Last updated on September 26th, 2022 at 01:21 pm
Peace lilies earn their name from the presence of white spathes or flowers that look like peace flags when they bloom. Though these are not really the flowers of peace lilies, they carry the smaller and insignificant leaves and are more pronounced with a flowery appearance.
More than the glossy green leaves of a healthy peace lily, these flowers offer a higher ornamental value to the plant. Sometimes though, this plant refuses to flower, and you may wonder why.
Your peace lily may not be flowering because it lacks sufficient exposure to light. Peace lilies flower only when exposed to bright but indirect light. Peace lilies will also not flower in cold or soggy soil.
Why are my Peace Lilies Not Flowering?
The main reason why a peace lily is not flowering is that it is not exposed to sufficient light. Other reasons include: inadequate watering, inappropriate temperature, or growing a root-bound plant or an aging plant. A peace lily is a tolerant and undemanding plant that maintains healthy growth even when deprived of many requirements, but it will not bloom in the absence of these requirements.
In the lifecycle of a peace lily plant, flowering proceeds a healthy vegetative growth. Nevertheless, this is not a mandatory stage and could easily be hindered by natural and artificial factors.
Flowering is reproductive growth, and as you know, a plant will only reproduce when it is comfortable and in the best conditions.
This article will highlight some reasons explaining why they prevent a peace lily from flowering. Below are some reasons why your peace lilies may not be flowering:
1. Inadequate Light
Light is one of the essential needs of a plant for two reasons. First, it is essential to aid a plant in manufacturing its food through the process of photosynthesis.
Secondly, light is the main source of energy in a plant. This energy from the sun is converted to chemical energy required to carry out life processes in plants.
For peace lilies to bloom, a lot of energy is required. Thus, if a peace lily is not exposed to sufficient light, the plant will not flower.
In the presence of low light, peace lilies adapt and conserve all their chemical energy directing it towards vegetative growth rather than reproduction. Flowering in peace lilies occurs only in the presence of bright, indirect light.
2. Atmospheric Conditions
Humidity and temperature conditions are important to look out for when a peace lily fails to flower when due. Though peace lilies will grow without visible changes in low light, the plant will immediately indicate when humidity and temperature conditions become less than ideal.
Peace lilies thrive in a humid environment with warm temperatures parallel to the conditions attainable in their native habitat, the rainforest. It is under these conditions that a peace lily will flower properly.
Bear in mind that outside the temperature range of 68-85°F and humidity level below 60%, your peace lily is very unlikely to bloom.
3. Improper Watering
Improper watering is yet another common factor that can discourage flowering in your peace lily. While peace lilies are not drought tolerant, they also detest soggy soil. Excessive watering of peace lilies can strain your plant immensely, causing the plant to wilt or droop.
It may even cause root rot which completely slows down normal functioning in a peace lily. Peace lilies will bloom properly when appropriate with consistent watering, especially when watered with distilled or rainwater.
Tap water is not recommended because it contains chlorine and other minerals that accumulate in the plant’s roots, causing disease in the plant.
4. Excessive Feeding
Grown indoors and in restricted containers, peace lilies are restricted to feed only on the nutrients you provide them in the soil. However, if you neglect this responsibility, your peace lily will suffer slightly from nutrient deficiency.
Now, while this may not be indicated in vegetative growth, the plant will not produce flowers when nutrients are insufficient. The plant needs sufficient energy from a proper nutrient to bloom.
Even when feeding your peace lily, you should be careful because excess feeding will also hinder flowering in peace lilies. Excessive use of fertilizers will only make the plant produce healthy foliage profusely, but it will not flower.
5. Growing a Root-Bound Plant
Peace lilies are not invasive plants, but they grow steadily, stem and root-wise in proper conditions. Considering this, a healthy peace lily requires repotting every year into a larger container to give ample space for roots to develop properly.
This step is essential to maintaining the overall health of a peace lily. When a peace lily is not repotted over a long period, the soil becomes compacted, congesting the roots of plants that become unable to function properly.
A peace lily not growing properly will thus not flower when due. The presence of one or more of these reasons can easily hinder a seemingly healthy peace lily from flowering. In some cases, the plant may even flower but sparing with long periods apart.
So, if your peace lily fails to flower, is there any reason to expect improvements.
Will my Peace Lily Ever Bloom Again?
Yes, even if your peace lily delays or fails to flower in a particular season, it can certainly bloom again. Nothing special is required to get your peace lily blooming again other than strict adherence to the requirements for growing peace lilies.
People often say that you can never get young twice, but this is not usually the case with peace lilies. Blooming, an indication of youthfulness in a peace lily, occurs as many times as the season permits. It all depends on you who are growing the plant and your preparation for a blooming season.
Your peace lily is less likely to bloom when you propagate from a commercial source. While I have nothing against commercial sources, many of these sources result in artificial methods to force blooming in peace lilies.
When made to bloom by artificial method, a peace lily will delay before it blooms again even when all conditions are properly provided. For your peace lily to bloom properly and for much longer, allow and assist the plant in maturing fully.
Full maturity for a peace lily takes about a year. When established and matured, your peace lily should bloom with diligent care. In a single year, a peace lily can bloom twice, first in spring and then in the fall.
When they do, they precede seed production, and flowers are spent after a month or two when they begin to turn brown. So, if blooming again is feasible, sometimes even naturally, what can you do to help?
How Do I Get my Peace Lily to Flower Again?
You can get your peace lily to bloom again by providing the proper growing conditions alongside appropriate care and attention.
You can also use gibberellic acid, a plant hormone that stimulates flowering in peace lily. However, I would not recommend this process as it distorts the natural order of growth and affects the plant in subsequent seasons.
As mentioned already, there are two blooming seasons for Peace Lilies. Nevertheless, you can get your peace lilies to bloom again and again throughout the year, especially when the plant is fully matured and established.
Here are some tips to help get your peace lily blooming again:
- Provide sufficient bright but indirect light.
- Keep soil moist always but not soggy.
- Maintain a warm temperature around the plant (about 68-85°F).
- Keep the atmosphere consistently humid (above 60%).
- Feed the soil adequately with water-soluble houseplant food.
- Avoid fertilizers or use them at the barest minimum.
- Divide the peace lily periodically to reduce stress.
- Use a suitably sized pot to enhance aeration and avoid a root-bound plant.
- Re-pot annually to prevent pests and diseases.
- Introduce gibberellic acid to stimulate reproductive hormones. (This process, though, is recommended for commercial purposes as it produces negative effects on plants in the long run).
Here’s an extra tip – ideally, peace lilies produce no more than 3 or 4 flower petals naturally. However, to increase this yield, deadhead the plant as soon as it flowers. This action will cause the plant to flower profusely afterward.
Conclusion
The absence of flowers on a peace lily makes for a huge decline in its ornamental value. Naturally, a peace lily ought to flower after a healthy vegetative growth, but this reproductive growth is absent.
Flowering in peace lily can be absent because of proper growing conditions such as exposure to bright, indirect light. When these conditions are introduced, the plant will begin to flower again. Isn’t the recovery process easy enough for you do it on your own successfully.