Everything seems good but still peace lily is not growing. The leaves are fading and there is no chance of blooming. If this is the condition of your plant then you are in the right place. Because today I will tell you what you can do when peace lily not growing.
The peace lily is an easy-to-care common houseplant. It has beautiful dark green leaves and white spathes.
Peace lilies need a high amount of energy to grow and develop beautiful flowers. Light is their primary source of energy. Low light is the main cause of a peace lily stopping growing. Other factors that contribute to stopping its growth are excessive use of fertilizers, overwatering, extreme temperatures, and pests.
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What to do when peace lily stops growing?
The first thing you need to do is check the plant and growing conditions. You need to find the main cause within 24 hours to save your beautiful plant. For that, you can follow my below techniques.
Check Light
First of all, check the amount of light that your plant is receiving. You can use the Plant light meter to measure the lumens of light that it is absorbing. Make sure it is not in the path of direct sun rays. Peace lily has soft leaf tissues that cannot tolerate high-intensity lights.
Wet Soil
Wet soil is the result of overwatering. You need to identify the signs of excess water in the plant pot. Brown tips of leaves, wet soil, root rot are the few common signs of overwatering. Peace lily needs moist soil but this does not mean you keep the soil wet all the time. Even one single cup of extra water in a plant pot can damage the peace lily roots. If there is no bottom draining hole.
Extra fertilizers
Too many nutrients result in stunted growth and if the problem does not fix on time. Then plants stop growing due to the damaged up-taking system of the plant. Extra nutrient gets collected in the base of the plant and block the absorption of water. This damages the internal structure of peace lily plants.
Temperature Stress
Sudden and frequent changes in the room temperature affect the growth rate of plants. They stop absorbing nutrients from the water and this directly affects their growth and blooming.
Common insects
When pests attack peace lily-like soft plants. They damage the entire plant in 2 to 4 days. Pests suck the life juice of plants and they start dying. This condition is more dangerous for peace lily plants. Later in this post, you will know how to fix this issue in a single day.
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The light
Peace lily needs a good amount of light energy to make its food which is glucose. But you cannot put it in direct sunlight because this plant cannot tolerate high intense sun rays. Therefore, you need to find a place where it can get enough indirect bright light.
In general, we grow plants on the window sill. But in the case of peace lily, you need to place the pot a few feet away from the sunny window. Direct sunrays can burn the plant leaves.
As you increase the distance between the sunny window and peace lily. The sunrays entering through the window become less intense. These energy waves are sufficient to grow a healthy peace lily plant.
Note: You can expose your peace lily to direct sun rays but only in the morning time when Sun just rises from the east. After 2 hours of rising, the sun starts emitting strong sunrays.
If your peace lily is away from the sunny window and it stops growing.
You also want your plant to stay in its place because you have other plants near a sunny window. Then you can take help from the LED grow lights. These lights look very stylish and emit a full spectrum of light.
Overuse of fertilizers
Overuse of fertilizers leads to many problems. Low use of fertilizer will not impact plant growth. Because plants do not stop growing, they grow at a slower rate. But over fertilizer leads to plant damage that results in peace lily not growing at all.
The peace lily is small size plant it does not grow too tall or spread in meters. Therefore, it needs a low amount of fertilizer. And if you use the high fertilize potting mix then you will not need to give it an extra dose of fertilizers.
Nutrients present in the fertile soil are enough for plants like peace lily. For perfect care, you can add some organic substances to the soil at the time of planting it.
Brown tips are the first sign of over-fertilization. In general peace lily plants need nutrient boots once or twice a year.
how to fix it?
- Take out the plant from its pot and discard the potting soil.
- Then wash the plant pot with water.
- Use new potting soil and plant it back in the same pot
Or
- Bring the pot near the tap and turn it on
- Flush the soil with tap water.
- When the water coming from the bottom hole looks clear
- Then turn off the tap
- Let the extra water drain out for 30 minutes
- Then place it back in a bright light location
- If you follow this technique then do not water peace lily for few days.
Extra water in a plant pot
This is also called overwatering the plants. Even an extra cup of water in the peace lily pot result in stunted growth. Sometimes extra water can kill your plant due to root rot-like diseases.
When a plant sits in waterlogged soil its roots start decomposing due to extra water. We call it root rot where fungus eats plant roots. Without healthy roots, none of the plants on the planet can grow.
Wrong potting soil, poor aeration, and poor draining power of soil increase the chances of root rot.
Follow the below tips to identify the overwatering issue.
- Yellow leaves, brown leaf edges
- Brown leaf tips and mushy smell from roots
- Wilting
- The soil does not absorb given water even after 30 minutes.
- The bottom draining hole is absent or blocked
- The plant pot tray is filled with water.
To fix this issue take out the plant from its pot and inspect the roots. Use sharp shears to cut the infected parts of the root ball. At once you can cut 40% of the roots. If the entire root ball is damaged then Propagation is the only solution.
Underwatering also stops the growth of peace lily plants. The peace lily is a clever plant it droops few leaves to tell you that it immediately needs water.
Whenever you see Peace lily dropping this means you do not give water to your plant on time. Change your watering habits and save your plants from dryness. When you give water to your thirsty peace lily it will start growing again.
Repotting Stress
If you just buy a peace lily and transfer it to your home pot then it is normal to see no growth for a few days. Botanists called it stress due to changing the pot. But they do not know how to prevent it.
To minimize the repotting stress, you should repot it in spring or summer. These are the active growing seasons of peace lily varieties.
At the time of repotting do not touch the roots unnecessarily.
Do not remove the old soil from the roots.
Give some water after repotting.
In the garden stores peace lily grows in controlled conditions. When you bring it home it suddenly gets shocked due to changes in growing conditions.
If peace lily is not growing for 30 to 40 days after bringing it home. This is totally normal. We call it the shock period.
Pest Infestation
There are many common houseplant pests that attack peace lily varieties. Aphids and mealybugs are the most common types. They suck the sap of the plant and make it difficult for peace lily to grow. You need to inspect your plant closely to see the signs of pest infestation. They are commonly found on the underside of leaves.
In this condition separate the plant from other healthy plants. But the insecticidal soap and rinse the plant. This soap will kill all unwanted pests.
It is easily available on Amazon.
General guidelines if Peace lily not growing
Peace lily normally grows between 12 inches to 3 feet tall. To achieve good height, place the pot in indirect bright light, follow the correct watering techniques. Also, fertilize your plants once every 3 months. Use liquid fertilizer in diluted form.
There are many peace lily-specific fertilizers you can buy if you have a good budget.
The peace lily is not flowering
If your peace lily is not producing flowers or spathes then low light will be the main cause. Change the place of the pot. Move it to a bright place but away from direct sunlight.
Once they produce flowers they will stay on the plants for many months.
I have listed all the possible causes of peace lily not growing. I hope you find this post helpful. For more info on peace lily plants check my other articles. You can also write us.
