Beginner Gardening: Peace lily with brown tips, 1 by tapla

tapla wrote:
First, and very important, the plant needs more light. Photo load is reduced by the square of the distance from the light source, which means that a plant 10 ft from a window receives only 1/100 the light that a plant 1 ft from the window would receive. Your PL likes very bright light, and will even tolerate full sun through a window if there is adequate air movement to disrupt the boundary layer (of air) that surrounds leaves. Plants grown indoors react to the HEAT generated by the photo load and not the light itself. Air movement over the leaves prevents heat build-up and allows you to grow in much brighter light. At any rate, 'across the room from an east window = insufficient light for best vitality, regardless of the plant material.

Spoiled foliage that isn't related to insect or disease issues is almost always the result of the effects of an inadequate volume of water being supplied to the top of the plant. Under-watering can be the issue, but if you haven't noticed regular and severe wilting in the days after you water, it's not under-watering. More than likely, the issue is either a high level of solubles in the soil from fertilizers and tap water, or over-watering. All three conditions, a high level of solubles; under-watering; over-watering, all produce the same symptoms because the plant's reaction is the same. It's VERY easy to over-water when light is inadequate because the rate of photosynthesis drops off VERY sharply as light levels are reduced, which also reduces the volume of water being used for photosynthesis.

Watering from the bottom ensures that salts remain in the soil and accumulate, which is a decidedly bad thing for a planting. The best way to water containerized plants is from the top. If you REALLY want to water the best way, first allow the soil to dry down so the plant is nearly at the wilting point. Then water just enough to wet the soil, but not enough that water exits the drain hole (drain holes are almost mandatory for healthy plants). Then, wait 10 minutes and water again, so that at least 10-20% of the total volume of water applied exits the drain hole. This flushes accumulating salts from the soil and goes a LONG way toward maintaining roots in a healthy state, which is a prerequisite for healthy foliage.

If you cannot water in this manner w/o risking root rot, your soil is not what it should be and it will be ensuring that you're leaving a considerable amount of growth/vitality on the table.

Soils comprised of significant volumes of peat, compost, sand, coir ...... any fine particulates, are going to be much more difficult to grow in than soils comprised of larger particles, like pine bark and other large gritty materials like Turface, chicken grit, Haydite, pumice .....

Your soil choice is probably the most important choice you'll make when you put a planting together or repot. So much so that it's fair to say that in most cases - whether or not you're satisfied with the fruits of your efforts depends on the soil. Roots come first, they're the heart of your plants. If the roots ain't happy, you cannot expect any part of the plant to be happy.

The houseplant soil I grow in:

Al