A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Ugliest, Most Pitiful Looking Peace Lily Ever...

This weekend I took possession of a peace lily. The woman that had it is moving and didn't want to chance taking it with her. She said it was a large, cool looking peace lily. I had already affirmed to myself and to my husband that I would not take in anymore plants. I'm almost at 100 now. But who can pass on a big, beautiful peace lily?

I got to the lady's home to pick up the peace lily and it was the ugliest plant I'd ever seen in person. Part of me wanted to turn around and walk away. The other part of me - the plant lover - saw possibility. So I took it. I wish I had taken a picture of it before I unpotted it. Almost half of the leaves were brown. Some of the leaves had been chewed on by a cat. The soil was horribly compacted. There were inches and inches of bare, brown stem at the bottom were leaves had once been. On my way out, the lady said to me, "Oh, I just love peace lilies!" Yikes! lol My husband wanted to find the nearest dumpster and pitch it. He couldn't believe I was going to take it home. I had to promise to wash it off and unpot it outside to make sure there were no pests.

So here's my main question...

It's about the bare stems. Each piece of the peace lily (there are four) has 5 - 6 inches of bare stem at the bottom. When I repotted I buried those bare stems in the soil. Was that the right thing to do? Should I have let them sit on top of the soil? When I picked up the plant they were exposed on the outside. Please give me your input.

Thanks.
Amanda

I just learned that those long stems are rhizomes. I still don't know if it's ok for them to be buried though. They did seem to have little buds on them.

Would love an update from you as your peace lily settles in.

I'm really wondering about the brown tipped leaves. I have the same problem and I do take better care of my plants then the lady where you got your plant from.

burying them was fine. you could have also cut the tops off, put them in water to root, and grown more plants (shhh don't tell hubby). but, truthfully, you did exactly what i would have done.

This is the before picture. I had to cut off about a third of the leaves because they were brown. I know it looks over potted, but it actually isn't. Those long rhizomes / stems are just underneath the soil.

I'll post a follow-up picture around late May-ish.

Thats a sad story...........

Good luck with it.. I had one, and no matter how I tried , it wouldnt grow and bloom like others.......
One day it died.

b

Well then Dodge, I'll just have to grow this for the both of us. ;)

:wink:

Amany, hope you have good luck with that one. You never know if you don't try!!!!!!

you are on the right track

Hi
My peace lilly's flowers have gone green, can anyone tell me what i have done wrong or is this suppose to happen.

x

Hi Badger.

From what I understand this can sometimes happen if the peace lily gets too much light. Wait for others to chime in though.

Be glad they bloom at all, mine sure didnt........
Orchids are easier for me.

green flowers mean that the blooms are getting old. then will green, then brown. i usually cut them off when the green gets really dark, right before brown.

Jiffy is right I do the same with mine.

One of my peace lillies' flowers are also green. They have been blooming for a while and the pollen has already fallen off. I also have new flowers coming up on the same plant that are white. I am sure that they just turn green before they die off.

I'm glad more knowledgeable people than me came along and answered this question. Months from now I would have been looking at green spaths and thinking I was giving my peace lilies too much light and moved them further away from the window. Even more months later, I would have been posting here about my peace lilies that never flower!

I love this forum!

You know...I think I am just lucky that my peace lillies flower. My boyfriend's dad gave us all of his plants (except for the HUGE jade that he's had for almost 30 years) when he retired so he can travel. The peace lillies were part of the "plant estate" he left us. I just put them in my house and they began to bloom!


Now if I could only figure out what is wrong with my big-leaf schifflera....