Drooping leaves on your Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum)? You are not the first, and you definitely won’t be the last to have this issue.
Your Peace Lily leaves are drooping due to the plant needing water, fast, like now!
Look, I know it is easy to forget about our indoor plants; life gets in the way; I get it; we all know it is time to sort out these drooping leaves once and for all.
Is it that hard to just add a bit of water to the Peace Lily to revive it?
These beautiful flowering plants can be tricky, but they bounce back with the instructions below.
3 Easy Steps To Fix The Drooping Leaves on a Peace Lily
Ok, I know I just said your Peace Lily needs water, and that is true, but there is also a little bit more to it. Follow the below steps to turn your plant into the beautiful specimen it once was!
- Soak: Chances are you have completely forgotten about your plant for a substantial period of time and/or it has been quite warm; your plant needs to seriously rehydrate, both the roots and the soil around.
The best way to do this is to submerge the entire soil area in a bucket of water. Or a sink or a bath. Whatever you do, you need to get the area soaking for a minimum of 10 minutes.
You can put it under a running shower too; make sure you let it drain thoroughly, though, we don’t want the plant ever to sit in water for too long. - Wipe: The Peace Lily leaves will start to bounce back within hours, and often overnight your plant will hydrate and the next morning it will be looking like it is nearly back. This process can be slower or faster, depending on the severity.
Either way, now it is time to grab a damp cloth, preferably microfibre, and give all of the leaves a wipe, removing any dust.
Ahh, now the Peace Lily can breathe.
Ok, the Peace Lily is looking good; what now? - Prune/Trim: Once your plant is back, it is time to give it a little prune; remove any weak brown or yellow leaves by cutting them off as close to the base as possible.
- Nourish: Your poor little Peace Lily has been through a lot; you’ve got it back to kind of where it was; now it is time to give it a little love. There are two major ways to do this, fertilizer and seaweed solution.
Fertilizers can also kill the Peace Lily or damage the plant, I will explain the best practice below.
How To Care For a Peace Lily in 5 Simple Steps
From lush, shiny green leaves to brown droopy ones with a dash of yellow.
I assume by now you’ve seen all stages, and if you’re like me, you hate seeing your Peace Lily anything but brilliant.
What you should now know is that the Peace Lily plant is finicky and can be tricky, BUT and this is a big BUT, they do bounce back, well unless you haven’t left the plant in a cupboard for a month!
This is how you can care for your Peace Lily, so the drooping leaves never rear their ugly heads again!
1. Water
Ok, nailing the correct water level for these plants is crucial.
Peace Lilies like most plants, will bounce back far better from underwatering than overwatering. But, ideally, you don’t want to experience either situation.
So how do you perfect the water levels? Simply, recreate the natural habitat of the plant. So, what is the Peace Lily’s natural water preference?
Damp soil that doesn’t dry out and humidity if possible.
So keep the soil damp by watering every few days; there is no general rule here, it really depends on how hot or cold it is, it is trial and error depending on your home and the plant’s location within it.
Stick your finger in the plant around an inch and feel for damp soil or buy a water meter, just a simple one, they are great and take out the guessing.
It’s up to you how far you want to go down the rabbit hole of caring for plants
Peace Lily Watering Tips
- To recreate humidity, give the leaves a spray with water, especially if you are in a dry environment or use aircon/heating in your home.
- Make sure the water drains out of the bottom and the plant is not sitting in water.
- Take the Peace Lily into the shower with you, literally. Give the whole plant a good soak, it will love you for it.
- When you water your plant, use this as an opportunity to give the leaves a wipe with a damp cloth to remove the dust and let the plant breathe.
2. Light
Peace Lily plants love filtered light; the key word here is “filtered”.
They really do not like direct sunlight in any amount at all. As previously mentioned, the Peace Lily lives naturally on the floor of rainforest environments. Any amount of light they get is filtered through multiple layers of larger trees, and we need to recreate this.
Peace Lily Light Tips
- Peace Lily’s love filtered light next to, but not directly in front of a window.
- Make sure the leaves do not get even a slither of direct sun through the blinds, as this could be enough to burn and disturb them.
- Even if the location of your plant isn’t ideal for YOU, put it in a perfect location and move to your fave location when you have guests.
We have 2 Peace Lilies on an enclosed balcony out of the direct sun, but move one to our bathroom and one to the living room when friends come over. They really add so much ambience and guests always comment on how lovely they look.
3. Temperature
Temperature is a tricky thing, I mean, how many people get a thermometer, measure the temperature and then put on the heating or cooling for their plant?
Taking things a little far, I think so!
Peace Lily plants prefer daytime temperatures between 68 and 85 °F and night time temperatures about 10 °F cooler.
But, we need to be sensible here.
Find your home’s closest temperature in the above range and put the Peace Lily in that area to flourish.
Peace Lily Temperature Tips
- Ensure your Peace Lily plant is not getting too much heat through windows, shades, or airconditioning vents.
- On the other hand, make sure the plant is not getting hit by a cold breeze from a window or an air con vent in the summer.
4. Pruning/Trimming
Time to get the secateurs out( or, if you can’t find them, a pair of scissors).
Peace Lily plants, like most, love a good prune; it is easy to do and is best to do as needed.
When, you ask? Are leaves turning brown or yellow? Time to prune.
The easiest way is to cut nice and low to the soil. Boom, easy, done.
Peace Lily Pruning Tips
- Prune as needed, cutting as low as possible to the soil. I will always pull lightly first, as sometimes the whole leaf will easily come out deeper than you can cut.
- If you are trimming brown tips only, I have a great technique. I will show you in this article how to do it, so your Peace Lily looks a million bucks!
5. Fertilizer
Oh, how we love to completely forget about this before it is too late or fertilize too much. If only plants could speak and tell us exactly what they want, in the moment and… Ok, I have lost it.
Plants can’t speak, but they do show us in their own way.
Ideally, fertilizing in the growing season is important; we can all agree on that. If your plant struggling out of the growing season, we can still fertilize here too, but we just have to be careful.
I use a half strength to what it says on the label, this is a great general rule. I also alternate with a natural seaweed tonic to provide non-offensive minerals to the Peace Lily.
The plant will show signs of needing fertilizer; I cover it further in this article.
Peace Lily Fertilizing Tips
- As a general rule, fertilize according to the label and make sure the fertilizer is suited to Peace Lily plants.
- It is always better to under than over-fertilize; you can always top up, so don’t fertilize too often, again refer to the label.
- Off-season? Does the plant need some love? Fertilize at a half-strength.
- An organic seaweed solution is a great way to look after your plants, they will love you for it.
- Put reminders in your digital calendar of when to check/fertilize, water, or whatever you need to do to ensure your plant is healthy. It is seriously a lifesaver!
Peace Lily Drooping Leaves – The Final Word
Hopefully, by now, you have a better idea of how to deal with those dropping leaves on your Peace Lily.
Tending and caring for your indoor plants, whether it is a Peace Lily or any other beautiful variety, should be a process of learning about them and about you (yes, I am getting philosophical here).
There is no perfect way to do things, but over time, trial and error, you will learn about your plants, their preferences, what works and what doesn’t.
Enjoy the process!