Learn How to Get Peace Lilies to Bloom and lighten up your home with its subtle touch of elegance, beauty, and serenity!
If you are an ardent fan of white flowering houseplants, peace lilies should be on your top list. Whereas the plant is easiest to grow indoors and requires no extra attention to thrive, its white bracts make it most sought after.
And if you’re deprive of that then you’re missing the most rewarding thing it offers, this is why we’ve got this detailed article to help you understand How to Get Peace Lilies to Bloom quickly!
How Do Peace Lily Flowers Look Like?
Peace lilies grow tiny flowers on a spike guarded by a large white bract — which is often mistaken as the flower. The blooms are not very fancy and look like an extension of the stalk with just the pollens at the end, but the white flag-like bract makes this houseplant so special.
The plant blooms naturally in spring and summer in cold places. In warm climates, they can flower throughout the year, but especially from the start of the winter.
What Stops Your Peace Lilies to Bloom?
Appropriate sunlight is the crucial point most gardeners miss out on. Your peace lilies need sufficient filtered light and warmer temperatures of 60-86 degrees Fahrenheit (15-30 C) to produce perfect bracts. Higher temperatures will turn the leaves yellow, while cooler will stunt their growth.
Another common mistake is overwatering. The plant loves moist but well-draining soil. The trick is to maintain moisture without allowing the water to keep the soil wet consistently, which causes root rot. To maintain the balance, feel the top inch of soil with your finger and water accordingly. You can learn about peace lilies and their growing mistakes if you read this!
How to Get Peace Lilies to Bloom?
Peace lilies produce blooms that last for more than a month under certain conditions that adhere to their native place — the tropical rainforests of Colombia and Venezuela!
1. Keep it Root Bound
Keeping the plant slightly root-bound will promote blooming as it directs its energy into growing more leaves and white bracts rather than spreading its roots.
2. Use Gibberellic Acid
According to Florida University Extension, Gibberellic Acid, a naturally occurring plant hormone extracted from fungi, can promote flowering in peace lilies and also helps to produce good-quality blooms in other tropical plants.
To use, you’ll need to make a 1000 ppm stock solution by dissolving 1 gram of Gibberellic Acid in 1 liter of water.
Again, dilute 50 ml of this stock solution in 950 ml of water to create a 50 ppm working solution. Apply this acid as a fine foliar spray, evenly covering the leaves during the early flowering stage.
Beware: Plants are extremely sensitive to Gibberellic Acid, and its overuse can cause them to wilt and die.
3. Get a Mature Plant
Do you know that young peace lily plants won’t flower soon? If you want consistent flowers, it will be a good idea to get a one or two years old specimen for yourself.
4. Grow the Right Variety
Hybrid cultivars of this plant are the ones to go for if you want more flowers. Sensation, Petite, Domino, Mauna Loa Supreme, and Clevelandii are some of the best ones you can grow that are popular and known for their blooms.
5. Give it the Right Amount of Light
Place your peace lily in a place that receives bright, indirect light. East-facing windows provide the perfect blend of light and shade while fulfilling the feng shui principles of well-being. This indirect light should be enough that you can read something in it.
Bright and diffused light will give your peace lilies the energy to photosynthesize and produce more blooms!
6. Expose the Plant to a Right Temperature
According to a report by the University of Florida, plants that undergo a chill of 12 C (54 F) can flower 3–4 weeks earlier than those not chilled.
Do not let the temperature go below 12 C (54 F), and avoid exposing the plant to temperatures higher than 86 F or (30 C) for best blooms.
7. Keep Photoperiod / Photoperiodism in Mind
A published post on the University of Florida states that many plants do not initiate flower buds during June through August under the long days and short nights of summer, and Peace Lily is one of them.
Photoperiodism is the response to changes in day length that enables plants to adapt to seasonal changes in their environment, making them grow and flower better. So, if you want your peace lily to flower more, exposing it to dark, uninterrupted, longer nights can promote that. Do you know there are other flowers that flower after long, dark nights?
8. Avoid Using Tap Water
Peace lily dislikes water contaminants such as fluoride and chlorine as they can turn the foliage brown. Instead of tap water, always saturate or plant with RO or rainwater for the best growth!
9. Use the Right Fertlizer and Avoid Overfeeding
Use a water-soluble houseplant fertilizer in a 20-20-20 ratio diluted to half of its strength once every 3-5 weeks. Keep an eye on the flower’s health. You can learn more about feeding peace lily the right way in one of our posts!
Brown scorched foliage with a slightly green hue in spathes indicates overfertilization, which needs to be reduced soon.
10. Make Sure it Gets the Correct Humidity
Peace lilies need ample humidity, around 50-60%, to produce lush leaves and beautiful bracts. Mist the plant with lukewarm water or turn on a humidifier around it.
Placing the pot in a saucer filled with pebbles and halfway water also does the job. There are many other ways to increase humidity as well!
After Care Tips
After you are blessed with the peace lily flower, keep an eye on certain things that’ll ensure healthier plant growth:
- Wipe leaves with a damp cotton cloth every 1-2 weeks to keep the harmful pests at bay.
- Snip away dead flowers to promote healthy growth and a cleaner look.
Great tips! Thanks so much!
Very informative.
Great instructions on plant care – good info.