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The peace lily is a striking and elegant tropical plant with vivid, glossy leaves and graceful white blooms. It’s a popular choice for indoor gardeners since it generally requires little maintenance. When healthy, the peace lily is a beacon of tranquility. But when ailing, the plant can quickly develop yellowing leaves, a drooping posture, and curled foliage.
If you’ve noticed yellowing leaves on your peace lily, it’s important to recognize this as a sign that the plant is suffering. If addressed quickly, the yellowing process will be halted, and the plant should return to full health. If ignored, the leaves will only lose more color, the plant will sicken further, and may eventually die.
The challenge is figuring out what’s causing your peace lily to have yellow leaves. Different issues can cause the same symptoms, so gardeners have to be observant and alert to the peace lily’s environment and maintenance.
If you get the problem wrong, you may end up treating an issue that isn’t there — and causing more harm than good. So don’t jump to conclusions and take the time to review the following possible issues, to make sure you’re fixing the right problem.
Here are 8 potential reasons that your peace lily’s leaves are turning yellow.
1. Underwatering
Peace lilies like moist soil, which makes sense as they originate from tropical regions in the Americas and Southeast Asia. If the soil is left to dry out too much between watering, this can trigger a drought response in the plant.
Symptoms of drought often manifest as yellow and even brown leaves, since the plant needs water to produce chlorophyll, the green pigment needed for photosynthesis. To check whether underwatering is the problem, inspect the soil moisture level and look for wilting leaves.
The fix: If the soil is too dry, remedy this with a healthy watering. Increase the frequency of your watering for a period and regularly inspect the dampness of the soil, to prevent a recurrence.
2. Overwatering
A tricky part of diagnosing the cause of yellow leaves is that both under- and overwatering can produce the same result. Peace lilies like water, but there is still a limit to what is healthy. Oversaturated soil can encourage the growth of bacteria and fungus, which can lead to root rot; unhealthy roots can restrict the peace lily’s ability to absorb nutrients and eventually kill the plant.
To check if overwatering is the problem, pause watering and inspect the soil after a few days. If it’s still damp, the soil is likely waterlogged.
The fix: Let the soil fully dry out before watering again. If root rot is a concern, remove the peace lily from the soil and inspect its roots. Minimal root rot, visible as mushy roots, can be cut away before the plant is repotted in fresh soil. Reduce the frequency of watering going forward and continue to inspect moisture levels to prevent recurrence.
3. It’s rootbound
If the peace lily is outgrowing its pot, the roots will quickly fill the available space, leaving little room for soil. While some plants are suited to this, peace lilies are not. When rootbound, the peace lily has access to less soil and therefore fewer nutrients. Insufficient nutrition can cause yellowing leaves and root rot.
To check whether the issue is caused by the plant being rootbound, gently lift the plant from its planter and inspect the root mass. If the roots are large enough to dominate the container and there is minimal soil left in the planter, then your peace lily is likely rootbound.
The fix: Remove any mushy roots that are the result of root rot. Then replant the peace lily in a larger container, approximately 2 inches more in diameter. Don’t use a much larger planter, as the sudden change can put the plant into stress.
4. Poor water quality
Many gardeners will water their indoor plants with tap water because it is readily available. But this might be accidentally harming your plants, since undistilled water can carry various amounts of unwanted minerals and chemicals. Fluoride and chlorine in particular can change the pH of the soil and prompt yellowing leaves.
To check if this is the issue, try using only filtered water for a few weeks and see if it resolves the issue. You could also test the water, to see if your tap supply is prone to higher mineral levels.
The fix: Switch to distilled water for future watering. Consider replacing the soil in the container with fresh potting soil and supplementing it with some fertilizer.
5. Mineral deficiency
Some of the other causes on the list are dangerous because they affect the mineral levels of the peace lily. But sometimes, it’s the soil itself that is nutrient-deficient. Peace lilies don’t require special fertilizer treatments, but they do benefit from healthy levels of magnesium, nitrogen, and iron. If the soil in the pot is particularly old, these levels may have fallen over time and the plant may be deficient.
To check if your plant is experiencing mineral deficiency, apply a small amount of liquid fertilizer to the soil and see if that corrects the discoloration; if it does, you’ll know the problem was a lack of minerals.
The fix: Repot the peace lily into a container with fresh soil. It can be the same one as before, you just want to make sure the soil itself is healthy and new.
6. Temperature or humidity issues
Since the peace lily is a tropical plant, it prefers warm temperatures and high humidity. While it can happily grow in a regular indoor environment, it will suffer if exposed to cold temperatures, draughts, or especially dry air. Without sufficient moisture and warmth in the air, the plant will go into stress and its leaves will yellow.
To see if this is the problem, check the temperature and humidity levels in your home. You’re looking for temperatures between 65°F and 85°F and humidity levels of 50%-60%, as those are the peace lily’s sweet spots.
The fix: Consider moving the peace lily to an area in the house that is warmer and has a higher humidity, and avoid placing it near open windows in the winter. A humidifier or heating pad can also be used to enhance conditions.
7. Shock
As the peace lily grows, it may need to be moved to a larger container. Transplanting greenery into a new container is a natural part of the houseplant lifecycle, but it can still put the plant into temporary stress. The shock of being in new soil and a different container can impact the peace lily’s ability to function for a short period, which can lead to yellowing and wilting leaves.
To assess if this is the cause, think back to when you most recently repotted the peace lily. If it was in the last few weeks, that is most likely the issue.
The fix: Patience is really the key here. As the plant settles into its new habitat, it will slowly recover from stress and this requires no intervention from you. Just keep watering as usual.
8. Natural aging
While yellow leaves can be a sign that something is wrong, they are also just an inevitable part of the plant’s aging process. Over time, older leaves will be less adept at absorbing nutrients and the peace lily will redirect its resources towards younger, fresh foliage. This leads to the occasional yellow leaf that will eventually die and fall off.
To check whether natural aging is the culprit, consider how old the plant is and whether the yellowing is limited to older foliage. If it is and there is healthy new growth coming through, there is probably no cause for concern.
The fix: Either don’t intervene and let the leaves naturally fall off as they die, or gently prune away the discolored leaves at the base to make it look more appealing. Be careful not to overprune, as this could put the plant into shock.
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