I thought someone with a greener thumb than me might give me some pointers.
I’ve got 3 peace lilies, in 8 inch pots, that I purchased about 6 weeks ago. Every 4 days I water them until the water starts to run through the drainage hole (this is what the florist told me to do). They don’t get a huge amount of light but they are by my windows so they’re not going totally without. I also usually wipe the leaves with damp cloth if I see any dust on them.
In any event, over the past couple of weeks, the spadices have been turning brown and dying. Some of the bracts have also died though not all. The leaves are fine for the most part. A few have died or gotten some brown tips but I’d say about 95% are still glossy, upright and completely green.
Are the spadices dying just a natural course of events? Is there something I can do to prevent or take better care of the plants?
The flowers dying is probably normal. I’m a trifle concerned about how often you’re watering – stick your finger in the dirt before watering, and if the dirt is still damp, don’t water. I’d think once a week would be enough – but part of my (impressive) success with houseplants is that I don’t grow anything that needs to be watered more than once a week.
That’s what they do, they turn brown and die. I’m a tad concerned with how much you are watering as well. However, that being said, I have peace lilies in straight water for my Beta Fish, like this , and they get floweres roughtly every fourth week. They stay for about a week then turn brown and I cut them.
I also have peace lilies in a soil medium and I water them every week. I never water then so the water comes out the bottom…
Are the occasional brown tips on the leaves dry or soggy? If they’re soggy, you’re probably watering too much, but not enough to cause any kind of overall malaise. If that’s the case, twickster has the right solution…water once a week. If they’re dry and papery, then you’re probably not providing enough humidity. Try filling a tray that is at least as big as the spread of the leaves with pebbles or gravel, put the plant on that, and keep the tray filled to just under the top of the pebbles with water. If you can find a big enough tray to put all 3 plants on (though that’s probably a tall order for 3 8" pots), that’s even better, because grouping them relatively close together also holds air humidity in place.
The flowers dying is most likely normal. They’re actual live-plant flowers, after all, not a dried arrangement that’s meant to last forever. All flowers wither eventually…otherwise there’d never be any seeds.
As others have said, it’s normal for the flowers/bracts to eventually turn brown and die (sometimes they turn green first). It’s also common to have a few brown tips on the leaves. Your plants have undergone a fair amount of trauma in their lives recently - probably trucked up from a greenhouse somewhere, given poorer growing conditions at the florist, and then taken to a whole new environment in your home.
These plants do best with moist (not soggy) soil, and should be watered not according to any artificial timetable but when the soil surface starts to dry out. Don’t leave them constantly standing in water. The idea of a little extra humidity is good.
These are generally tough, rewarding plants for low light conditions. They’ll really do well with bright light (no more than morning sun).
The brown tips of the leaves are dry not soggy. When I’ve watered them, the soil is still damp so it sounds like decreasing the watering and upping the humidity is a good idea (my house is very dry).
