Do This to Your Peace Lily before May Ends to Keep It Blooming All Year Long
May is a make-it-or-break-it month for houseplants. Treat your peace lily right and it'll reward you with huge leaves and non-stop blooms.
May is a turning point for many houseplants, including peace lilies. With longer days and higher temperatures, houseplants have come out of dormancy, and active growth is really amping up, but only if the conditions are right.
To get the most healthy growth and blooming possible, good peace lily care now is a must. From boosting sunlight and humidity to light feeding and potentially dividing or repotting plants, these are tasks that even a low-maintenance peace lily will appreciate. Put in the time now and reap the rewards all summer and into the fall.
1. Do a Deep Spring Clean
If you didn’t do it in April, now is the time to tidy up your peace lilies. As indoor air recirculates all winter, houseplants accumulate a lot of dust. This is especially true for plants with broad leaves, like peace lilies. Wipe the winter dust with a soft, damp cloth. This will help your leaves take in more energy from sunlight, promoting new growth.
This is also a good time to do any necessary peace lily pruning, which encourages fresh growth. Use sharp, clean scissors to snip off old flower stalks, yellow leaves, and brown tips. Peace lilies look most vibrant and elegant when tidied up, and it only takes a few minutes to do this chore.
2. Adjust the Lighting
As your peace lily comes out of dormancy and enters a period of more rapid growth, it needs a little more light to encourage maximum blooming. It’s important to find a good balance, though. Peace lilies don’t do well in bright, direct light or full sun at any time of year, but they can benefit from a small increase in summer.
You can move your peace lily to a brighter window. An east-facing window is ideal, as morning light is gentler than afternoon light. North-facing windows that are very bright can also provide a good amount of indirect light.
Another option is to move your peace lily outdoors once it’s warm enough. In colder climates, this might not be until the end of May. Find it a spot in dappled or deep shade, such as under a tree or a covered patio. If the leaves get brown, crispy edges or the color fades, the light is too bright or too direct.
Peace Lily Essentials
3. Start a Gentle Feeding Routine
Peace lilies don’t like too much sun, and they also don’t like too much food. While your lily won’t need any fertilizer in winter, it can benefit from gentle, minimal applications in spring and summer. May is a good time to start a peace lily fertilizing routine for the remainder of the growing season.
Use a balanced, liquid houseplant fertilizer diluted to half-strength. Apply it now and again every four to six weeks until fall. Signs you are overfeeding include browning on leaf tips and salt accumulation around the edges of the container. The right amount and frequency of fertilizer will promote new growth, strong stems, and abundant flowers.
4. Water More and Up the Humidity
Peace lilies are famously forgiving of neglect, even when it comes to watering. If you’ve ever forgotten to water your peace lily, you’ll know, as it droops dramatically. On the other hand, once you water it, you’ll see the leaves perk up quickly as if nothing were wrong.
Although they’ll forgive you, your peace lily will look its best when watered adequately, especially in summer. Instead of a rigid routine, water as needed. Check the soil for dryness. When the top inch is dry, it’s time to water.
Humidity is also important for peace lily health. While air is generally more humid in spring and summer, air conditioning can dry it right out. Use pebble trays and misting to raise the humidity and keep your plant happy. Or, if possible, get it outside for a summer vacation.
5. Repot... If the Time Is Right
Peace lilies grow best when a little root-bound. They don’t like to be able to stretch their roots too much. This means they generally don’t need to be repotted every year. If your plant is due for a slightly larger container, you might see roots growing through drainage holes or at the surface of the soil. Another sign to upgrade is if water runs through the pot increasingly quickly. This is a sign of overly cramped roots.
May is a good time to repot a peace lily. You want to do this task before new growth takes off too vigorously, giving the roots time to settle.
Upgrade to a container that is only one or two inches (2.5 to 5.0 cm) larger than the current pot. Use fresh soil or potting mix. It should be loose and light, as compacted soil can lead to rotted roots. Once it’s repotted, give your peace lily a good watering and keep it in a warm spot out of direct light for a few days as it adjusts.
6. Divide While You're at It
Peace lilies don’t like to be disrupted too often, so if you’re thinking of dividing a plant, do it when it needs to be repotted anyway. If your current plant is very large and you don’t want to go any bigger, you can separate it into two or more smaller plants. Repot them for yourself or to share with friends. May is a good time to do this, as the smaller plants will recover more quickly during the active growing season.
Remove the plant from its container and brush soil from the roots until you can see them well enough to find good places to make divisions. Peace lilies naturally grow in clumps, so you should see obvious root sections that you can separate. Use a clean, sharp knife if necessary, and to minimize bruising and damage to the healthy roots. Make sure each peace lily division has roots and several leaves.
Peace lilies are low-maintenance houseplants, but they do need some care. May is an important time to do these tasks, like cleaning, feeding, and watering, to ensure healthy growth and plenty of flowers that you’ll enjoy in the summer.
