I finally admitted my peace lily was beyond saving after 14 months

I bought this peace lily from Home Depot back in March 2023 thinking it would be easy to keep alive. For over a year I kept watering it, moving it to different windows, even talking to it like a crazy person. But the leaves kept turning yellow and drooping no matter what I did. Last week I finally pulled it out of the pot and the roots were all mushy and brown from root rot. I guess I was watering it too much the whole time, like twice a week instead of letting it dry out. That thing cost me $16 and I spent probably 20 hours total trying to fix it. Has anyone else kept a dying plant around way longer than they should have just out of hope?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim.wren1mo ago

@torres.drew has a good point about the basil plant thing, but I gotta say my friend Sara went through this with a fern from IKEA. She kept it in her bathroom thinking the humidity would help, but it just got sadder and droopier for like eight months. She even bought a special mister and a little fan for it. Finally she pulled it out and the roots were just a slimy mess, exactly like your peace lily. She told me she spent more time worrying about that plant than some of her actual house chores.

torres.drew1mo ago

Hold up, you're talking 20 hours and $16 like that's some huge investment in a plant. I've kept a basil plant from Trader Joe's alive for three months just because I didn't want to admit I killed it, and it was literally $3. Root rot is super common with peace lilies, they're basically drama queens that look sad when they're thirsty but actually need way less water than people think. Your mistake was probably just the twice a week thing, but really, who cares? You learned something, toss it and get a snake plant next time, those things survive neglect like a champ.