How To Divide Peace Lily Plants

Dividing peace lilies every few years helps keep the plants healthy and is a great way to increase your houseplant collection without buying more plants.

In this article, I’ll show you step-by-step how to divide peace lily plants and keep them healthy after they’ve been separated.

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Peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) can live happily in the same pot for many years but will eventually outgrow the pot.

You know it’s time to share your peace lily when:

You can see several crowns in the pot
The plant produces fewer flowers or stops blooming completely
The soil dries very quickly after watering
Roots begin to grow out of the bottom of the pot

Repot or divide?

If your peace lily has outgrown its pot but it only has one stem or crown, you won’t be able to divide it, so in this case just repot the plant into a larger pot.

Some people are worried about damaging their plant by dividing it and prefer to replant it in a larger container and that’s ok, but keep in mind that peace lilies can get quite large after five to 10 years of growth.

One of my peace lilies had been in the same pot for more than 10 years so it was well overdue to be divided.

As you can see in the picture below it was getting too big for the pot and it hadn’t flowered in a couple of years so it was really time for division.

HOW TO SHARE PEACE LILIES

Things you need:

Give your plant a good watering the day before you divide it to ensure it is in good condition before you start separating it.

Check how many crowns or offsets the plant has and make sure you have enough containers to pot them all up. You can add more than one offset to each pot if you don’t have enough.

Carefully remove the plant from the pot by turning the pot on its side and giving it a light squeeze.

If the plant is heavily rooted, you may need to gently pull the stem to get it out of the pot.

Once the peace lily is out of the pot, you can cut away any brown leaves or stems around the base of the plant to clean it up.

The next step is to separate the crowns and you can use your hands to gently pull the roots apart or if the root ball is very tight you can use scissors or a knife to cut through the roots.

Make sure each crown has at least three leaves and some roots attached.

Pot up the new plants in pots large enough to fit the roots and accommodate the plant.

Water the new plants thoroughly until the water drains to the bottom of the pot. It is best to do this outside or in the bath to avoid making a mess.

Place the plants in a cool spot with indirect light so they can settle into their new pots.

Transplant shock is common after dividing daylilies so you may notice that the leaves are droopy for a few days after transplanting. [1]

Keep the soil moist and they will perk up again in no time.

My plant had three large crowns and some smaller offsets but I only had four pots so the largest pot has quite a few offsets and I may divide them again in a year or two.

Hopefully they will be happy in their new pots.

When is the best time to divide peace lilies?

You can separate peace lilies almost any time of the year, but it is best to avoid doing so during very cold or hot weather so as not to stress the plant.