Keeping your Peace Lily healthy is about ten times easier with the proper container and soil. In the right living space, the roots can breathe easier, grow stronger, and absorb water and nutrition more easily. That will make your plant more resistant to disease and more tolerant of minor care mistakes. Here’s how to choose the best planter and potting mix for your Peace Lily.
Peace Lilies grow best in soils containing large portions of chunky ingredients like perlite, bark chips, and pumice. The mix should also contain some organic matter to retain water. Use a pot that has drainage holes in the bottom and isn’t too large. Between 8 and 12 inches in diameter is usually plenty.
Picking the right soil for a Peace Lily mostly comes down to balancing moisture retention and drainage. By the end of this article, you’ll know how to judge whether a particular soil is right for your Peace Lily. And you’ll know how to mix or buy a blend that it will love.
Potting Soil or Potting Mix?
The word “soil” can mean very different things when you’re talking about indoor and outdoor plants. Garden soil is both a growing medium for plants and a thriving ecosystem of bugs, bacteria, and fungi. Its physical structure is a blend of decomposing organic matter and tiny mineral particles like sand or clay.
Plants can grow quite well in garden soil – when it’s in a garden. Put it into an 8-inch diameter pot, and it becomes far too dense for the roots of your average houseplant. That’s why most so-called potting soil contains no true soil at all. It’s a mishmash of fluffier ingredients like peat moss and perlite.
We’ll keep using the term “soil” in this article to mean “the stuff you’re growing your Peace Lily in”. It’s faster than typing out “potting mix” every time. However, you should remember that we’re talking about something much looser and airier than the dirt in your backyard.
What Your Peace Lily Needs From its Soil
The best potting soil for a Peace Lily has to accomplish a few things. First, it has to provide a structure to anchor the roots as they grow. Second, it has to absorb some water and nutrients to sustain the plant in between waterings. Third, it has to let air and water flow through.
That last part is the reason why garden soil isn’t great for potted Peace Lilies. Water falling on the ground has a lot of soil to sink into – much more than you can fit in a planter. And in the great outdoors, critters like worms are loosening up the earth. In a small, stable space like a houseplant pot, true soil gets compacted and dense.
That means water will take a while to run through the pot and out the bottom. In the meantime, it will clog the air pockets that normally let your plant’s roots breathe.
Plus, a wet environment without much air is a paradise for certain kinds of microorganisms. They’ll breed at a terrifying pace, overwhelming roots weakened by oxygen deprivation. That’s how you get root rot, which is one of the fastest ways to kill a houseplant.
So what kind of potting soil is best for a Peace Lily? One that’s:
- Loose. You want plenty of nooks and crannies in the mix. This helps to increase drainage by creating channels for water to flow down and out. It also leaves room for air.
- Slightly spongy. Spathiphyllum plants come from the rainforest. They prefer their roots to stay mildly damp at all times. Though the soil should let most of the water drain away, it should also stay a tiny bit damp to keep the roots from drying out.
- Acidic. Peace Lilies like acidic soil. It creates the right conditions for them to absorb certain nutrients. The ideal pH is between 5.0 and 6.5.
- Lightly fertilized. A Peace Lily plant isn’t a heavy feeder that needs big doses of fertilizer to survive. But like all indoor plants, it needs a few key nutrients. One good way to provide them is by mixing some compost or slow-release fertilizer into the soil.
What Goes Into a Peace Lily Potting Soil
Let’s talk about the specific ingredients that can go into your Peace Lily’s potting mix. We’re going to divide them up into two main groups.
First up are what you could call the structural ingredients. These consist of relatively large chunks that take a long time to break down. They help to space out the soil and stop it from compacting. Some common ones include:
- Conifer bark. Large chips of bark from pine or fir trees. They’re rigid, they don’t decay quickly, and they’re right around the ideal pH for a Peace Lily. Note that garden mulch, while it might look similar, should not go into a potting mix. Look for something sold as a growing medium for orchids.
- Perlite. You know those white flecks in store-bought potting mix that look like tiny packing peanuts? Those are perlite, a kind of volcanic glass that’s been heat-treated to fill it with tiny pores. Perlite serves a dual role in potting soil. It traps a little bit of moisture in its crevices, but also creates gaps in the soil for drainage. Use a coarse grade – we like #3 perlite.
- Coarse sand. We’re talking about the kind of itty-bitty pebbles you’d see in a cactus pot. Please do not put silky, fine-grained beach sand in your Peace Lily’s pot.
- Pumice. A bit like perlite, but heavier and less processed. Get horticultural-grade pumice, which should give you bits of about the right size.
- Horticultural charcoal. Activated charcoal functions much like perlite, though it’s lighter in weight. Some people also claim it helps to cut down on pathogens in the soil, but it’s not clear how well the science backs that up.
Now for the second category. Think of these as the storage ingredients, the stuff that holds moisture to keep your Peace Lily’s roots damp. Some good options:
- Peat moss. Dried peat moss is a traditional choice for several reasons. It’s lightweight, cheap, and very spongy. It can inhibit the growth of fungus, and it’s acidic, which many houseplants appreciate. It’s not a renewable resource, though – or rather, it takes hundreds of years to renew.
- Coconut coir. Those looking for a green alternative to peat moss usually reach for coco coir (aka cocopeat). It’s an upcycled byproduct from coconut harvesting. Coir is about as fluffy as peat moss, but not quite as absorbent, and it’s close to pH neutral.
- Vermiculite. On paper, vermiculite sounds like perlite: porous chunks of silica mineral. But it’s much finer-grained, so in soil, it acts more like peat moss than rocks.
- Compost. This last ingredient probably needs no introduction. It’s the spongy, organic soil amendment that gardeners love. A small amount of compost in your potting mix can nourish your Peace Lily while also storing moisture. Our preference is vermicompost, otherwise known as worm castings.
Making Potting Soil for a Peace Lily
Crafting the perfect Peace Lily potting mix is mostly about getting the right balance of structural and storage ingredients. A little more than half of the mix should be from the first category. The drainage benefits only kick in when the coarse ingredients make up at least 50% of the blend.
The other thing to keep in mind is to limit the fraction of compost. If you’re going to use it, keep it between 10-20% of the total. Out of all the ingredients on the list above, compost has the biggest tendency to get waterlogged. So don’t overdo it.
We recommend playing around with the proportions until you find the best ratio for your care style. No two homes are alike, and things like ambient humidity and temperature affect how fast soils drain.
Here’s a good recipe to start with: 30% orchid bark, 30% perlite, 30% coco coir, and 10% worm castings. Those proportions are by volume, not weight.
You’ll have to soak the cocopeat in water to inflate it. While you’re waiting for it to expand, put on a painter’s mask and sift the perlite through a colander. This gets rid of the dust and fragments, leaving only decent-sized pellets. You may also want to give it a rinse.
Once your ingredients are ready, mix them thoroughly. Ignore any guides that say you should layer ingredients with bigger bits on the bottom. You get the best drainage when everything is jumbled together.
Store-Bought Soils and Peace Lilies
What if you don’t want to take the time to make potting soil from scratch? Can’t you just go to the garden center and grab some?
Maybe – but you’ll need to be careful. We’ve already mentioned that natural soil is too dense for a potted Peace Lily. Unfortunately, that’s also true of many commercial potting mixes. Typical store-bought potting soil contains a large proportion of peat moss, which is a very dense, absorbent material.
That’s helpful for thirsty plants whose owners often forget to water. Peat moss can hold onto moisture for quite a while, which could save a neglected plant. The downside is that if you’re watering regularly, peat-based mixes can stay too wet for too long.
This is problematic for plants like Peace Lilies, which evolved in the loose layer of decaying leaves and branches on the floor of a rainforest. That environment is much airier than your average peat-heavy potting mix.
What if you’ve already bought some off-the-shelf potting soil and you don’t want it to go to waste? You can adapt it for your Peace Lily by mixing it with coarser ingredients. We’d suggest replacing at least half the volume of the mix with equal parts perlite and orchid bark.
Certain specialty mixes made for aroids – the plant family that includes Peace Lilies – can work well. They tend to be on the expensive side, but they last a while since they contain lots of woody material and inorganic ingredients.
Cactus Soil and Peace Lilies
Now you understand why ordinary potting mixes are too dense for a Spathiphyllum. But what about loose and rocky soils made for succulents?
With these blends, you’ll run into the opposite problem. A typical cactus mix drains very fast, which could leave your Peace Lily’s roots high and dry. You’d have to water your plant almost every day during the summer to keep it happy.
On the other hand, a mix of 60% cactus soil with 30% cocopeat and 10% vermicompost should work nicely.
Orchid Soil and Peace Lilies
If you’re going to get any store-bought mix, an orchid blend is your best bet. This still may be a bit arid for a Peace Lily, but you can probably make it work. Just keep a close eye on the soil so that you know when your plant needs water. It wouldn’t hurt to toss in a bit of coir and compost to be safe.
The Best Planter for a Peace Lily
We’ve talked a lot about soil, but what about the pot that it goes in? The wrong container can be almost as bad as the wrong soil. Luckily, the guidelines for Peace Lily planters are simple.
The first and most important rule is that the pot should have a drainage hole in the bottom. Multiple holes are even better. Your nice fast-draining soil won’t help if the water gets stuck in the pot.
The prettiest pots don’t always have holes. You can sometimes fix that with a drill. This is easy with plastic containers, but ceramics call for special drill bits.
Another option is to use the nicer-looking pot as a cachepot. Put your Peace Lily in a cheap container made of thin plastic with plenty of drainage openings. Then slide that inside your better-looking planter. When you need to water, take out the inner pot and soak the soil. You can put it back in the cachepot when it stops dripping.
Materials for a Peace Lily Planter
As long as your Peace Lily’s pot has a drainage hole, does it matter what it’s made of? Not really. The most common materials for houseplant pots are plastic, glazed ceramics, and terra cotta. Any of these should work just fine for your Peace Lily.
That said, you will notice a difference in how much moisture these materials hold. Bare terra cotta, with no glazing, is very porous. The tiny openings let water vapor escape through the sides as well as from the surface of the soil. Your Peace Lily’s potting mix will dry out more quickly in a terra cotta planter, which is good if you’re worried about overwatering.
If you’re concerned you might water too little, a planter made of plastic or glazed ceramic is a better choice. Both of these materials keep moisture in the soil longer than terra cotta.
Other materials, like stone, fiberglass, and metal, should work fine as long as there’s a drainage hole. These substances act more like ceramics or plastic when it comes to moisture retention.
Potting and Repotting a Peace Lily
No matter how well you’ve chosen your Peace Lily’s pot and soil, you’ll need to replace them in time. As your plant grows, its will roots fill up the available space and start packing together more and more tightly. This can cut off their access to water and nutrients, making your Pece Lily suffer.
To avoid this, move your Spathiphyllum into a bigger pot every 2-3 years. A small increase in size – around 2 inches bigger in diameter – should be all that’s necessary. If you go too large, the risk of overwatering increases, since more soil means more time to dry out.
Repotting also lets you refresh the soil. Even tough materials like coconut coir and pine bark break down over time. As they do, the potting mix gets finer-grained and less aerated. Always give your Peace Lily a new batch of potting soil when you repot it.
Uproot your Peace Lily by tipping the pot upside down while gripping the base of the plant. Then use your fingers to clear away any clods of soil clinging to the roots.
If the plant has been in the same pot for several years, it’s likely to be root bound. That means the root system is pressed into a tight mass the approximate size and shape of its container. Tease the roots apart with your fingers before placing your Peace Lily in its new pot.
Moisten your potting soil lightly, getting it about as damp as a wrung-out washcloth. Then fill it in around your Peace Lily’s roots. Tap and shake the pot to help the mix settle into place, but don’t pack it down. You don’t want to compact it.
For one month after transplanting your Peace Lily, keep it out of direct sunlight and don’t apply fast-acting fertilizer. Your plant will also appreciate anything you can do to maintain high humidity. Be wary of overwatering during this recovery period, since the roots will be weak from stress.
Final Thoughts
Giving your Peace Lily a suitable home will do wonders for its long-term health. Luckily, you now know how to pick a pot and soil that will keep it cozy. The most important factors are proper drainage and adequate space. Provide those, and you’re giving your Peace Lily a firm foundation for growth.