Question

poor flowers!   QUESTION: Hi Darlene

My peace lily is growing like mad at the moment (springtime); recently it's grown a few blooms!  My worry is; they seem quite weak; previously, they grew tall and strong ABOVE the foliage.  Now it's like they stop growing and open up in the middle of the foliage, and their stems don't seem to support well - they curve over so the flowers are bent, or fall over or OUT of the leaves at the side.  I've attached a photo (not the greatest one as my phone camera is tiny).  

I know my lily is a bit pot-bound.  It's bursting out of its pot, and needs watering almost every 2nd day.  I fully intendded to repot it until I realised that it was growing flower buds, and didn't want to 'interrupt' them.  Could that be a reason that the flowers are like this; they're impeded by the foliage or have no room to grow larger?

Would you recommend re-potting just for the lily's health purposes, flowers or no?

Thanks!

Kay

ANSWER: Kay,

Spring is the best time to repot, it will only encourage more and stronger blooms. You should move it to a pot that has a diameter 5 cm. larger than the pot it is in now. No larger than that. aif you put it in too large a pot and you water it enoungh to moisten all the soil in the pot when you water it as you should the plant will not be able to use up all the water before you will be back with the watering can. Plants need alternating wet and dry periods. Roots need to be moist from the "rain" then go through a dry period so they can breath in carbon dioxide through the soil and breath out oxygen through their leaves. That is how they clean the air in our homes as NASA proved they do and Peace lilies are one of the plants that do that. If the soil is kept constantly moist the roots cannot breath so they begin to rot. Peace lilieas can stand to be dry for a few days before being watered. You can usually tell if it need watered because the leaves begin to look a bit translucent or they actually wilt. As soon as you water it they will perk right up again.

So move it to a pot 2 inches larger and then start giving it a dose of water soluable fertilizer such as Miracle Grow for blooming plants every other week. Also sprinkle a tablspoon of epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) on top of the soil after you repot it and then water it. That will also help strengthen the blooms. Magnesium sulfate makes all blooming plants bloom more and stronger blooms. Never allow the plant to sit with water sitting in the drain tray for mor than an hour. As I said earlier it will cause root rot. If you have more questions feel free to write again. Good luck.

Darlene

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the tips Darlene, esp. the epsom salts which I had no idea abotu!  Do you think that's why the flowers are so weak though, because the plant needs to be repotted?  I'm just worried because my other peace lily went through a lot of shock when I repotted it earlier in spring, it didn't grow anything for about a month (growing like crazy now)!  

When I say it needs 're-watering', I mean it literally wilts / droops after 2 days unless I give it another thorough watering.  

Thanks!

Answer
Kay,

I think the flowers are weak because the plant is crowded and needs repotted and needs fertilized. Don't be afraid to repot it but don't disturb the roots a lot. Just rmove it from the smaller pot, put some soil in the bottom of the new larger pot and set the plant on top of it then put fresh soil around the root mass. Do not disturb the roots and it will not go into shock at all. It will just gradually send roots out into the new soil. Only go up one size pot and that will prevent problems also. The fertilizer and epsom salts will strengthen the plant quickly.

Darlene