How Often To Water Your Peace Lily And Other Tips

Written by Em Casalena
Updated: October 8, 2023
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To maintain your peace lily’s health and ability to flourish, it’s crucial to understand how to water it properly. It’s crucial to know how much water to feed your plant since overwatering or underwatering can cause a variety of issues. 

In general, the peace lily typically requires watering once per week. The size of the plant, the kind of soil, the temperature, and the humidity can all have an impact on how frequently you need to water this beautiful plant. When properly watered, these plants will flower and thrive beautifully, so knowing the best watering practices is crucial!

Everything you need to know about watering your peace lily to keep it thriving and healthy will be covered in this article. We’ll break down when to water your peace lily, how to properly water it, and some additional tips for watering and humidity requirements.

Beautiful white flowers and green leaves of tropical peace lily flower spathiphyllum on a light background.

The peace lily (pictured) will be more likely to flower if it is consistently and appropriately watered.

©iStock.com/Galina Tolochko

When to Water a Peace Lily

Are you unclear about how frequently you should water your indoor peace lily? Like other plants, Spathiphyllum species want the same environmental factors found in the tropics to which they are native, including soil moisture, and air humidity. All of these qualities may be attained with appropriate watering. Although peace lilies require frequent watering, they will also make it quite obvious if they’ve had too much or too little water.

The weather, air humidity, temperature, season, and kind of soil all have an impact on how frequently you should water your peace lily. The top inch of soil becoming dry and the leaves beginning to droop are the two main clues you may utilize. In general, you should do this every two days to a week at most.

So, in general, once a week or more is the recommended frequency for watering peace lilies. Increase how often you water this plant if you see any strange plant behavior, like drooping leaves or severely dry soil.

With all of this in mind, it’s worth noting that winter watering practices for the peace lily tend to be a bit different. Peace lilies can grow quite vigorously all year long and do not become dormant in the winter. However, due to the shorter daylight hours and lower light intensity, development does tend to slow down throughout the winter. Peace lilies need strong indirect light to flourish, and in some locations, winter sunshine may not be sufficient. Cooler average temperatures that decrease evaporation and water loss from the leaves, along with less sunshine throughout the winter, can both reduce the plant’s need for water.

However, the interior temperature of your home can change more during the winter because of artificial heat sources, which might cause the plant to dry out much more quickly than usual. To combat the drying effects of air conditioning and radiator heat indoors during the winter, you might need to water and gently mist spray your plant more frequently.

If you find the peace lily drying out too rapidly, increase your watering. Feel the top inch of the soil to check for moisture. The plant’s drooping leaves can also alert you if it is too dry. After a period of lack of watering and very dry soil, the plant could definitely benefit from a good soak in water.

Once you’ve determined how frequently your peace lily needs to be watered at home, you should adhere to this schedule as strictly as you can. Therefore, you should water your plant every two days if the climate in your house is really hot and dry. This can occur less often, every four or five days, or perhaps once a week, in humid and temperate climates. When winter arrives and the sunlight is reduced, try to cut down on watering to once every week or as needed for your plant.

A potted peace lily's soil being tended to in a pot

One way to tell if a peace lily (pictured) is overwatered or underwatered is by checking the dampness of its soil.

©iStock.com/Larisa Stefanuyk

How to Tell if Your Peace Lily is Overwatered or Underwatered

Contrary to popular belief, the signs of both an overwatered and an underwatered peace lily are basically the same. The most blatant and noticeable result of drought stress and over-irrigation is drooping leaves. Insufficient watering can also cause the plant’s leaves to become brown or even yellow. Just as well, if the humidity is too low, the leaf margins have a tendency to become brown.

Feel the dirt at the bottom of the container via the drainage hole to determine whether your plant is suffering from underwatering or overwatering. Overwatering is the issue if the soil is soggy or moist, but it is reasonable to assume that underwatering and drought stress are to blame if the soil is comparatively dry.

The peace lily is likely to recover as it is a very hardy plant. However, overwatering is typically more harmful than underwatering. Adjust your watering appropriately.

How to Properly Water a Peace Lily

It’s crucial to know how much water to give your peace lily. While there are many factors that might impact how frequently you water your plant, the recommended amount of water is pretty consistent as once per week or more. Give your plant a generous bath, letting any extra water seep out the pot’s base. This guarantees that the soil is evenly saturated and that the water has permeated to the roots of your plant. Giving your plants plenty of water also promotes healthy root growth.

If you water your plants too sparingly, just the top inch or two of soil will become wet, leaving the remainder of the soil still largely dry and causing your peace lily to droop. To mimic the environment of the peace lily’s original habitat, give the soil a good soak until it is thoroughly wet and can reach each and every root.

While peace lilies need uniformly wet soil, their roots cannot take very waterlogged soil, therefore it’s crucial to place them in containers with drainage holes in the bottom to let the excess water drain. A smart approach to make sure the peace lily has received enough water is to water until the surplus water trickles out of the drainage holes, then stopping immediately to avoid overwatering.

Your peace lily will exhibit stress symptoms from overwatering, such as drooping and turning yellow, if it is put in a pot without drainage holes where excess water can collect around the roots. Root rot can result from saturated soil, and it may be challenging to save the plant at that point. Your best bet would be to avoid overwatering altogether by using a drainable pot.

A peace lily potted plant growing indoors with a self-watering globe device in its soil

Potted peace lilies (pictured) can benefit from a self-watering device when you are away from home for more than a week.

©iStock.com/Helin Loik-Tomson

Tips for Watering a Peace Lily

In addition to the above problems and solutions we’ve outlined in the context of watering, there are some more great peace lily watering tips to consider.

The peace lily is a tropical plant that enjoys warmth. In its native Central America, rain is frequently significantly warmer than your home’s tap water. Cold water irrigation can cause minor shock to peace lilies because their roots, in particular, are sensitive to cold temperatures. The ideal procedure is to wait until the water is about at room temperature in its container before watering.

Additionally, fluoride and chlorine in the water may cause the tips of peace lilies’ leaves to turn crispy and brown. If you let the water sit out overnight before watering your peace lily, the chlorine will evaporate. Using filtered water or rainwater to water your plant will help reduce the effects of fluoride, which can accumulate and damage the plant. There are also some water-conditioning products out there that you can use to reduce the fluoride and chlorine in your tap water before watering your peace lily.

Watering a peace lily is a fairly straightforward practice. If you can stick to a regular watering routine and have the time to check your peace lily for any potential growth and maintenance issues, your well-hydrated peace lily will last for years and provide your space with unique aesthetic appeal.

Want to learn even more about this amazing plant? Check out our complete guide to peace lilies here.

Bonus: Why are Peace Lilies Given at Funerals?

Spath or peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) is a monocotyledonous flowering plant in the family Araceae, native to tropical regions of America and Asia. Macro close up of white flowers in bright sunlight.

Peace Lilies are frequently given to someone who is in mourning.

©ON-Photography Germany/Shutterstock.com

Peace lilies are often given to someone who is in mourning and, along with other varieties of lilies – are often used to decorate at funerals or visitations. It is considered to be a go-to funeral flower because of the significant meaning behind its blossoms. Lilies represent the soul’s return to a peaceful state of innocence. The peace lily plant symbolizes innocence and the rebirth of the departed’s soul from the physical world to a greater place. Potted peace lilies are an appropriate gift for a friend in mourning because they can carry the plant home to brighten their lives for a long time to come.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/Liudmila Chernetska


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About the Author

Em Casalena is a writer at A-Z Animals where their primary focus is on plants, gardening, and sustainability. Em has been writing and researching about plants for nearly a decade and is a proud Southwest Institute of Healing Arts graduate and certified Urban Farming instructor. Em is a resident of Arizona and enjoys learning about eco-conscious living, thrifting at local shops, and caring for their Siamese cat Vladimir.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) 

How often should I water my peace lily?

One watering per week is the general norm for peace lilies.

How do I know if my peace lily needs water?

Peace lilies will begin to droop their leaves when they are feeling dehydrated.

Should I water my peace lily during the winter?

During the winter, only water your peace lily once every two weeks.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us? Contact the AZ Animals editorial team.

Sources
  1. NCSU Staff, Available here: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/spathiphyllum/
  2. Daniel Iseli, Available here: https://plantophiles.com/plant-care/peace-lily/
  3. Mary Jane Duford, Available here: https://www.homefortheharvest.com/how-often-to-water-peace-lily/