Hi Andy, I too am so sorry about your Mum, only when they go, do we realise they are your best friend and no one can take their place. As for your plant, I agree with all the others, there has been a build up of salts around the pot, but this is not always from any added fertilisers, there are some potting composts that have this already added to the mixture. But the plant has definitely outgrown it's pot which in turn has resulted in there being too little compost left in the pot as the roots have taken all the room up and depleted the compost, so get a larger pot, remove your plant, but go to the garden center for a bag of house plant compost and re pot the plant, as you do, cut off any dead roots, they will show up as either blackened, or just too soft when you see them in your hand, once you tidy up the roots, soak the plant in a bowl of water for about half an hour so it can take up some water by the roots, good roots will be fleshy looking, like twisted straws and firm, put it into the pot/new compost and water it till the compost is damp, dont leave your plant sitting in a saucer of water or the roots will rot, if water is left at the bottom after an hour, pour this away and drain the pot before placing it onto a saucer, remember to bury the whole plant and roots as the bit sticking out of your old pot is in need of being under the soil, just enough so that you see the green bit above the roots, dont bury any deeper or the plant will rot at it's neck. cut off all the brown leaves along with the stalks they grow from down to the base, dont add any plant food for about a month at the earliest as it needs time to settle down into it's new home, then if you want to feed, just give a half strength liquid feed every few weeks till it picks up again, I dont feed mine till I see new leaves start to grow, the brown on the leaves look like either sun burn from being too close to a window or scorched by some other form of dry heat, so make sure you sit the plant in good light, but not direct sun, any sun through a window is like a magnifying glass and scorches the leaves, your plant cant take that, if you want good spathes (flowers) it is best in part shade for that, water well but not too wet that it sits in water, Hope all this helps you out and you can really enjoy your inheritance, it will remind you of your Mum every time you see it grow. Good Luck. WeeNel.
