot again adding more sand to the soil mixture in hopes it would dry out quicker -- this was three weeks ago -- the plant still looks miserable and there seems to be a small amount of yellow substance coming out into the water tray.  I did check the roots for rot 3 weeks ago and they seemed to be fine.  I am at a loss as to what to do.  It has undergone trauma twice from the repottings, but I really do not want to lose this beautiful plant.  I live in Florida and am about it dig a hole in a shady spot in my yard, but then that would be trauma #3.  Do you have any suggestions?  I really do not want to lose my plant.  Thanks!

Answer
Sharon,

Not watering it until the leaves droop constantly will eventually damage the roots and I beleive that is what has happened. Even though the roots appear to be fine they have lost the ability to absorb water. I reccommend that you call around to some garden centers and find one that has water meters then go buy one. It will have 3 sections on the dial, wet, moist and dry. Water your plants when they are just getting into the dry section. They shouldn't be too dry then. Sand actually holds more water and has very little air spaces between he tiny particles to allow the roots to breathe and the soil to dry promptly. It is better to mix 2 parts of potting soil with 1 part of perlite. It is a white volcanic product that makes the soil drain better and dry out faster. It als holds air spaces in the soil for the roots to breathe.  You could plant it in the ground but the wind may tear the leaves up really bad and it should not get any sun or it will sunburn badly.

I would repot it one more time in a smaller pot with the soil- perlite mix. Make sure it is in a pot with a drain hole and invest in a water meter. Do not water it until the moisture meter reads just into the dry section. It will gradually grow new roots and get healthier. it does take time so be patient. Good luck.

Darlene