Gardeners have been told peace lilies will grow “bigger and better blooms” with the addition of one 75p product. The houseplant is often beautiful after being purchased, but once at home, it’s not long before the flowers turn brown and wilt, leaving just the green leaves.
To help your peace lily flourish with blooms all year round, Petar Ivanov, gardening and plant expert at Fantastic Gardener, has shared an invaluable tip for the ideal pot addition. “Like any other plant, a peace lily can benefit from a little boost to flower,” Petar said. “Feed it banana skin as a fertilising agent; this is the best kitchen scrap to make a peace lily bloom.”
However, he mentioned that other kitchen scraps could also be effective. He added: “There are also some other [kitchen scraps] you can replace [banana] with. The key is for the ingredient to be potassium-rich, which is the nutrient that encourages flowering.
“Eggshells are an excellent replacement for banana skin water because they’ll also enrich the plant’s soil with calcium, which is an essential nutrient for plant growth. You can also add coffee grounds instead, which contain nitrogen and phosphorus that also benefit healthy plant growth.”
Petar explained that using coffee grounds is slightly more laborious as they should ideally be composted first to break down before being applied to the plant’s soil.
Kitchen scraps such as banana, egg shells, or coffee grounds should only be used during the peace lily’s active growing period, typically spring and summer.
“Do it once a month,” advised Petar, noting that the growth period spans from March to August. He also suggested alternating between the kitchen scraps so the peace lily can benefit from each nutrient, adding: “Keep in mind also that these types of homemade fertilisers are usually a lot more gentle on plants than commercial ones so you can apply them with a bit more freedom.”
However, these kitchen scraps are not effective fertilisers all year round. They become useless during winter because that’s when the peace lily’s growth season is dormant. During the colder months, a peace lily “needs to rest”, according to Petar.