Can A DIY Fertilizer Made From Ingredients In Your Pantry Benefit Your Peace Lilies?

Peace lilies can be a great houseplant to grow indoors since they require less light than most house plants and need watering only once a week. That makes growing them difficult to mess up. However, there are a few exceptions. They should be kept out of the reach of small children who can be made ill by the toxic calcium oxalate found in the plant. This toxin also makes the peace lily a house plant you should never grow in a home with pets. That said, there are great benefits to growing them for people who experience happiness from a green household but lack a green thumb.

There are a number of tips and tricks for growing thriving peace lilies, but one lesser known tip has to do with the fertilizer you use to grow them in. With a few common ingredients from you pantry, like rice water and coffee grounds, you can create a fertilizer from scratch that your peace lilies will love. Fortunately, since peace lilies are fairly low maintenance on that front, you'll only need to ensure you feed your lilies fertilizer once a month in their growing season — typically early summer and into the fall — at which point you can expect household species to grow up to an average of 16 inches. Here's how to "think green" about fertilizing your peace lilies.

While there are a few uncommon household uses for rice, it's safe to say that most people would never think of rice water as being particularly useful for growing plants. When you wash your rice before cooking it, the starch and nutrients in the rice are imparted to the water. This creates a nutrient bath that acts like an NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus potassium) fertilizer. Rice water leeches these properties from the rice, and the natural starches left in the water are good for your peace lilies, too. In addition, nitrogen fortifies the stems and leaves of your peace lilies, the potassium assists the growth of your blooming flowers, and potassium assists the overall health of your plant.

To use rice water as fertilizer for your peace lilies, save the water you soak and wash your rice in. You don't want any salt or other seasoning in the water, as that will just dry out your peace lilies and leave you with a lifeless plant. Combine one part rice water with one part tap water and feed your all-natural fertilizer to your peace lily once a month. It's definitely an interesting way for rice to serve as a fertilizer in your home or garden, and potato water works as a fertilizer, too. 

Now that you have an idea of what elements can help grow your peace lilies, it should also provide you with a blueprint for other potential fertilizers. For instance, banana peels are packed with potassium. If you cut up your old peels and leave them to soak in an enclosed jar of water for at least a week and up to a month, you'll have the beginnings of a potassium packed banana peel fertilizer. Mix two parts tap water with one part banana fertilizer when you're ready to feed your peace lilies, and do this once a week for best results.

You can also stop dumping your used coffee grounds in garbage. Coffee grounds are nutrient rich, can repel pests, and their high acidity actually helps balance the pH levels in the soil. Coffee grounds are naturally imbued with nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, and are a great natural fertilizer, so long as you use it sparingly. Too much can block the oxygen and water in the soil from getting to your plant. Otherwise, you can just pour a moderate amount of coffee grounds directly from your pot around the soil bordering your peace lilies. These organic options sitting in your pantry are just a few great ways to fertilize your peace lilies with common household items.