If you have a peace lily, you might be wondering “how long does a peace lily live for?” This long-living adaptable and low maintenance lily also called Spathiphyllum is a long-time favorite houseplant.
House lilies have a long life. Many home gardeners report their peace lilies to live for several decades. And it’s not unheard of for a peace lily to live for over 30-years.
Technically, peace lilies aren’t really lilies. Peace lilies are a member of the Araceae family.
How long do peace lilies live?
Peace lilies can live for 30-years or even longer under the right conditions. So it’s wrong to think that peace lilies only live for a few years. With proper care, you could enjoy a peace lily for more than 30-years.
Healthy Peace Lilies Live Longest
The better you care for your peace lilies, the longer they live. Peace lilies are native to tropical and subtropical parts of the world. As such, these houseplants need humidity and warmth to thrive.
Peace lilies are frequently grown as indoor plants. To ensure you have a long life, peace lily only water when the top of the soil feels dry to the touch. But, if you let the soil dry out too much, the leaves will wilt and turn yellow. Therefore, soil that is kept slightly moist is ideal for peace lilies.
Can a peace lily live forever?
A peace lily may not live forever, but you’d be surprised how long this wonderful plant can live. It’s impossible to predict how long your peace lily will live, but it could live for decades. Therefore, peace lilies are a great investment because they are long-lasting houseplants.
So, if you want a plant that is likely to stick around for many years, a peace lily won’t disappoint you. Peace lilies are loved for their ability to clean the air, ease of growth, and pleasing appearance. It’s not uncommon for peace lilies to live for decades.
Does a peace lily come back every year?
If you take good care of your peace lily, it will come back every year. To get a peace lily to come back each year, you must maintain the ideal conditions. If you take good care of your peace lily, it will bloom twice a year.
You’ll be able to enjoy its bloom for up to two months. One of the most important factors to get your lily to come back is plenty of indirect sunlight.
How long do peace lilies last?
A peace lily can last for decades. Yes, many people have peace lilies indoors that last for 30-years or longer.
Environmental factors to the lifespan of your peace lily
Most often, a peace lily dies due to external factors such as too much or not enough light, overwatering, underwatering, a change in environment, poor nutrition, or pests.
Although you can ensure that your peace lily is cared for most optimally, sometimes things are beyond your control.
Peace lilies don’t like change. Something as seemingly harmless as moving a plant can stress your lily. The stress can even kill your plant.
The lack of nutrients or improper soil can also shorten the life of your peace lily. Soil can be missing the proper nutrients if it is cheap or old. As a result, you can shorten a plant’s life with under or over-feeding.
If your peace lily is underfed, you can correct it by watching for the signs. Unfortunately, an overfed peace lily is much more difficult to fix. Even with a full soil flush, your lily may not survive, thus cutting its life span down.
Limitations of the life span of a peace lily
A peace lily can live indefinitely. Peace lilies can live indefinitely because they have a tissue called “meristems.” Meristematic plant cells are located in the roots and tips of the peace lily.
Peace lilies are perpetually embryonic. As a result, they can divide into several cells or change into another cell many times in the growing process.
This is the reason you can stick a plant cutting in water, and it will grow into a complete and mature plant. And for the same reason, peace lilies can grow and live for several decades in your home.
How do you know when your peace lily is dying?
There are several telltale signs of a dying peace lily. For example, when peace lilies get too dry, they collapse. But a collapsing peace lily could be the sign of root rot.
If you think your peace lily is dying due to lack of water, water it. But, if your lily doesn’t come to life after 24-hours, it’s time to check its roots. First, you need to remove the plant from the pot to examine the roots.
If the roots are firm and brown or white, you look at healthy roots. But, if the roots are soft and black, you are looking at rotted roots. So, unfortunately, you need to get rid of your peace lily with root rot.
What kills a peace lily?
Over or underwatering, pests, root-rot diseases, and chemicals can kill your peace lily. Although peace lilies are relatively problem-free, no plant is indestructible. If you don’t pay attention to the details and ignore warning signs, you could kill your peace lily before it reaches a ripe old age of 30.
Peace lilies are often killed from overwatering. However, it isn’t the water that kills the plant but the resulting problems such as stem or root-rot diseases. Make sure the pot has holes to allow excess water to drain—only water when the top couple of inches of soil is already dry to the touch.
Too much fertilizer will also kill your peace lily. So resist the urge to overfertilize your plant. It’s more than enough to feed your peace lily with a balanced 20-20-20 houseplant fertilizer once every month from spring through summer.
An important point here is to use only one-quarter of the recommended dose. So, for example, if the recommended fertilizer dosage is one teaspoon per quart of water, reduce the dosage to one-quarter teaspoon.
Houseplant pests can also kill your peace lily. Pests such as mites or mealybugs can also become an issue for plants grown indoors. Prevention is the best cure for common household plants. All you need to do is wipe down the broad leaves once a week with a damp washcloth to remove the dust that can attract these bugs. If you notice a population of pests, get rid of them with a strong stream of water.
Do salt and vinegar kill peace lilies?
Salt and vinegar can kill peace lilies. This is because salt dehydrates peace lilies when you add water. And the dehydration caused by salt is what kills your peace lily.
It isn’t safe to spray peace lilies with vinegar. Vinegar will dry out your plant’s leaves, and it will kill your peace lily.
Both salt and vinegar can damage the soil and kill peace lilies. However, vinegar is more harmful to plants than the soil. And it will kill houseplants.
How to get your peace lily to survive for a long time?
If you don’t neglect them, peace lilies can survive for twenty, thirty years or even longer. This is because peace lilies are one of the more forgiving houseplants. So if you don’t have a green finger, you should still be able to keep your peace lily alive for decades.
Peace lilies prefer the soil going dry. And if you want your plant to live for a long time, the best approach is to let the soil go dry before thoroughly watering the plant. Even if you let it wilt, a good soaking will likely bring your plant back to life.
This plant doesn’t require a lot of space to grow, so it will be fine in the same pot for years. With a peace lily, you don’t have to stress about re-potting into a larger container every couple of years. Instead, you can keep it in the same container for many years, and your peace lily will be happy there.
Peace lilies are resilient and can even survive frequent cat attacks. So even if your cat confuses the peace lily’s pot with the litter box sometimes, your plant may still thrive. To discourage your kitten from using the pot as a litter box, add stones on top of the soil.
Pease lily owners also reported their plants surviving cats breaking stems, gnawing on leaves, and using the plant as a personal scratchpad. But fortunately, this tough houseplant recovers well from pet attacks.
To keep your peace lily flowering, occasionally fertilize it. But keep fertilizers to a minimum since the plant will suffer or die if you overdo it. On the other hand, if you are careful with your peace lily, you could enjoy it for another few decades, at least.
Conclusion
There are many factors to consider when determining the life span of peace lilies. However, peace lilies can live surprisingly long under optimal conditions. In fact, some peace lilies live for decades.
In the end, the length of time that your peace lily lives will be determined in large part by your care. Peace lilies are not immortal. And they will die if you over or underwater them. And they won’t live very long without the right nutrition and sufficient sunlight.
