Hello, My peace lily is a little sick. I have had it OVER a year; and it is very important to me because I received it at my step-fathers funeral. When I received the plant, it was in a wooden type of pot. I took it out of the pot and put it in a bigger pot. It went from about a 8 inch pot to a 12/16 inch pot. It kept growing but all of a sudden, it stopped growing. The leaves started to droop and watering would not help. I tried to expose the plant to more sunlight, still no help. Then the leaves start to tear and get holes in them. Later I started to see some little worms in the pot. The looked like centipedes or millipedes. I mixed some diazion with water and tried to flush the worms out. It did not kill the worms. So, I decided to remove it out of the new pot and put it in a smaller one. I did see some of the worms in the pot. I put new soil in the new pot and really did not see anymore worms for a while. After moving it to a smaller pot, my mom told me to put aspirin in the pot and new soil. My mom has a peace lily also and her plant is very healthy using the aspirin. After repotting my plant, the leaves started to rise again however they still looked bad because they had already started to break and get holes. Later, I see the worms again. I get more pesticide for plants and move to another pot. In the process of me moving it to another pot, the flower fell and some of the old dirt just broke up and I saw the roots. They were like a white/light yellow color, no browning. When I put it back in the pot, lots of new leaves stared to sprout. The new leaves are standing proud. However, the old leaves are still there, looking a mess. They have holes and the edges are kinda brittle. About a week ago, my neighbor suggested that I give it plant food because it has started to droop again and watering really did nothing. I purchased Miracle-Gro liquid houseplant food and followed the instructions and watered it. Today, I just happen to take a HARD look at the soil. I see worms. This time, they are different. The are little thin clear looking worms. You can hardly see them. You have to look SO close. They kinda look like slime. When I saw it, it scared me. I began to use more of the pesticide for plants and water it thorougly to soak through the plant to see if I could kill the little creatures. After that, I moved and broke one of my leaves off the plant. It was one of the older leaves so I tried to pull it off from the root. When I broke the leave off, there was a little piece of the plant/root visible at the top of the soil, it was black like rot. I tried to break it down further to see if it was like this all the way to the root. It does not appear to be but I am not sure. I do not know what is going on. Is there any hope for my plant. It still has the new leaves there like they are not being bothered. The are standing pretty and tall and green all over, no holes or anything. Most of the new leaves are attached to the old leaves in some way. What should I do. I know this is long but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME. I BEG OF THEE.
Ok, lets see, lots of pesticides and water here, but I'd repot for sure! What I do when repotting, I'll get old bowl and mix some good houseplant soil with a handful or two of 'Perlite" and blend it together with my fingers. I wouldn't use anymore pesticides, or anything else which could kill the plant. Find a pot for your plant that's only an inch larger around then the roots. If the pots too large, the large amount of soil will stay too wet and causes root rot. In case your not sure.... Put about about an inch of the new soil mix in the bottom of the pot (make sure the pot you use has drainage holes) getting soil down around the sides too. Give it a good drink to settle the soil in and don't water again until the top inch feels like it's getting close to drying some, but not dried out though. Poke your finger down, oh, about a knuckles worth to tell if it needs any water or not. If it still feels wet,wait a few more days. I water mine once a week ONLY if it needs it. I bought mine 17 yrs ago and it's still doing well. Any water that's drained into the saucer after watering should be spilled out. Your looking to have semi moist soil, not dry and not soggy wet all the time, it's a little of a balancing act and having the right size pot helps a lot. Keep it away from direct sun which will burn the leaves of this plant ans as you can see, this plant has thin leaves. Peace lilies do very well in bright indirect light. Take off all, or most of the damaged leaves "BEFORE" repotting trying to stay away from the good ones as much as possible. I wouldn't fertilize it now either, fertilizer is only good for healthy plants, not ailing ones. Wait until next year to feed, and then use only very small amounts of the stuff, Half strength once a week or once a month is fine, not the dose recommend in the instructions. I'd stay away from the "fertilizer sticks" they can burn roots because they take too long to dissolve while being up against them.
Thank you so much for responding. It is so nice to have someone to talk to about this. I am a dummy at this; I promise. I have a few more questions. Ok, I should take the plant out of the pot it is in now. When I remove it, it will take on the shape of the pot it came out of. Do I need to get rid of that old dirt? I am asking because I only saw new leaves come when I broke it out of the shape of the old pot. Basically, I guess I just need to know how to repot it. What should the the roots look like? The last time I repotted the flower. I pulled it out of the pot and it had the shape of the pot it came out of. There was mostly dirt on the outsite but there were little roots (i am assuming) that look kinda like veins, they were everywhere around the dirt. I dropped the flower while trying to take it out of the pot. Why is it so hard to come out of the pot? It was all stuck together, no excess dirt in the pot. How am I suppose to take it out? Anyway, after dropping it, it no longer had the shape of the pot it came out of. Should I just break it up anyway or should it still hold the shape of the pot after removing it? Should I check the roots because of the worms and the leaf that I broke that look kinda rotting. Do you think the worms are eatting the plant, how can I get rid of them. I am a dummy when it comes to plants. I really just want to keep this one so bad because it is the only thing I have of my step-fathers.
Yes, I would get rid of ALL the old soil. You can tip the pot on it's side, or slightly upside down and hit the side of pot a few times with the palm part of your hand which should loosen it up enough to pull or slide out. Lightly pull away as much soil as you can (try to get it all) from the roots. As you do this, the shape of the rootball will no longer be the shape of the old pot. If your peace lily was doing well before you repotted it ( 8" pot) that might be the size pot you want, possibly smaller. Setting the rootball in a bucket of tepid water for about twenty min should loosen any soil you couldn't get at, and at the same time, float up any critters in the soil, The worms are most likely dinning on the organic material in the soil and maybe even a few of the smaller feeder roots. Find the right size pot and use brand new soil. It might sulk a little for a few days after doing this, but it should bounce back as long as it's in the right size pot, has good drainage, not in direct sun and not under or overwatered.
