Peace lilies are tropical plants requiring certain conditions to produce distinctive white flowers. Revealing how you can encourage the houseplant to bloom – no matter where you live – is the plant expert of the YouTube channel Plant House and Garden. In the video, the expert began by stating that peace lilies thrive in high humidity and consistent moisture and “respond well to slight drop in temperature” before blooming “beautiful flowers”.
The first “hack” involves temperature adjustment as the plant is said to “naturally respond to a slight drop in temperature, which can trigger blooming”. To illustrate how this works in practice, the expert shared how they moved their peace lily “to a cooler spot” in their home that was around “55F to 60F” (12C to 15C) for at least a fortnight.
After the peace lily spends two weeks in the cooler environment, the next step is to feed the plant with a phosphorus fertiliser.
“I waited two weeks to give the peace lily time to adjust to the new cooler conditions before adding any nutrients,” the expert verified.
The plant expert insisted that “phosphorus is essential for flower production” and that combining it with the temperature trick gave the peace lily a “significant boost.”
As stated in the video, the best fertiliser ratio is 10 parts nitrogen for 30 parts phosphorous for 10 parts potassium (in that order).
The fertiliser “provides the nutrients the plant needs to start forming flowers in response to the temperature change”.
Furthermore, the perfect fertiliser ratio is said to “help produce large, beautifully formed white flowers”.
An alternative fertiliser might result in “poorly formed or greenish flowers”, the expert cautioned.
In her experience, the visible formation of a flower bud might be seen in as little as 10 days after applying the fertiliser.
At this moment, the expert moved her peace lily back to its original spot in the home, where it was slightly warmer—68F to 75F (20C to 23C).
“Within a week, it started blooming with many beautiful flowers,” the expert beamed.
From start to finish, the whole process took about four weeks for the peace lily plant to produce abundant blooms.
This could mean that within a month, if you follow the expert’s advice, your peace lily will also produce gorgeous white flowers.