Grow and Care For Peace Lily Plants

With their dark green foliage and pure white flowers, Peace Lilies are a stunning addition indoors.

Being just as durable as they are pretty, it's no wonder that Peace Lilies are one of the most popular indoor plants around. Plus, not only are they easy to grow and care for, but they are also one of the best indoor plants for air purification around the home!

What You'll Need

To grow a Peace Lily you will need:

A Peace Lily of your choosing
A suitable pot with good drainage
Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix for Indoor Plants
Scotts Osmocote Pour+Feed for Indoor Plants
Scotts Osmocote Mist+Feed for Indoor Plants

Plant and Place your Peace Lily

The Perfect Peace Lily Potting Mix

The age old green-thumb secret is that when you start with the best, you’ll grow the best.

Using a premium quality and free-draining Peace Lily potting mix, like Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix for Indoor Plants, is especially important as it is designed specifically for indoor plants and contains the necessary nutrients to keep your indoor plants healthy! It is also formulated without compost or pine bark which are known to shelter the peskiest indoor bug around – the Fungus Gnat!

Light

Peace Lilies are tropical, evergreen plants that thrive on the forest floor, so when growing an indoor peace lily, it’s best to replicate a similar environment. To do this, keep your indoor Peace Lily in a bright area that is protected from direct sunlight and draughts.

Peace Lilies are also low-light tolerant and they can survive in some of the darker spots of the house. However, in low light areas, they do tend to flower less.

Nurture

Watering your Peace Lily

Water a Peace Lily when the soil begins to dry. To know when the soil is dry, gently push your finger into the soil to test for moisture.

If you notice that your Peace Lily leaves are starting to droop, this is a sign that it needs some water. If possible, use filtered, room-temperature water as Peace Lilies are sensitive to chemicals found in tap water, such as fluoride, which may cause brown leaf tips.

Temperature & Humidity

As a tropical plant, Peace Lilies do best in warm, humid conditions. Keep them away from open windows and regularly mist their leaves with Scotts Osmocote Mist + Feed for Indoor Plants, which will give them an added boost of nutrients.

Feeding your Peace Lily

It’s important to continue replenishing nutrients with a peace lily fertiliser once the fertiliser in the potting mix runs out so that your Peace Lily remains happy and healthy.

Apply Scotts Osmocote Pour+Feed for Indoor Plants, every fortnight to boost your Peace Lily with a carefully balanced blend of essential nutrients, including Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus. These nutrients will help produce greater growth and more beautiful blooms.

For a more sustained approach, feed your Peace Lily with Scotts Osmocote Controlled-Release Fertiliser for Indoor Plants. The controlled release technology feeds your plant for up to 6 months, releasing nutrients and trace elements only when the plant needs them. Scotts Osmocote Controlled-Release Fertiliser for Indoor Plants is also boosted with Nitrogen for greener foliage and stronger plant growth.

Repotting your Peace Lily

It’s important to repot your Peace Lily every two or so years to avoid it from getting root-bound, and to maintain overall health and vigour.

Be sure to pick a new pot that has good drainage (drainage holes are great!) and is around 25mm larger than the previous pot, any bigger and you run the risk of excess potting mix remaining damp, leading to root rot.

How to repot your Peace Lily:

Hold your Peace Lily by the stem and gently slide it out of its pot.
Carefully loosen the roots with your hands, removing some of the old potting mix from around the base. This will also help it settle easier into its new home.
Add a layer of Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix for Indoor Plants into the new pot and pack it down, removing any air pockets. If your new pot doesn't have a drainage hole, use a slightly smaller plastic pot with drainage holes and pop it inside the pot. Alternatively, layer the bottom of your decorative pot with pebbles before adding the potting mix. The aim is to create a reservoir for any extra water to pool into, away from your plant's roots.
Place your plant in the pot, making sure it's centred, and then add potting mix around the plant until it's secure.
Give your Peace Lily a thorough watering and a capful of Scotts Osmocote Pour+Feed for Indoor Plants to welcome it into its new home!

Pests, Problems and Answers

Can Peace Lilies be grown in water?

Yes, they can! In fact, Peace Lilies are one of the most popular water (or hydroponic) plants out there and can be purchased from nurseries in vases without any soil.

If growing a Peace Lily in water, it’s important to keep the stem base of the plant above the water line. This can be done by using a plastic insert, or stones, thereby allowing the roots to grow in the water, but also protecting the leaves and stem. Use Scotts Osmocote Pump + Feed for Indoor Water Plants, which is specifically designed to provide water plants with the nutrients they need to thrive.

My Peace Lily isn’t flowering. What do I do?

Peace Lilies typically flower in Spring, but in the right conditions they can flower all year around. To encourage your Peace Lily to flower, water and fertilise regularly, and give it more sunlight, but make sure it’s filtered and not direct sunlight. A standard sized Peace Lily will bloom 1–3 flowers per year, with the flowers remaining for around 2 months. Keep in the mind that the plant will need a rest period of a few months before it flowers again.

Did you know that it is far more likely for a mature and slightly root bound Peace Lily to flower? By creating some stress for your Peace Lily by allowing it to grow slightly too big for its pot, you can actually encourage it to flower more vigorously.

Why are my Peace Lily leaves drooping?

The main reason why Peace Lilies droop is because of overwatering or underwatering. Other reasons can include root rot disease, too much sunlight, or transplant shock due to repotting. To restore your Peace Lily, check the bottom leaves.

If the bottom leaves are drooping, and turning yellow, the plant is suffering from lack of water and too much direct sunlight. Check the soil to see if it needs watering and move it to a shadier spot. If the leaves are still drooping, then the possible issue could be root rot which is caused from overwatering. To fix root rot, repot the plant to get rid of the fungus, improve drainage in the pot, and be careful not to overwater.

Why does my Peace Lily have brown spots on its leaves?

Brown leaf tips on a Peace Lily are usually a result of too much sunlight, over-fertilisation, or a lack of water and/or humidity. To fix this, keep an eye on your watering schedule, move the plant to a shaded location, and mist the leaves often to help increase humidity.

Are Peace Lilies toxic?

The Peace Lily plant does contain calcium oxalate crystals which is toxic and can cause irritation and pain, depending on the amount ingested. So make sure that you prevent your pets and kids from chewing the leaves and stem.

Other Pests & Problems

Root Rot	Overwatering or poor drainage can cause root rot, especially for plants in cool or low-light conditions. Notable symptoms include: Wilting foliage Yellowing of the lower leaves Dark brown and/or black spots on lower leaves Roots that are mushy, black, brown and/or smelly To fix this, remove damaged roots, repot with a well-draining potting mix and reduce watering. In case the roots are severely rotten, discard the plant and the soil from the pot into the trash. If you do plan on reusing the pot, make sure you clean it thoroughly.
Infestations	Some common indoor plant pests to watch out for include: Mealybugs - Look for fuzzy, little white spots around where the leaf connects to the stem. These pests can form large colonies quickly, so deal with any signs of infestation right away. Remove mealybugs by swabbing them with a cotton wool bud, dipped in methylated spirits. Try not to get any on the leaves as it will burn them. Scale Insects - Look for small, brown lumps on the underside of leaves and stems. You may also see a sticky substance on the leaves, known as honeydew. Wiping down the leaves with soapy water or an insecticidal soap is effective in treating scale, though repeated applications may be required. It’s also possible to remove each individual scale by scrapping it off the leaf or dabbing it with an alcohol soaked cotton ball. Fungus Gnats - Look for little fly-like bugs around the plant, however, the real issue lies in the potting mix. The quickest way to solve this problem is to repot the infected plant in Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix for Indoor Plants as it doesn't contain compost or pine bark, which both attract fungus gnats.

Root Rot

Overwatering or poor drainage can cause root rot, especially for plants in cool or low-light conditions.

Notable symptoms include:

Wilting foliage
Yellowing of the lower leaves
Dark brown and/or black spots on lower leaves
Roots that are mushy, black, brown and/or smelly

To fix this, remove damaged roots, repot with a well-draining potting mix and reduce watering.

In case the roots are severely rotten, discard the plant and the soil from the pot into the trash. If you do plan on reusing the pot, make sure you clean it thoroughly.

Infestations

Some common indoor plant pests to watch out for include:

Mealybugs - Look for fuzzy, little white spots around where the leaf connects to the stem. These pests can form large colonies quickly, so deal with any signs of infestation right away. Remove mealybugs by swabbing them with a cotton wool bud, dipped in methylated spirits. Try not to get any on the leaves as it will burn them.

Scale Insects - Look for small, brown lumps on the underside of leaves and stems. You may also see a sticky substance on the leaves, known as honeydew. Wiping down the leaves with soapy water or an insecticidal soap is effective in treating scale, though repeated applications may be required. It’s also possible to remove each individual scale by scrapping it off the leaf or dabbing it with an alcohol soaked cotton ball.

Fungus Gnats - Look for little fly-like bugs around the plant, however, the real issue lies in the potting mix. The quickest way to solve this problem is to repot the infected plant in Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix for Indoor Plants as it doesn't contain compost or pine bark, which both attract fungus gnats.