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My peace lily is the most low maintenance, easy growing plant I have. When it's thirsty it visibly droops, give it a quick blast and a few hours later it's perk

My peace lily is the most low maintenance, easy growing plant I have. When it's thirsty it visibly droops, give it a quick blast and a few hours later it's perked back up. My rosemary on the other hand, I couldn't keep it alive no matter what I tried. Full sun, partial shade, inside, outside, letting the soil dry out, moderate watering, daily watering, I tried it all and none of it helped.

staticassertion 5y ago
Agreed. My peace lily is great. It wilts when it's thirsty, and otherwise it requires no maintenance. I once left it for about a month, came back, it had wilted quite a lot. I thought maybe it wouldn't recover. I watered it a normal amount and woke up to it having perked up quite a lot, and in another day it was back to normal. Definitely a plant I would recommend.
- dylan604 5y ago
  Be careful with lillies if you have cats.
  - ericpauley 5y ago
    Peace lilies are not actually lilies in this sense, so aren’t especially harmful to pets[1]. [1] https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/mauna-loa-peace-lily/ https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/mauna-loa-peace-lil...
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      things i didn’t expect to learn on hacker news… thanks :)
      - pvaldes 5y ago
        Spathiphyllum belong to a pretty evil big family and are poisonous as all good Aroids are. You can expect a combination of microscopic crystal arrows tearing flesh and acid being throw in the wounds later for maximum fun. We have it indoors exactly because that (being poisonous are often left untouched by animals increasing its decorative value). Can kill a cat by asphysia perfectly but this is really unusual. Pets can eventually bite them, once, and learn fast not to do it again. The dangerous part is if they would swallow 'a chunk of burning fire'. Will not happen easily unless your dog or cat is a totally clueless idiot.
jmspring 5y ago
Peace lilies and Zebra plants both do this. At our shop, I refer to them as "drama queens" as they do let you know when they need water. Another interesting one is fittonia (or nerve plant). It recovers readily as well.
- throwaway09223 5y ago
  My Fatsia Japonica does the same. Stalks will droop over and the thing will look like it has no structural integrity. Water, and tomorrow it's fine.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    the structural integrity is indeed provided by the capillary action of the plant tissue drawing up water and stiffening the stems
- infogulch 5y ago
  > drama queens I say the same thing about my Peace Lily. Actually, her being so dramatic trained me to water all my plants more regularly. Yes I'm admitting that I was trained by a plant lol :D
ars 5y ago
Succulents are also a good choice, they can tolerate quite a long time without water. The advice for them it let the soil dry completely, and then give a complete soak. I have mine in a semi-transparent container with no drain, so I can see the soil get darker, and I know when to stop adding water, and since there is no drain it soaks up the water well (i.e. the sponge hydrophobia the article mentions).
colordrops 5y ago
Funny, I couldn't kill my rosemary bush if I wanted to. It sits at the corner of the house without water and it grows and grows. In SoCal btw
- thebradbain 5y ago
  3 months ago I had a massive, overgrown 7 foot rosemary bush in my backyard drastically cut down to about 3.5 feet. It was so tall it was crushing itself under its own weight. One summer later and it’s back to around 5 feet. Also in SoCal, it gets watered maybe once a month, if that (whenever I remember). I _wish_ I could stop it.
pvaldes 5y ago
Spathiphyllum dislike cold and people messing with their roots when repotting. Apart of that they are low maintenance and also known to remove toxics like formaldehyde and trichlorethylene from the air in labs and rooms. Rosemary needs dig deep in the soil or in a big clay pot. Die in a day with their roots cooked if left in small plastic black pots. They need also full sun, but not when you buy it. Only after they develop its roots and pass the shock of being moved from a greenhouse to scorching sun. Big Rosmarinus plants have a bigger rootball and are much easier to keep alive.
- nebula8804 5y ago
  I got a peace lily in March after my father passed away and it has been so much trouble to keep it going. I'm really sad about it. First I didn't realize I was overwatering it and introduced root rot into the system. The online guides recommended repotting with fresh soil and carefully yanking on all the rotted roots so as to remove as much of the rotted material as possible. They also recommended a very gentle scrubbing with a tiny bit of dish soap with the expectation that the plant will be shocked for a while but recover. I did all this and it did help somewhat. Then the following months the area was very sunny with 90 degree F days. I didn't realize it at the time but I was killing the plant by overheat. 2-3 weeks of this and after realizing what was happening, I moved it into the basement near a tiny window with indirect sunlight (~69 degree F all day). This worked for a while but now as I take a step back and look at the plant, it is a mess. It is definitely still alive but does not seem healthy at all. Multiple leaves have yellowed, some have either yellow or black spots on it. All of the beautiful White Seed like things have turned pitch black and are disintegrating. I am now just not sure what to do, I just keep watering it with 1 water bottle's worth of water every three days or so but it seems like it is a mess that I can't recover from.
  - sonofhans 5y ago
    I feel you. My son may be in this position one day. Don’t give up on it! I’ve kept multiple peace lilies in offices and homes for years. They are dramatic, but also forgiving. What you’ve done so far sounds helpful. I’d suggest: * More light, but indirect. They like well-lit rooms as long as the sun doesn’t shine on them. They do like 70º better than 90º. * Let the soil dry a little between waterings. Stick your finger in the soil to see if it’s damp. If it is, water in a few days. * It’s ok to overwater them until water runs through the pot, but be sure the pot doesn’t sit in that water. * Prune off all the dead material. The blooms always look disgusting when they die. Lastly, get it a friend or two. Get another couple peace lilies and care for them the same way. It’ll help you understand how they behave.
elyobo 5y ago
Yeah, I have a balcony that's a plant kill zone (north facing high rise in Australia, so lots of sun, the odd 40 degree (100 farenheit) day, aircon outlet there pushes it up much hotter still. Peace lilies have been surviving (not thriving, but surviving) there for 8 years now, but I've tried and killed rosemary three times now. I suspect overwatering is the cause. All of these in pots, btw, because balcony - suspect that the rosemary would be easier in the ground.
bengale 5y ago
Yeah I have one of these, its so overdramatic when it's thirsty.

staticassertion 5y ago

Agreed. My peace lily is great. It wilts when it's thirsty, and otherwise it requires no maintenance. I once left it for about a month, came back, it had wilted quite a lot. I thought maybe it wouldn't recover. I watered it a normal amount and woke up to it having perked up quite a lot, and in another day it was back to normal. Definitely a plant I would recommend.

dylan604 5y ago
Be careful with lillies if you have cats.
- ericpauley 5y ago
  Peace lilies are not actually lilies in this sense, so aren’t especially harmful to pets[1]. [1] https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/mauna-loa-peace-lily/ https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/mauna-loa-peace-lil...
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    things i didn’t expect to learn on hacker news… thanks :)
    - pvaldes 5y ago
      Spathiphyllum belong to a pretty evil big family and are poisonous as all good Aroids are. You can expect a combination of microscopic crystal arrows tearing flesh and acid being throw in the wounds later for maximum fun. We have it indoors exactly because that (being poisonous are often left untouched by animals increasing its decorative value). Can kill a cat by asphysia perfectly but this is really unusual. Pets can eventually bite them, once, and learn fast not to do it again. The dangerous part is if they would swallow 'a chunk of burning fire'. Will not happen easily unless your dog or cat is a totally clueless idiot.

jmspring 5y ago

Peace lilies and Zebra plants both do this. At our shop, I refer to them as "drama queens" as they do let you know when they need water. Another interesting one is fittonia (or nerve plant). It recovers readily as well.

throwaway09223 5y ago
My Fatsia Japonica does the same. Stalks will droop over and the thing will look like it has no structural integrity. Water, and tomorrow it's fine.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  the structural integrity is indeed provided by the capillary action of the plant tissue drawing up water and stiffening the stems
infogulch 5y ago
> drama queens I say the same thing about my Peace Lily. Actually, her being so dramatic trained me to water all my plants more regularly. Yes I'm admitting that I was trained by a plant lol :D

ars 5y ago

Succulents are also a good choice, they can tolerate quite a long time without water. The advice for them it let the soil dry completely, and then give a complete soak. I have mine in a semi-transparent container with no drain, so I can see the soil get darker, and I know when to stop adding water, and since there is no drain it soaks up the water well (i.e. the sponge hydrophobia the article mentions).

colordrops 5y ago

Funny, I couldn't kill my rosemary bush if I wanted to. It sits at the corner of the house without water and it grows and grows. In SoCal btw

thebradbain 5y ago
3 months ago I had a massive, overgrown 7 foot rosemary bush in my backyard drastically cut down to about 3.5 feet. It was so tall it was crushing itself under its own weight. One summer later and it’s back to around 5 feet. Also in SoCal, it gets watered maybe once a month, if that (whenever I remember). I _wish_ I could stop it.

pvaldes 5y ago

Spathiphyllum dislike cold and people messing with their roots when repotting. Apart of that they are low maintenance and also known to remove toxics like formaldehyde and trichlorethylene from the air in labs and rooms. Rosemary needs dig deep in the soil or in a big clay pot. Die in a day with their roots cooked if left in small plastic black pots. They need also full sun, but not when you buy it. Only after they develop its roots and pass the shock of being moved from a greenhouse to scorching sun. Big Rosmarinus plants have a bigger rootball and are much easier to keep alive.

nebula8804 5y ago
I got a peace lily in March after my father passed away and it has been so much trouble to keep it going. I'm really sad about it. First I didn't realize I was overwatering it and introduced root rot into the system. The online guides recommended repotting with fresh soil and carefully yanking on all the rotted roots so as to remove as much of the rotted material as possible. They also recommended a very gentle scrubbing with a tiny bit of dish soap with the expectation that the plant will be shocked for a while but recover. I did all this and it did help somewhat. Then the following months the area was very sunny with 90 degree F days. I didn't realize it at the time but I was killing the plant by overheat. 2-3 weeks of this and after realizing what was happening, I moved it into the basement near a tiny window with indirect sunlight (~69 degree F all day). This worked for a while but now as I take a step back and look at the plant, it is a mess. It is definitely still alive but does not seem healthy at all. Multiple leaves have yellowed, some have either yellow or black spots on it. All of the beautiful White Seed like things have turned pitch black and are disintegrating. I am now just not sure what to do, I just keep watering it with 1 water bottle's worth of water every three days or so but it seems like it is a mess that I can't recover from.
- sonofhans 5y ago
  I feel you. My son may be in this position one day. Don’t give up on it! I’ve kept multiple peace lilies in offices and homes for years. They are dramatic, but also forgiving. What you’ve done so far sounds helpful. I’d suggest: * More light, but indirect. They like well-lit rooms as long as the sun doesn’t shine on them. They do like 70º better than 90º. * Let the soil dry a little between waterings. Stick your finger in the soil to see if it’s damp. If it is, water in a few days. * It’s ok to overwater them until water runs through the pot, but be sure the pot doesn’t sit in that water. * Prune off all the dead material. The blooms always look disgusting when they die. Lastly, get it a friend or two. Get another couple peace lilies and care for them the same way. It’ll help you understand how they behave.

elyobo 5y ago

Yeah, I have a balcony that's a plant kill zone (north facing high rise in Australia, so lots of sun, the odd 40 degree (100 farenheit) day, aircon outlet there pushes it up much hotter still. Peace lilies have been surviving (not thriving, but surviving) there for 8 years now, but I've tried and killed rosemary three times now. I suspect overwatering is the cause. All of these in pots, btw, because balcony - suspect that the rosemary would be easier in the ground.

bengale 5y ago

Yeah I have one of these, its so overdramatic when it's thirsty.