Gadenin日本語Get the appTolerates low light, flowers in bright light
The peace lily's reputation as a low light plant is earned but misleading. It will survive in a dim hallway for years, keeping its leaves and looking green, which is why it fills so many offices. What it will not do there is flower, and the leaves gradually get smaller and thinner.
The position it actually wants is bright indirect light: bright enough to read a book comfortably without a lamp, with a hand held above the plant casting a shadow that has a soft but definite edge. Give it that and flowering follows within a season.
| Position | Light level | How the plant responds |
|---|---|---|
| A foot from a north window | Bright indirect | Best of all. Steady growth and flowers |
| East window, morning sun only | Bright with gentle direct | Very good. Watch for scorch in high summer |
| South or west behind a sheer curtain | Bright indirect | Good. Move back or add a layer in summer |
| Ten feet into the room | Low | Survives, leaves get smaller, no flowers |
| South window, unfiltered sun | Too strong | Bleached patches and dry brown scorch |
A room lit only by ceiling lights is far darker for a plant than it looks to you. Your eyes adapt; the plant does not.
Direct sun scorches the leaves
Peace lily leaves are thin, broad and adapted to a shaded forest floor, so they have almost no defense against unfiltered midday sun. Scorch shows as pale, bleached patches that dry to brown, usually on the leaves closest to the glass and usually within a day or two of the move that caused it.
Damage from scorch does not repair. If the burnt area is a patch, leave the leaf on the plant because the green part still works. If more than half the leaf is dry and brown, cut the whole leaf out at the base of its stalk so the plant puts its resources into a new one.
- Filter a bright window One layer of sheer curtain turns harsh direct sun into workable bright indirect light. In midsummer add a second layer, or move the plant three feet back into the room.
- Beware the afternoon A west window in summer combines the strongest light of the day with the highest heat. That is the worst combination for a peace lily, and the one that most often kills a plant that was doing well.
- Turn the pot Give the pot a quarter turn every couple of weeks so the plant grows evenly rather than leaning towards the window. A leaning peace lily also becomes unstable in its pot.
Temperature and cold damage
This is a tropical plant with no dormancy and no frost tolerance. It is comfortable between 65 and 80F (18 to 27C) and begins to suffer below about 55F (13C). Below 50F (10C) leaves blacken, and a few hours near freezing will kill it outright.
| Temperature | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Above 85F (29C) | Wilts fast, tips brown | Shade it and raise humidity |
| 65 to 80F (18 to 27C) | Comfortable, grows and flowers | Normal care |
| 55 to 64F (13 to 18C) | Growth slows, water use drops | Stretch the watering interval |
| Below 50F (10C) | Leaves blacken and collapse | Move it before you water it |
| Near freezing | Fatal within hours | Never leave it by an open door in winter |
Cold damage on a peace lily looks like sudden dark green to black patches on whole leaves, quite unlike the dry pale brown of scorch. Once you have seen both, they are easy to tell apart.
Drafts do more damage than most people expect
Where a peace lily sits relative to moving air matters as much as its light. A steady draft dries the leaf surface faster than the roots can supply it, and the plant browns at the tips and edges while the compost is perfectly moist. People then water more, and rot the roots.
- Keep it off cold glass in winter A leaf resting against a window pane on a cold night blackens where it touches. Pull the plant a foot back from the glass at night, or draw the curtain between plant and window.
- Away from radiators and heating vents The dry hot stream from a heater is the commonest cause of browning in winter. Two or three feet of separation is usually enough.
- Away from air conditioning In summer, a cold draft blowing across the leaves does the same damage from the other direction. Never site a peace lily directly under a unit.
- Mind entrance halls The classic bad position is next to a door that opens to the outside in winter. It looks like a bright empty spot, and it repeatedly chills the plant.
Moving it through the seasons
The same spot is not right all year, because the angle and intensity of the sun change and so does the room. Two moves a year cover it for most homes.
Write down where the plant stands, when you move it, and when the first flower bud appears. The link between position and flowering is slow enough that you will not spot it from memory, but obvious the moment you compare one year against the next. Noting the coldest and warmest the room gets is worth it too, because that single figure explains most winter leaf damage and most summer wilting.
| Season | Where to put it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | Close to a bright window | The growing season is starting and it needs the light |
| Summer | Back from the glass, or a north aspect | Strong light and heat together cause scorch |
| Autumn | Back towards the window | Light is weakening and the summer spot is now too dark |
| Winter | Bright by day, away from cold glass at night | Light is scarce but the glass is cold overnight |
Make any move gradual. A plant taken straight from a shaded corner to a bright window will scorch even behind a curtain. Move it halfway for a fortnight first.
Outdoors, and other rooms
A peace lily can spend the warm half of the year outside in full shade and often grows noticeably better for it. The conditions are strict: nights reliably above 60F (16C), deep shade with no direct sun at any hour, and shelter from wind and prolonged rain, which keeps the pot saturated.
Indoors, a bathroom with a window is close to ideal because the humidity is high and the light is usually indirect. A windowless bathroom is not, however humid, because there is no light at all. If you want a peace lily in a dark room, swap it with a plant at a bright window every fortnight rather than leaving one plant in the dark permanently.
Bring outdoor plants back in before nights drop below 60F (16C), and wash the leaf undersides and the outside of the pot first so you do not carry pests indoors with it.