Peace Lily help

Hi I have a peace lily with green spathes. I've read that means the plant has been pollinated, but is there anyway to make them turn white again? It's just not as pretty all green. Thanks!

They won't turn white again, but new ones should be brighter :)

What's being referred to as spathe is actually a modified leaf or bract. In white spathes, the green chloroplasts are masked, but sometimes become more prevalent and move the bract toward a green color when receiving insufficient light. The spike in the middle of the modified leaf is actually the bloom.

To draw a parallel, what almost everyone calls the flower or bloom on a poinsettia are also modified leaves (bracts), the color of which are greatly affected by photo-period and to some degree, photo-intensity. The poinsettia's blooms, like the spathe's are also rather insignificant/inconspicuous and located in the middle of the bracts.

Al

I don't know if it will help the already green leaves turn more toward white, but it would probably do a lot for the next generation.

Al

The green spaths means that the flower has run its course and is dying. I usually cut mine off when they get green because the planting is wasting energy trying to maintail a dying flower. They do not get white again, they just die off. New blooms will come in later, either in the same spot or somewhere else.

Actually, the plant isn't wasting energy supporting a dying flower - remember, the bloom is tiny and fairly inconspicuous - in the center of the leaf. The plant actually mobilizes nutrients and those biocompounds it can slavage from the fading leaf until the leaf has turned almost completely brown and an abscission layer has formed at the base of the leaf, which effectively terminates the plants ability to absorb anything else of value (to the plant) from the leaf.

There is nothing gallant about a plant. They won't use their last dying effort to save a fading leaf. Plants are shedding organisms. When a part becomes a liability (gets to the point where it's not producing enough energy to sustain itself) it gets shed. In the process of shedding parts, as noted, the plant is salvaging anything of value from the parts in the process of being shed - not trying to sustain it and in doing so unwisely expending energy on a lost cause.

A good rule of thumb is, if you have a plant that's growing well and has lots of foliage, you can freely remove spoiled foliage or foliage that appears to be fading w/o much concern; but, if you're trying to save a dying plant, you should leave anything that is even partially green (except fruit and blooms) on the plant so the plant can reabsorb what it's able to from the fading parts.

I know this is a really old post, but I stumbled on it while doing a search for something else and figured I might expand on one of the ways plants are programmed to conserve energy.

Al

I can't get my peace to rebloom either.It is just a big plant of all green leaves.

This message was edited May 22, 2013 11:31 PM

How root-bound is it? Did it bloom last summer?

Al

It has blooms on it when my sister give it to me.I will d-mail a picture of it.

Tapla,i had to d-mail you thee pic of the peace lily.It will not let me post it on the thread.

No its not root bound,because i keep putting it in bigger pots.Thats why the plant is big.It still has room in the pot it in,but soon i will have it i a bigger one.

I have the same problem as Southgal. My spath looks healthy but it hasn't bloomed in 2 years. I have it right next to an east facing window. I talk to it. I spray the leaves with a mister everyday. I just inserted Jobe's fertilizer spikes about 2 weeks ago. I use Miracle-Gro with each watering. I water once a week. Does it need more than that? Thank you