Question
Peace Lily
I have never been a houseplant person until recently, when I inherited about 5 of them from my fathers funeral. The two I am having problems with are my peace lily and the rubber plant. I have had them since August 2007 and they were doing great until about October. I will start with the Rubber plant: I live in an apartment that only has windows on the west side. The plant sits about 10 ft from the window and I water it about once a week. I keep the temperature around 69 and it is quite dry. It is still in the plastic container that it came in, about 10in in diameter on the top. So here's the problem; it has lost EVERY single leave that it ever had! It is now a plant with about 7 stems sticking out of the pot with no leaves on it. It looks rediculous. The only thing I can think of is that it is lacking sunlight. I try to keep the shades open durring the day, but sometimes forget. I guess I am wondering #1 what I did wrong and #2 how to fix it #3 if the leaves will in fact grow back....Now to the peace lily. This plant was doing awesome until I noticed that several of the leaves have brown "burnt" circlular spots, outlined in yellow, and they have been growing in size with each day. I know that these plants can become burned by direct sunlight, and so I keep this plant about 13 feet from the window (never in direct sunlight). I water it about once a week and it is also in the plastic container, 10in diameter, that it came in. I did read that chlorine in the water can sometimes cause spotting and I do have city water. So my question is; #1 what am I doing wrong #2 how can I fix it #3 should I cut those spotty leaves out or will they heal on their own? Seeing the conditions in which I received these plants, I really want to keep them alive if possible. Please help me!! Thanks, Jackie
AnswerJackie,
Your rubber plant (ficus elastica) needed to sit next to the west window and the blinds need to be open all day every day. There is a slim chance if you move it to the window now it may sprout new leaves. If it doesn't within a month it is too late. In the meantime give it very little water, maybe 1/4 cup per week. You will kill a plant faster with too much water than with too little.
Now for your Peace lily, you are right, it does not like full sun but it does need bright enough light that you could read a paperback book if you were sitting where it is sitting without additional light. The chlorine may be a problem and an additional problem may be too much water, I accidently discovered my peace lily became a lot healthier when I became way too busy and only started watering it every 2 weeks instead of once a week, then it dried out totaly between waterings and the leaves stopped getting brown spots like you described and brown leaf tips. I reccommend that you be very careful to water it only when it is very dry and the pot feels lightweight when picked up. I do reccommend that you cut the damaged leaves out at the base of their stems. Fertilize the plant once a month with a water soluable fertilizer such as Miracle Grow and it should recuperate fairly quickly. Good luck.
Darlene
