Beginner Gardening: Peace Lily Advice, 1 by GreenThumbSuker

GreenThumbSuker wrote:
My mother-in-law asked me to fix her dying Peace Lily a few weeks ago. It was a plant that she got from a funeral of someone dear to her and she is in a panic thinking it may die as well.

When I took it from her house it had yellow tips and some very dried out dead leaves. The leaves had faded to light green and it was looking quite limp and just plain shabby. What you see in the picture is after I have had it for several weeks. As you can see it is looking somewhat better than my description at the time of receipt.

I cut off all the dead foliage, pulled it to access the underside situation. I did not find any dead or mushy roots so I put it in another pot (not much bigger at all) and added some more, new potting soil to the top as I was afraid to disturb the root ball any more than I had to because I knew that the changes I would HAVE to make might shock it enough. I placed it in a window that is covered with a sheer curtain as you can see and it seems to be doing much better. The leaves are now (mostly) standing up and it is sending up new shoots. The leaves that were already on it are becoming darker green in color, but not the color of the full happy ones that belong to me.

I have been watering it only when the top inch of soil is dry and that is coming to about every week or week and a half. I take it out to the patio and water it thoroughly until the water drains out the bottom and then I bring it right back to its filtered sunlight spot.

I have not given it any fertilizer.. Should I wait until it is even healthier before doing so? If so, how long should I wait, and how much should I give when/if I do? Is there anything else I should be doing to help it continue on to it's full recovery? I'm hoping the leaves will get darker green as it gets healthier... Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. She is counting on me and I hope to not let her down.