Question
My peace lily I got from my Mother 7 years ago. I have repotted it 3 times. Last time was 1 year ago. I may have watered it to often. I had it outside in the shade all summer. I thought it was doing fine. Now it has black places along the edge of the leaves and the soil is molded. I took the soil out of the pot and washed all the roots and cut off the black leaves. Now I hardly have any plant left. It is now repotted. Will it do ok now. Or does it need more attention? Its in a 12 inch pot. No we have our own well for water. I want to save this plant as it was given to me when my mother died. I always have it inside facing West window in the winter months. Southern Mo.

Answer
Inabelle,

I discovered the hard way that peace lillies shoud not go outside. The black leaves are the result of wind damage or cold night temps.  Wind is very damaging to peace lillies and they can't stand temperatures below 60 degrees.

Do not repot this plant anymore.  They like to be rootbound and will produce more foowers if it is rootbound. You are better off removing sections of a peace lilly and potting them separately than moving it to a larger pot. Then you have 2 plants. I hope that when you repotted it you added extra perlite or sand to the soil so it drains better.

Yes, it sounds like you overwatered it also. The mold indicates the plant was overwatered and the roots were rotting.  They like to be kept on the dry side. When you water it give it enough water so all the soil in the pot is moist. Then do not water it again until the soil is very dry and the plant is on the verge of going limp. Then water and it will perk right back up. In fact I reccommend that you invest in a moisture meter at your local Lowes or Home Depot and do not water this plant until it reads dry. Mine gets watered once ev ery 7-10 days in the summer and every 2-3 weeks in the winter and it is quite healthy.

If there is not muh plant left and you did not add extra perlite or sand to the soil so it drains better when you repotted it then I suggest you might want to repot it again into a smaller pot and add extra perlite to the soil so it will not hold too much water.

Good luck,
Darlene