Peace lilies are beautiful houseplants with deep green foliage and amazing white flowers. Yet, in some cases, your plant might not grow any flowers, even though you’re trying to mimic the growing conditions of its natural habitat. So, how do I get my peace lily to bloom?
Maintaining a warmer temperature and protecting the peace lilies from cold drafts will encourage blooming. You should allow the soil to be moist but not soaked and fertilize your peace lilies regularly to help the flowers grow. Moreover, you should provide this plant with enough sunlight to keep it in excellent health and encourage blooming.
Seeing the flowers of peace lilies brings feelings of happiness and joy. So, if you struggle to make your plant bloom, read this article to learn how to solve this problem.
Why Is My Peace Lily Not Blooming?
When it’s grown outside, the peace lily plant can bloom twice a year in warmer weather. It grows an upright spadix surrounded by a white, cream, or yellowish bract. This bract can also be greenish.
As a houseplant, your peace lily might only bloom once in spring as long as you maintain the perfect growing conditions. Yet, in some cases, it might not bloom at all. This happens due to several reasons.
- If you’ve just bought your peace lily, it’s likely that it will take some time before it plants. In most cases, stores treat plants with gibberellic acid to enhance blooming, and the plant takes time to recover.
- The weather is too cold for your peace lily. This plant doesn’t tolerate the cold, and the cold weather will stunt its growth and prevent the flowers from emerging. Continuous exposure to cold temperatures will kill your plant.
- Your plant isn’t receiving enough light. Peace lilies are indeed tolerant of low-light conditions, but they still need access to bright indirect sunlight, especially in the early morning.
- If you’re underwatering your peace lily, it won’t bloom. This plant can handle a little drought but prefers humid and moist conditions, so it won’t bloom unless you water it regularly.
- Keeping your peace lily in a dry environment or where it’s exposed to cold drafts will affect the plant’s growth and prevent flowering.
- Peace lilies need to grow in fertile soil, so if the soil is too poor and you aren’t applying a suitable fertilizer, your peace lily won’t bloom.
When Do Peace Lilies Bloom?
Your peace lily will bloom when all its growing needs are met. However, this plant is highly sensitive to any changes in its environment, so you have to make sure that it’s kept in a warm and humid environment. You should also ensure that it’s growing in well-draining, highly fertile soil.
When the blooms first appear, they are green. Then the greenish tint starts to fade until the bract is pure white.
As the flower ages, the white bract turns to cream and becomes almost yellow. It might turn green, and then it will turn brown and eventually die.
Yet, green flowers can also appear if there’s something wrong with the plant. For example, if you’re keeping your peace lily in bright sunlight all the time, the blooms will turn green. This plant needs access to sunlight, but too much light will scorch the leaves and turn the flowers green.
It’s better to keep your peace lily somewhere where it can get some shade from the hot noon sun. Getting exposed to an hour or two of bright sunlight in the early morning will be enough.
Green flowers can also be caused by too much fertilizing. If the soil is poor, you’ll have to fertilize your peace lilies every week during spring and summer. You should also add a slow-release fertilizer to boost the soil’s condition.
How Do I Get My Peace Lily to Bloom?
If your peace lily isn’t blooming, it might be recovering from a transplant shock. This happens after repotting your plant, and in most cases, giving your peace lily time will allow it to bloom.
With an established plant, there are a few things you can do to allow the plant to bloom and stay in perfect shape.
Get An Older Plant
Younger peace lilies don’t bloom easily, and you have to maintain the growing conditions for an extended period. Since this can be a little challenging, it’s best to get a one or two-year-old plant. The plant reaches full maturity after one or one and a half years, so the flowers can grow.
Keep the Plant Root Bound
Moving plants to bigger pots is essential for their growth, but peace lilies are different. Keeping your peace lily root bound will promote blooming while moving it to a new pot will delay it.
This happens because all the plant’s energy will be devoted to growing the blooms instead of spreading the new root system. You can repot the plant in the early spring only when it has obviously exceeded the capacity of its current pot.
Provide the Plant With Diffused Light
Your peace lily naturally grows in the shade of taller trees, so if you’re planning to grow it in your garden or as a houseplant, you need to recreate the same light conditions.
Peace lilies have sensitive leaves and flowers that easily get scorched with too much sun exposure. This, however, doesn’t mean that your plant will survive in the shade.
You should keep your peace lily somewhere where it has access to diffused sunlight. The indirect bright sunlight will keep the plant warm and promote blooming. Too much shade will delay or prevent flowering.
Keep Your Peace Lily Warm and Moist
Peace lilies thrive in warm temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If you live in a colder climate, your peace lily might not bloom. This is why you need to ensure the plant is warm, but don’t place it near a heater.
Misting the plant also helps. The peace lily appreciates the extra moisture which keeps the plant healthy.
Give Your Peace Lily A Deep Watering
In addition to regular watering, giving your peace lily a deep watering once a week will encourage blooming. This means watering the soil, so the moisture can reach the deep roots.
Since the peace lily roots don’t sit near the soil’s surface, regular deep watering will keep your plant well-hydrated. You need to do this once a week in the hot months.
Add More Nutrients
In order to bloom, your peace lily needs to grow in well-draining soil or potting mix. In addition, it should be rich in organic matter and nutrients to promote blooming.
Fertilizing your plant once a week during spring and summer will encourage flowering. However, too much fertilizing can make the flowers turn green because of too much nitrogen.
Be Consistent
Some gardeners feel that although they’re paying attention to their peace lily, the plant won’t bloom. This happens because this plant is highly sensitive to any change in its growing conditions. So, providing the right conditions and maintaining them is essential for blooming.
Use Gibberellic Acid
If you’ve tried everything, you can use gibberellic acid to promote flowering. This acid helps different tropical plants flower, but you should use it in moderation. Applying too much acid will make the leaves wilt, and the plant will eventually die.
Wrap Up: How Do I Get My Peace Lily To Bloom?
Peace lilies are beautiful plants, but even the healthiest ones might not bloom for several reasons. Inadequate watering, insufficient light exposure, or poor soil conditions will stunt the plant’s growth and prevent flowering.
You need to keep your plant in a warm and humid environment and ensure that it receives enough indirect sunlight to promote blooming. Deep watering your plant will also encourage flowering, especially if you have a mature and established peace lily. If everything fails, you can try using gibberellic acid in tiny amounts because it can kill your plant if used excessively.
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