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You don’t need to do anything special to get peace lilies to produce flowers. Care for them well, and they’ll flower.
I was all ready to tell you that peace lilies flower twice a year, around March and September, but I’m sat in my FREEZING house in January and my peace lily has just produced a bloom.
The rule is…there are no rules.
You don’t need to give it special food or limit/increase light. Just look after your peace lily and it’ll bloom.
If your peace lily isn’t blooming, then some aspect of your general care is lacking.
I have a whole section on the practice of adding gibberellic acid to peace lilies to force them to bloom when they’re immature, but I didn’t want to harp on about it throughout the whole article.
If your peace lily is still small it may just be too young to flower (without outside help).
Reasons your peace lily isn’t blooming
SORT THESE THINGS OUT FIRST
There are loads of potential reasons why your peace lily isn’t flowering but it’s probably either not getting enough light, not getting enough water, or getting too much water.
Water and light have a HUGE impact on peace lilies. Humidity could be an issue. Temperature could be an issue. It might be potbound. It might need more food.
HOWEVER
Peace lilies will flower if they’re hungry, potbound, cold, and have scratchy throats. They might flower more if all their needs are met, but they will still flower in suboptimal conditions. Nine times out of ten the issue is not enough light, underwatering, and overwatering.
It’s not getting enough light
Peace lilies like high-volume, low-intensity light. Looong hours of indirect sun. East and north facing windows are good. If you suspect your issue is too much light, then pull your plant a few feet away from the window.
Peace lilies can live long, happy lives in medium light, but they’re less likely to flower than if they were in bright, indirect light. I have peace lily that lives in my fairly dark bathroom and it doesn’t flower. It’s lush and green and happy though, so I really don’t care.
It’s not getting enough water
Again, peace lilies can survive drought well, but it pulls energy away from things like flower production and into staying alive.
Peace lilies flower when they have abundant resources – they won’t waste their energy producing a flower that’s not going to make it pollination due to drought.
It’s getting too much water
Too much water leads to root rot. When the roots rot the plant can no longer take up water and it’ll die if it doesn’t get the care it needs.
If your peace lily is getting the right light and is being watered well, it’s highly likely to flower. I can’t tell you when, because as I said at the start, they’re on their own, weird schedule.
Other potential reasons your peace lily isn’t flowering
Whilst these factors are unlikely to impede your peace lily’s flowering efforts, they can definitely help your plant to flower more often AND the flowers will last longer.
Humidity
Peace lilies aren’t too fussed about super high humidity, but levels of around 60% are great for keeping flowers from browning off too quickly. Peace lily flowers can last a month or two before browning if you have higher humidity.
NOTE: there is no benefit to peace lily flowers unless you’re planning to pollinate them and get seeds. The only other benefit is aesthetic, so if your peace lily flowers don’t last long that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your plant.
Temperature
Peace lilies are unlikely to bloom when it’s cold BUT they prefer cooler temps to hot ones, especially in summer. North-facing windows for the win here.
I can’t give you actual temperatures because it varies from plant to plant it’s currently 14˚C in the room that my peace lily is flowering in. That…shouldn’t happen.
Regular repotting
Ok, regular might be the wrong word here. Repot when it’s necessary. Peace lilies like to be snug in their pots and they HATE being repotted. I usually repot my peace lilies every couple of years -rather than checking the roots I repot when there’s no room on the top of the soil for new plantlets.
Regular feeding
Peace lilies, again, aren’t too pick about fertiliser. Any will do. Feed them as often as you like – I feed every other time I water, but you can do it every six weeks if you’d prefer. You can feed every time if you make sure to dilute the fertiliser.
The Great Peace Lily Flower Scam
Peace lilies are great houseplants because they’re pretty chill and they bloom easily. In fact, we usually buy them because of their blooms. So how come you can buy a baby peace lily with three or four little flowers, care for it perfectly and STILL not have flowers for a couple of years?
BECAUSE WE’RE BEING SCAMMED
I mean, it’s not really hurting anyone, but also…it’s a bit of an industry secret.
So, they clone peace lilies in tissue culture labs. Each tissue culture sample can produce hundreds of tiny babies. These babies are grown on and sold as small plants.
A great way to sell peace lilies faster is to have them be in bloom when they’re in the shop, but in the wild peace lilies don’t flower until they’re three years old. This is a bit of a pain point for the sellers, since the TC babies are, like, three months old.
No matter, they just douse the plantlets with gibberellic acid, the hormone that peace lilies produce to induce flowering.
This doesn’t harm the plant. It’s fine. It’s a bit of a waste of energy BUT the plant won’t flower if it doesn’t deem conditions to be good enough so it’s ultimately the plant’s decision.
So yeah. Your peace will start to flower when it’s old enough naturally. It was on drugs when you bought it though.
Quickfire peace lily flower Q&A:
How often do peace lilies flower?
They GENERALLY flower twice a year, with blooms lasting a couple of months. Some may flower once a year, some may flower more often
How do you keep peace lilies blooming?
Peace lilies don’t bloom continuously – they bloom for a couple of months and then rest for around four. Since blooming is a result of the environmental conditions it’s not really possible to keep them blooming all the time.
Should you cut the dead flowers off peace lilies?
It doesn’t matter. I cut them off (when I can be bothered) because they don’t look great. Cut off the flower and then wait for the stalk to brown, and then you can slide it out of the leaf it emerged from
Do peace lily flowers fall off?
No! They will stay on your plant until they go mouldy and shrivel up! It’s gross!
The pollen will get EVERYWHERE though.
Why are my peace lily flowers turning brown?
This is a natural process – flowers take up a LOT of a plant’s energy so they don’t last that long. You can keep them white longer by making sure your lily is well cared for and you have 60%ish humidity.
Why are my peace lily flowers turning green?
Sometimes peace lily flowers just…are green. The blooms are modified leaves so it makes sense that sometimes they’re green. Some peace lily species have greener flowers than others.
Why are my peace lilies growing leaves but no flowers?
Nine times out of ten this is a light issue. Try moving your peace lily closer to the light source, or consider getting it a grow light. Also make sure that you’re keeping the leaves clean – especially since they produce so much pollen which is just fancy dust.
Why are my peace lilies budding but not flowering?
This usually happens due to:
- Extreme weather conditions, like a hot/cold snap
- Shock – did you move or repot it?
- It dried out too much
That’s it folks! If you want more info on peace lilies I have you covered:
