Peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii) care

Aroids · easy to keep

Peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii) wants medium to bright indirect light; no direct sun. Water it every 5 days. Water when the top of the compost is dry. A peace lily dramatically collapses when thirsty and recovers within an hour of a drink — useful, but doing it repeatedly costs it leaves. Pot it in standard potting compost with perlite through it. Balanced feed at half strength monthly, spring to early autumn, and repot once a year. Humidity: above 50% keeps the tips from browning. Toxic to cats, dogs and people if chewed — the sap carries insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which burn the mouth and throat.

The peace lily: dark glossy leaves and white spathes on tall stems, sold as an easy low-light plant. It is easy, but 'low light' is the part that misleads people — it will live in a dim room and never flower there. It also faints spectacularly when thirsty and stands straight back up after a drink, which makes it the most legible plant in the house.

Quick facts

Water: Water every 5 days. Water when the top of the compost is dry. A peace lily dramatically collapses when thirsty and recovers within an hour of a drink — useful, but doing it repeatedly costs it leaves.
Light: Medium to bright indirect light; no direct sun.
Humidity: Above 50% keeps the tips from browning.
Soil: Standard potting compost with perlite through it.
Feeding: Balanced feed at half strength monthly, spring to early autumn.
Repotting: Repot once a year.
Toxic to pets: Toxic to cats, dogs and people if chewed — the sap carries insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which burn the mouth and throat. Keep it off the floor if anything in the house tastes its way through life.
Difficulty: Easy.
Mature size: 40–70 cm tall.
Native to: Central and South America.

Watering a Peace lily

Water every 5 days. Water when the top of the compost is dry. A peace lily dramatically collapses when thirsty and recovers within an hour of a drink — useful, but doing it repeatedly costs it leaves.

That cadence is the one PlantParlour sets for this species when you name it, and it is deliberately on the cautious side — a plant that asks a day early is safer than one that asks a day late. Log each watering and the reminder moves with the plant rather than with the calendar.

Light

Medium to bright indirect light. Peace lilies are sold as low-light plants and will live in a dim room, but they will not flower there. A spot with bright light and no direct sun gives you both the leaves and the spathes.

Humidity and temperature

Above 50% keeps the tips from browning. Central heating in winter is what turns a comfortable room into a dry one, and it is the usual reason an established plant suddenly browns at the edges or picks up spider mites.

Soil and potting

Ordinary peat-free compost with a third perlite. Peace lilies want moisture-retentive, not chunky — they are the least epiphytic aroid on this list.

Feeding

Balanced feed at half strength monthly, spring to early autumn. Stop feeding in autumn and start again when you see new growth in spring — feeding a plant that isn't growing just builds up salts in the pot.

Repotting

Repot once a year. Every spring while young, then every other year. Divide the clump at the same time if it has outgrown its place.

Common problems

Brown crispy leaf tips
Tap water minerals, over-feeding, or dry air — in that order of likelihood.

Fix: Flush the pot with plain water, feed at half strength, and raise humidity.
Whole plant collapses
Dry. It is theatrical about this.

Fix: Water thoroughly. If it collapses while the compost is wet, the roots have rotted and the cause is the opposite.
Green flowers instead of white
Too much fertiliser, or the spathe simply ageing.

Fix: Cut the old spathes off at the base and ease off the feed.
No flowers at all
Not enough light.

Fix: Move it to a brighter spot out of the sun and feed through spring.

Propagation

Divide the clump at repotting. Each division needs several leaves and its own roots.

A cutting taken in PlantParlour keeps its link to the plant it came from, so a propagation years later still traces back to the mother plant — which is the point if you ever sell or trade it.

Toxicity and safety

Toxic to cats, dogs and people if chewed — the sap carries insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which burn the mouth and throat. Keep it off the floor if anything in the house tastes its way through life.

Named cultivars and variegations

Spathiphyllum wallisii is sold under several cultivar names. Care is the same unless noted; variegated forms carry less chlorophyll, so they grow more slowly and want more light than the plain species.

Cultivar	Also sold as	Water
'Domino'	Variegated peace lily	every 5 days
'Sensation'	Giant peace lily	every 5 days

Questions people ask

Why won't my peace lily flower?

Almost always too little light. Peace lilies are sold as low-light plants because they survive there, not because they bloom there. Move it somewhere bright but out of direct sun and feed it monthly through spring and it will usually produce spathes within a season.

Do peace lilies clean the air?

They were in NASA's 1989 clean-air study, which was run in sealed chambers. In a real room the air exchange dwarfs anything a potted plant does — you would need hundreds of them per room to matter. Keep it because it's a good plant, not as an air filter.

How often should you water a Peace lily?

Water every 5 days as a starting point — that is the cadence PlantParlour sets for Spathiphyllum wallisii. Water when the top of the compost is dry. A peace lily dramatically collapses when thirsty and recovers within an hour of a drink — useful, but doing it repeatedly costs it leaves. Light, pot size and the time of year all move that number, so treat it as a reminder to go and check rather than a rule.

How much light does a Peace lily need?

Is Peace lily toxic to cats and dogs?

How do you propagate a Peace lily?