Leaves but no flowers...

Anyone have any suggestions for getting my peace lily (Spathiphylum sp.) to bloom? I've had it for about 2 years. It was pretty pathetic when I brought it home. It had been in an office environment for about 3 years and was not properly watered there. It's recovered with some TLC, but I can't seem to get it to bloom. Foliage is lush and green. Been giving it an organic fertilizer (4-4-2) about every four months. Any suggestions? More food? New pot? Wait for a blue moon on the 5th Sunday of the 13th month???

keep away from direct sunlight, water with tepid water, avoid draughts, temperature above 15C/59F,

It does get just a touch of direct light in the morning now that it's wintertime and maybe it needs more water than I've been giving it. I usually use rainwater that I let sit on the counter for several hours to warm up to room temp, so it's not really tepid water, either. I'll try changing some things and see if that helps.

Mark, I tried upping the water and that did the trick. I've gotten a lot of new growth on it in the last couple of months and I have one bloom starting to show. It looks like a white spike yet. I think I was letting it get too dry in between waterings. Guess I should have known it was a water lover--I have a small one that is growing suspended over a vase with it's roots in the water. I will definitely keep up with watering that one. They are so pretty when they are in bloom!

i have the same problem with mine it was fine last year when my boyfriend bought it me it flowered looked great,but it will not flower again even though i have noticed that in all the shops they are in flower

it's a tropical plant which wouldnt dry out in the wild

Here's the one flower I got...pretty pathetic, but it's a start :)

mine produces a single flower at a time. When these plants arrive in the garden centres they have been grown under optimum conditions which we cant reproduce in the home

OK. Now I don't feel as bad!

I have had one for about two years, I brought home from the office. The plant people were replacing them because they looked bad. My just bloomed this month. Took around two years. She has three blooms though.

kricket, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who can't get a peace lily to bloom prolifically! I consider myself a green thumb, unlike my mom whom has such a brown thumb that I think she could kill a rock! Really--she's killed air plants! (All you have to do is mist airplants once in a while.)

I have several, all started as small plants I divided from a pot-bound one last summer. Only the one in the bathroom bloomed inside. Now, for the summer, they are outside in the garden, and under the shade of a large evergreen.

All have bloomed profusely. They look dreadful, though, as the slugs (I guess) have eaten the leaves until they look like lace. Since I plan to move this Fall and probably will not have room for all of them, I don't care too much, though.

I must be one of the few hobbyists who collect varieties of spathiphyllum... I have about six now, from miniatures to colors and variegates. I conscientiously stay away from patented plants, so mine aren't necessarily those that are found in stores.

First of all, peace lilies are unlikely to flower again anytime soon after you get them, and will probably put out small leaves. Growers usually use gibberellic acid to force flowering before the plant is really ready for it, so they come to you in a weakened state and need to time to build up energy stores. Although spathiphyllums are naturally branching plants, growers usually cluster them to give a full effect without having to wait for the plant to mature, so this also delays reblooming while the plants mature to a size where they can better support blooming.

Second, they bloom on a regular yearly cycle, and expect a small "dormant" period, though they will flower sporadically the rest of the year. Peace lilies often seem to flower after a period of neglect. Flowering is always sporadic, however, and even tissue grown samples won't all flower in any predictable way with hormones, unlike most flowering plants where tissue culture helps assure that they will all be ready at the same time.

In general, they like consistency. Constant humidity, constant warm temperatures, moderate lighting (too much or too little will suppress blooms), low air movement (no cold drafts!), lots of water.

Interestingly, mine all seem to flower when traumatized. If the leaves are burnt off, eaten by slugs or mealy bugs, they always flower. Makes for a sad looking specimen, though!

Hmmm... this is longer than I meant it to be. Time to get off the stage now...

Thanks for all the info tropicalaria! Why do you stay away from the patented plants?

I keep thousands of varieties of plants and propagate most of them, so it's difficult to keep track of what I'm allowed to do with which progeny.

Besides that, most patented plants that I'm interested in are not compellingly different enough from non-patented varieties for me to pay for the royalties. African violets are a good example of this, as are, incidentally, spathiphyllums.

The purpose of patents is to create artificial scarcity so that the creator can better profit from his/her labors. While I'm not against people getting paid for their work (I certainly like getting paid for mine!), this does run counter to my philosophy of increasing the variety and availability of plants for all of us.

Finally, I have trouble coming to terms with the patenting of living things, the illegalization of something living and nonharmful, and the prohibition of the reproduction of a living thing, which is, after all, one of the primary aspects of the definition of living.

[I'm getting down now before I fall off]

Interesting. Hadn't thought of that aspect of it. I haven't attempted much propogation myself, and any I do (at least for houseplants) I keep. So can you even propogate patented plants for yourself or is that technically illegal, too?

According to US law, any asexual reproduction of any type for any reason of a patented plant is illegal. This includes, for instance, plants that get too big for their pots. You can destroy part of the plant, but you cannot divide it without breaking the law, no matter what you plan to do with the offsets.

This becomes difficult for many tropicals where asexual reproduction is often the norm. How do you keep a spider plant from dropping new baby spider plants everywhere?

Recent court cases have strengthened plant patents internationally and even started threatening seeds, since they contain the "patented genes".

I read recently that if they're too well-fed they won't bloom. Especially beware of high nitrogen mixes. The writer (newpaper plant columnist) said that they should only be fed 1/2 strength fertilizer (15-30-15) every 2-3 months.

raydio.