I just received a large Peace Lily. My questions is: Do I need to repot it or will the container it came in be enough for now?

Gently lift the plant out of the pot and inspect the root system. If it is winding around in circles or covering most of the soil, you should replant it in a container one size larger than the container it came in. If the roots don't look crowded, you can keep it in the original container.

It is never a good idea to repot a newly acquired plant. New plants have a hard enough time adapting to their new environment without having to undergo the stress of repotting.

Plants do best when the rootball is 80% roots and 20% soil. This is particularly true of flowering plants, such as the peace lily, that bloom only when moderately potbound. Repotting will delay flowering until the roots have once again filled the pot.

Visual inspection of the roots is not the most effective way to determine if a plant is sufficiently potbound to warrant a larger pot. In many instances, the roots are mostly wrapped around the outside of the rootball, but not well dispersed in the center of the rootball.

If a plant can go more than a couple of days without water following a thorough watering, then it it does not need to be repotted. As long as there is enough soil to retain several days of water, then there is no reason to repot.

You may be interested in my website at www.HorticulturalHelp.com and my Indoor Plant Bulletins that I publish monthly.

[ September 20, 2002: Message edited by: Will Creed ]