I have a medium sized peace lily that is 2-3 years old in about a 10" pot with a few dozen stalks. It has gone from good to worse in the last few months. Leaves have been turning yellow, along with the stalks of those leaves, and they are younger leaves as well, I cut them off per a recommendation on Farmers Almanac.com. A few times the plant became very qilted when i let watering go more than a week or more but recovered quickly after watering. The plant has always had some diseased leaves which turn black on the edges and then curl up, and ive been removing them. Now most of the leaves have some of this degredation forming. The plant is now about half the size it was in terms of the number of stalks, it has been thinned out a lot. I am very concerned with it surviving at this point. I have watered it thoroughly 2x a week. It is on a stand a few feet off the floor in front of a large West facing window, but it prob only gets 1 hour of some direct sun per day. There is a floor vent in front of it but it I covered it and no air blows out of it. I used some 3-1-2 liquid indoor plant fertilizer a few times per month but stopped that after reading it was prob too much. I have used water from a rain barrel all along. I'd really like to keep it going forever, it was a gift at my fathers funeral. I live in Michigan, Detroit area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ok maybe that was too much for a first time post. But to let you know I'm serious about it, I repotted it today. Almost all the leaves have black/brown dry crumbling sections. One new flower that sprouted but it is small and is already turning yellow and curling over. I mixed together 3 soil mixes, 1-2 cups of sand, and a good dose of pearlite, prob 3 or 4 cups. It's a 14" diameter pot and about 12" tall, much bigger. I prob added 6gal of soil. I knocked about half of the dirt off of the root ball which had runners about 1/8" diameter spread all over the sides of the pot, some had turned upwards. I seperated about 1/3 of the roots with my fingers. They were white and didn't seem unhealthy, the soil was moist but not dripping. I should have taken more photos. There was some orange crusty crud on the old pot around the drainage holes. When i was done I watered it with a few cups of rainwater with a teaspoon of 3-1-2 fertilizer mixed in and a quarter teaspoon of miraclegrow 'more blooms' formula. Before I watered it the moisture meter was showing near the top end of being wet but i thought it was good to water it in anyway. Hoping for the best. A few days ago I sprayed it down thoroughly with neem oil. There are a few gnats flying around but not sure they live in the plant. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

to the site!
When you water, does water come out the bottom?
Can you put a humidifier near it?
Don't add any more fertilizer until it shows real improvement. The lighting seems sufficient, so that's not a problem. You shouldn't need to repot for a couple of years, if ever.

You have done probably very close or exactly what I would do.
I think it will recover, be patient.
I personally don't think a humidifier is essential, but could be helpful. I keep a big peace lily at work in very dry air.
Watch the water, theres a lot of soil there now to hold moisture.

CalPolygardener said: to the site!
When you water, does water come out the bottom?
Can you put a humidifier near it?
Don't add any more fertilizer until it shows real improvement. The lighting seems sufficient, so that's not a problem. You shouldn't need to repot for a couple of years, if ever.

When I watered it in the 1st pot a bit of water did come out each time. I moved it away from the window so it doesn't get direct sunlight because everything I've found says no direct sunlight and it causes brown crispy edges which fits my symptoms. I think I was also overwatering it, because I did start watering it 2x a week instead of once a few months ago and that's when it started degrading. I did put a humidifier right next to it but it only raised the humidity 10%. I put the pot in a large saucer with water in it, the pot is sitting on an upside down saucer in the large saucer so the pot bottom is not in the water and I'm putting some cheap ultrasonic misters in it. I'm also going to spray the leaves. Now I think the pot is too big from what I've read. Maybe this intensive period of care will help it recover. Thanks for your suggestions.

sallyg said: You have done probably very close or exactly what I would do.
I think it will recover, be patient.
I personally don't think a humidifier is essential, but could be helpful. I keep a big peace lily at work in very dry air.
Watch the water, theres a lot of soil there now to hold moisture.

Thank you.

I have an update. After repotting the lily and placing it in the Peace Lily ICU, and undergoing a series of operations to remove damaged leaves, the lily seems to be recovering. The new leaves in the center of the plant seem to be growing faster and most are healthy although a bit curled with some brown tips still. I increased the watering frequency to 2 cups of rainwater per day for about 2-3 weeks to see if lack of water was an issue. It seems to have helped but I noticed a lot of the water drains out. I think I may have used too much perlite and sand in the mix, but the plant seems happier. The ICU consists of a nearby room humidifier on high, and several ultrasonic misters placed around the plant running most of the day. See attached photo. There is a canister mister below the plant but it vents high enough to reach some leaves, a smaller canister mister placed on the soil in the pot, and 3 floating misters placed in a bowl of water above the plant on a music stand. The mist from these misters flows off of the stand and falls onto the plant below. The humidity reads between 60 and 100% most of the time right next to the plant. The misters are pretty cheap I got them from Temu.com I think the largest was <$10 and smallest were ~$3. I also moved the plant away from the window and it no longer gets direct sunlight, and I mist the plant 2x daily. The leaves have turned away from the window and are now more normally oriented in a wider distribution, as if the plant relaxed. I think I'll keep it in the ICU for another month and see what happens!

Do you have a moisture meter? Two cups of water daily seems excessive. I have this peace lily and I only water once a week ( or less in winter). Yes I have some brown tips but I think that is probably due to using tap water. A moisture meter would give you more of an idea that just arbitrarily deciding 2 cups a day.