I got some "peace lillies" Spathiphyllum, plants from a friend, two of them are pretty healthy one have mutant leaves, different colors and shape,this doesn't bother me like the last one, the last one seemed like a normal plant and now all the leaves are droopy, I fed it, "Miracle Growth" but nothing, when I brought it home, I put new dirt in all of them the others seems like happy, any Idea of what's going on with the droopy one? please help.
Re: somebody killed If the droopy one started looking that way after you moved it into a new pot, it could be having transplant shock. Hold off on the fertilizing for a while. Please post a photo if you can!
Thanks for your answer. I am watering once a week and I placed it in a warmer room, let's see what happens...
vulcan, you may be interested to read this recent post by photopro. It may answer why yours is drooping. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=57259&highlight=spathiphyllum
I'm glad you thought my post might answer the question Silver Surfer. For a very long time I've found it unfortunate that much of the information given on garden sites about the care of the "Peace Lily" just isn't accurate. This thread may also help to make the specimens "feel better". http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=57259 These are rain forest species and love water. We grow a bunch of specimens in our tropical atrium and they are watered three days a week in the winter and four days a week in summer. During the summer they receive 8 minutes of mist per day. Dr, Croat who is the world's leading expert in this as well as other genera of aroids calls them "water hogs". The specimens in our artificial South American river bank produce inflorescences profusely. As I write the aquarium below is directly behind me and I can count a total of 13 inflorescences either in the tank or standing above it this morning. Two more are about to emerge. The plants produce so many leaves I have to cut them off to keep them from shading the plants in the water. Spathiphyllum species are normally found growing on the shore or in water in fairly bright light in the forests of South and Central America so the advice to keep them in a darkened area and water sparingly just isn't what Mother Nature would advise. In an article on West Panama found in Aroideana Volume 5, page 117 Robert White writes, "As we left the area we stopped at a sunny stream and found growing along its banks a small Spathiphyllum sp. with very dark green leathery leaves. The outside of its spathe was dark green and the inside was white, cut with fine lines of very dark green leathery leaves. The outside of its spathe was dark green and the inside was white, cut with fine lines of green." Aain, on page 50 in his 1978 article published in the scientific journal Aroideana entitled The Genera of Araceae in the Northern Andes by aroid botanist Dr. Michael Madison formerly of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens he states, "Spathiphyllum includes 40 species of terrestrial herbs which usually are found in wet habitats." Since the date his article was published several new species have been described to science but the plant we normally grow are rarely species plants. However, you do need to mix your own soil and not use the stuff you find on the shelf in the garden center to keep them healthy. I am now finding more and more growers sending them to the store in properly mixed soil but I'm sure that isn't happening everywhere! Check your soil by watering the plant really well and immediately pick up a hand full of soil. If it won't still run through your fingers and is just a soggy mess you must repot the plant. Use a mixture like this: Approximately 40% moisture control potting mix, 20% peat moss, 20% orchid bark that contains charcoal and gravel (Schultz works fine), add another good helping of aquarium charcoal, 10 to 20% Perlite, and the balance should be finely chopped chunks of high quality sphagnum moss. If you have some composted leaves through that in as well. The exact mixture is not critical but the chunks of bark, charcoal and Perlite are very important. Your goal is to recreate the soil found in a rain forest. I know........my percentages don't add up to 100% and it sounds like a lot of trouble but it will solve the problem. Again, the exact mixture is not critical. Keep the mix constantly damp, not soggy wet! In the aquarium we use only orchid bark and fine charcoal in a special pot to stabilize the roots. Nothing else. Many of the roots just hang in the water.
