Sad peace lily </3 please help! :)

[Infinite_sky]

Have had this peace lily for maybe 6 months in Portugal, and was happy in our low light office, next to the window.

In the past 3 months she has slowly gone down hill, until where she is at now in the picture. I am careful to only water when I see leaves drooping slightly and is dry, and nothing else in the conditions changed. The only thing I can think of is about 3 months back I began misting with water every few days, as I read that is nice for them, could it be they really didn’t like this and thats what caused this? I tried just leaving her alone, giving water when needed to see if she would recover, but still was declining. A few days ago I repotted to a smaller pot to check for root rot, there was none, but about half or more roots were dead and fell away in this process. At that point I also moved her to a spot outside with indirect bright light during the day, and take back inside at night.
I water perhaps 2 cups everyone week or so, only when soil is dry (monitor with water meter. As I said I didn’t find any root rot, and I am very aware not to over water generally so I dont think its from too much water.

The pot has drainage, and I’m careful to not leave standing in water.
Any advice would be most welcome! I have been reading a lot online but nothing has clicked yet. Could it be good to cut back the leaves? Stop moving her around? Tell her I love her more!?! As you can tell, I have been trying a few things, maybe too many… to no avail, any advice is very welcome. Thanks for reading all of this!

 

[pepper2.0]

I wish I could be more helpful, but I don't know much about indoor plants. If I had to guess, it sounds like the changes are stressing it out. There are lots of members on here with knowledge on indoor plants that I'm sure will give you some good advise. I did have a peace lily before I gave it away to a better home, I am not good at taking care of indoor plants. It was my moms and sat in a room without any direct sunlight, even though the room had light from a window, she had it for a few years before she passed. They are a beautiful plant.

I really am sorry I can't be more help but I would like to welcome you to the forum.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

She really looks miserable. I'm sorry, I can't help you. I posted so that I will get notified when others post because I just bought myself one, my first indoor plant, and want to learn.
Looking back at your post the only thing I can think of from the little I have learned about is to ask what sort of water you use? Does tap water where you are have a lot of chlorine, or something like calcium, dissolved in it?

 

[Anniekay]

Water it before the plant starts to wilt. When the top inch of soil is dry, it needs watering. By letting it wilt, certain roots stayed dry. You need a saucer under it and be sure you water until the water runs out the bottom into the saucer. This way all the roots get wet and stay healthy. Misting is good for them. No harm there. I would give it a dilute plant feed monthly as well.

 

[oneeye]

I assume the problem started after you up-potted the plant into the pot you have now. Peace lilies are very difficult to dial in when it comes to water management from transplanting. All it takes is one brief period of excess water to do damage to the roots. When one raises the water holding capacity by increasing the size of the pot the plant can be over-watered easily.

What does an overwatered peace lily look like?
An overwatered Peace Lily will have limp leaves that feel soft and lifeless, like a deflated balloon. The soil will be wet, and you might even see it pulling away from the sides of the pot.

Very gently tip the plant out of the container and get a look at the roots. If they are brown and not white then you have root problems from water management issues in the past. If the roots are damaged the plant will have a hard time regaining new vigor.

 

[cpp gardener]

Stop the misting, it is a waste of time.
Peace Lilies HATE to get real dry. They also hate to stay soggy wet unless they get some direct sun.
I’m guessing that it got too dry for too long and part of the root system died. Now it will take months to regain its vigor. Give it fairly bright light (you should be able to see a shadow if you hold your hand between the plant and the light source), just moist soil, no fertilizer and if you can put a humidifier next to it that would help.

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.

We have two peace lilies in ceramic hanging baskets in our hall. The problem for us is that they don't get much light, as there's just one window, opposite the landing.

Ours too, were looking a bit poorly last week, so I took them out, (they're in plastic pots) and removed dead and dying leaves, firmed up the compost and added a bit of fertiliser and watered it in. The one at the top getting more light, always does better than the other, so I swopped them round. There's a bit of new growth on both, so they should recover. If not, I'll give it a few months and replace them. They aren't expensive.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Reading those watering is the key it seems. I shall adopt Annie's method, dry on top, then water 'til it runs out the bottom. Mine came in quite a small pot, so I'll need to be a bit attentive until it settles enough to pot it on.
Like your pots, Sean, stylish, even if they are plastic they don't look it, and plastic is probably more serviceable.
I have mine in the south corner of an East facing windowsill with quite a tall hedge outside to the South, so it gets a little early morning sun (When there is any), but reasonably bright the rest of the day.