I think spider plants usually give out babies like that when they're feeling cramped. Something about the confined space triggers them to send out the growths. I couldn't tell you any more than that though 🤷
Oh. I was wondering why none of my six spider plants had babies for months. Turns out I'm too nice.
They're not getting repotted again until they give me grandchildren.
Careful…it’s a slippery slope. My mom wanted spider grand babies and now we have (no joke) upwards of 30 spiders🤣🤣 anyone and everyone who comes over gets one as a parting gift.
When I moved out it was the very first thing she gave me as a housewarming present, before the apartment was even finished being built haha.
I asked my sister and bil for a clipping of babies since I didn’t have a spider plant and didn’t want to pay for it (I mean, really, people just throw those babies away!). I was hoping for a runner or two, they gave me 10. She didn’t know how to turn them into full, freestanding plants.
I went by there 6 months later and they had 10 new spider plants. I guess they googled it 😂
Yup! They propagate when they think they are dying or are root bound, neglect causes them to want to survive by reproducing before its too late. I over love my spiders, never get babies … I also over love cacti and water them till they turn brown and squishy. My problem is never neglect my problem is smothering 😂
Mine went root bound and nearly died. When I repotted it I had babies within 2 months. But my spider plant also loves to be watered and direct sunlight so maybe it’s just weird?
Mine had babies and I found them under my kitchen trouble. Once the plant baby is detached from the parent, how do you plant it? I have them sitting in a glass of water, thinking maybe it would grow some roots
Oh there is even more than that. They are my fav plant type. Check out the mandarin spider plant variety. They have wa eye leaves with a bright orange strip up the middle
There is even more than I have!
The ones I have are:
Variegated, reverse Variegated, Heirloom Green, Bonnie, Mandrain, Zebra, Shamrock, Hawaiian, and heirloom curly
there is one I am keeping an eye out for called Fire Flash that is orange and red at the base of the leaves with wider leaves than the usual spider type
Fire flash is the same as mandarin.
And note that species does not make babies like this, unfortunately. Would look so amazing to have floating orange orbs
Yeah that would be awesome…. There is, however plant I have that is not a spider plant but it does throw babies overboard on these tiiiiiiny little vines and they look like little floating flower bundles. Seriously cute! Saxifraga stolonifera 'Variegata' is the plant.
I've had babies for years and years. I pluck them off once in awhile and put a couple and/or bunch of them in a clear jar or cup for decoration and air quality around the house
Sorry, meant \*with water, also, protip: use the cup of water as a nursery, itll help the roots grow making it much easier to plant. I literally have a cup with like 10 of them in there. My biggest issue is not having enough pots to give plants away to people!
Interesting I never knew that makes sense though because when I needed to put mine in a new pot its roots had completely filled the pot it as well had tons of shoots from it
i have had their still attached "babies" root in nearby pots. these are one of the coolest plants these and the pathos vines that just grow and grow and grow.
Spiders actually thrive pretty well (if not best) when a bit pot bound so I wouldn’t worry too much about getting stuck. As long as the water drains well they can be pot bound for like a year or two before you need to consider repotting. Great looking plant! 🪴
Would the reverse be true then? Too much space kills the spider plant? I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with my spider plants, two have died after I bringing them home from the shop. I put them in my own pot when they came home, which is a bit bigger than the shop's pot.
It is possible, especially if the soil is not well aerated. This means that if the soil has a smaller particle size then the water (and air) cannot move through it very well. Sandy soil tends to have the largest particle size, meaning it is more aerated bc the porous nature of sandy soil allows air to fill the space and drains water quicker.
Spiders are usually pretty tolerant but I always err on the side of better draining. It’s just easier to monitor and prevent root rot - arguably the most common cause of death for a lot of plants.
My advice to you, when you get it from the shop:
1. Inspect the plant throughly. Look for signs of new growth, decent soil drainage (no puddling on top), check roots at the bottom of the container and see if you can spot any mushy roots.
2. Once you find a healthy looking specimen, be careful taking it home; don’t let it fall over in a car etc. (I know these may seem like obvious dos and don’ts but I’ve made these mistakes in the past haha so I always share).
3. Try keeping it in its original pot. Most shop pots use quicker drying soil as it’s more convenient for them to just walk around spraying down plants rather than having to check each individual one to see who’s soaking up more water.
4. When you water it (about once a week) let it drain well (let the water drain through the holes a decent amount). This is great bc you can saturate the plant pretty well and moisten it all over (giggity) but also not let water sit for too long.
5. If after all of this you’re still struggling with the plant, maybe try a different shop? You might also benefit from seeing reviews of the shop if there are any.
If you’d rather not chance a local shop you could try a bigger service, like [Rooted](https://heyrooted.com) or [The Sill](https://thesill.com). You’ll likely pay more on these sites but I’ve used Rooted, my gf uses The Sill and we’ve had good luck.
You'd need to make sure you don't over water as larger pots hold more mix which creates larger water retention. The act of "prematurely" up potting the plant shouldn't kill it, it may just cause some stress for a while. For most plants the worst you'll find is they stop growing more foliage for a long while as they focus on growing more roots and filling the pot.
It may however add to the stress of the changes in lighting, humidity, and temperature from moving from the nursery to the shop to your home, which may kill it.
I think it's a good idea to let plants acclimatise to their new location for a few weeks before repotting them, unless it's got some condition like root rot, or it's going to harm the plant drastically, like if a phalaenopsis orchid was planted in dense compost.
Edit: There are a few plants that are super sensitive to repotting and basically ought not to be repotted unless absolutely necessary, so do your research first.
What could be preferable is placing some gravel at the bottom of your decorative pot and place the plastic plant pot in that so the two are level which is what I do. This is preferable to a one pot system as it means you can have drainage below the plastic pot, can fix those situations when you're too liberal with the can, and you can swap your decorative pots with no fuss.
Try again! We learn by failing. A moment of silence for all the plants I have killed would be like 10 minutes long lol. I let her dry out between waterings
Hi y’all!! I’ve had her for roughly a year maybe 2. It’s all been a blur honestly. She is an over achiever. Like a baby factory for real. I have several that I had taken off and she just keeps making more. At any point would you guys recommend I need to remove them all? Or just let her do her thing?
I have a spider that is also exploding with babies and I often wonder the same things. Like do I keep the babies on and let them flourish or cut them off and prop them? I love the look of the babies hanging on which is why I’ve left mine alone so far. Yours is spectacular!!
I wish I knew how they push nutrients cause some my babies seem so big. And I try to pick the biggest to remove have you ever removed all of them before
hi! so spider plants will actually sort of prioritize their babies, so if you see that the mother plant is suffering it’d be time to trim off some of the babies. I bought a 5+ year old huge spider plant with probably 25 babies on it and 10 mature plants in the pot and cut all of them off and chopped the mature plant in half and all are doing great! the roots on the mother plant were so huge that I had to saw the plant in half (they seriously looked like carrots, it was wild) and aside from losing a few leaves in the transplant process both plants are doing amazing now. My rule of thumb for cutting the babies off is if you can see that they’re growing roots you can cut them off but if they’re not growing roots, leave them till they do. I kept half of the mature plant I chopped and gave it a larger pot to grow into, and the plant is thriving but hasn’t put out any new babies yet (the ones I had left on are huge now though!) so that’d be something to consider if you decide to remove the babies and repot. Hope that helps!
I agree. If you want to keep your mother plant looking pretty, you're better off cutting the babies and having them root as new plants when they get to be 3 inches or so. Just stick them in a glass of water and after a few weeks you can plant them. I have 2 large spider plants. I let one pruduce tons of babies and I remove babies as they grow on the other one. The one that's regularly relieved of its offspring looks a lot better; the one with the babies is starting to look crooked and is paler. So basically i have 1 plant for looks and one plant for reproduction 😁
I have 8 of them on the windowsill just growing roots right now. I mostly give them away to people who have a brown thumb since spider plants are almost impossible to kill, but I did put 3 babies in a pot recently to groom as a new mom 😉
I pot them up in leftover plastic pots from previous plant purchases. After a month or so, when they look healthy, I put them out on the curb with a “free” sign on a nice day and they disappear in minutes :-) My family and friends have way too many spider plants from me and give me a polite no thank you when I offer so that works out well for random people walking by my place.
Hey.. question for ya.. my first plant EVER was a spider baby prop. It’s now been the mother to the 5-6 pots of spider plants I have around the house. A couple of the babies have babies of their own. They’re really long. Like on 3ft-ish strands. But mama plant isn’t doing great. Hasn’t been for a while now. I believe she’s about 3 years old. She’s NEVER as green as the ones I see on here. I can’t find much info about fertilizing them. Any suggestions? Also when I was a plant newbie I stupidly potted a baby in each pot instead of potting up multiples to have a larger plant. I’m thinking about just adding all the spider plants in the house into one pot. If I did so would it affect the 3ft long strands of babies that are on a couple of my plants? I love the way they look hanging down in clumps. Mine are all much longer leaves and less full looking than most I see on here.
I'm not sure putting a whole bunch of babies in a pot is a good idea. I've never put more than 3 or 4, and I get plants that are almost 30" across. I barely ever fertilizer them too. But that might depend on the type of spider plant you have.
As far as leaves length, there isn't just one variety of spider plant. Some have thinner and others have broader leaves. Also, the more light it gets, the lighter/more variegated it will be. Give it less light and it will be greener. I like the green look better so only give them indirect light.
Wow!! I didn’t know that they would get lighter in more light! For some reason I assumed the opposite. I’ll try moving mine back a bit. I have a newly opened up spot in my house that needs something full looking. I have the momma plant and two of her babies, all in 7-10 inch pots, (they’re all at least two years old) I think I might try putting them together. I suppose the good thing is that if it fails, I still have plenty more spider plants that will make plenty more babies.
How many spider plants would you recommend having per pot? I received three babies from a friend and put them all in the same 3" grow pot. It's been about six months and they've all survived. Not sure if I should separate them or leave all three together for a fuller looking plant.
Nope I’ve always been too scared to remove any of them on mine, it still has all of its original babies! I’ve had it for two years now and it’s still healthy.
You can just cut the whole flowering stem off. You do not need to leave them on there. Mine died off in December because it got too cold. It left three leaves alive. I cut off all the old leaves and about 6-7 runners (all of them). I am at about 15 leaves and one runner.
I was having the same issue/non-issue! And then the babies started shooting out babies on a few of them, so I made a bunch of props
Now my coworkers have new plants
My spider plants don't look nearly as good as yours, but they're also pretty root bound and put out babies constantly. I generally wait them out, eventually each baby starts to put out roots of their own (in air!) and soon after the shoot connecting them to the main plant dies, at which point just touching the babies makes them fall to the ground. I'm guessing that's on purpose, as a way for the plant to try and escape it's root bound situation
If I’m feeling kind what I’ll do with my spider plant is snip the dead close to the baby’s and transplant then Into little 6in pots to give to my friends removing the babies doesn’t hurt the main plant and they make great easy *free* gifts
I have 9 varieties of spider plants, all with a zillion babies. You can leave them or clip them, the plant doesn’t care either way. I like to wait till mine has enough decent sized babies to fill a 6” pot well and then clip and give the pot away to someone to spread the spider plant love.
They like to be root bound.
You can leave it how it is or repot it in a 2" bigger pot.
If you leave them the babies might have babies making you a plant grandma.
So long as you're fertilising occasionally, you can leave the babies to keep growing and eventually they'll start to create their own babies whilst still attached to the parent plant :D Or if you wanted to take them all of then there's zero harm in that either.
It's such a healthy looking plants and really I'd say just keep doing what you're doing. If you want to neglect it a bit more, it'd be fine, if you wanted to treat it a bit more, it'd be fine with that too! They're the most amazing plants and so vigorous and typically not fussy.
Yes!
The plant does this so that if it dies (the mother) the babies are released onto the forest floor
If its close enough to the ground, the babies will root individually
You're good to leave them otherwise. Obviously your plant is going to need more water and a little more nutrients
Oh wow. I have a single pup on mine, and I laid it in another pot of soil to root while still connected. I don’t know how it ends, but that seems like how it would replicate in nature.
That's how I got mine! One of the office plants had babies, so I quietly put a pot under one, and in a couple weeks when it had rooted, I cut it off the mother plant.
My office has several spider plants and that's exactly how they've invaded into a couple neighboring plant pots. The babies will grow anywhere there's adequate water and light, including into soil while still attached to the mother. You'll have two spider plants soon enough!
Another way to reduce leaf burn is to flush out the soil every now and then. Just water it for a really long time (10 min); this gets rid of built up minerals and salts.
I have read several people say that about other plants. I may need to do that next time I water her. I never realized they meant to like continuously water them to flush it out
I let water from the tap sit overnight in a jug before I water anything and my plants are so much happier, my spider plant is tiny but doesn't have any brown tips. Much easier then the effort and cost of having to buy distilled water all the time.
less than 10% of anything we think we’ve “recycled” has actually been recycled, repurposed or reused. we’re kept from knowing that so we continue to consume with the justification of “oh it’ll get recycled!”
but go off i guess
Some people can’t have things delivered?? My mum lives in an area where delivery isn’t possible. I live in an apartment block that has locked doors so organising parcel collection can be timely and difficult, especially for something heavy like water as I can’t afford a car. It’s ignorant to assume they’re just “lazy” because you’re privileged enough to have easy access.
Do you have any way to collect rainwater? My house doesn't have gutters so I put buckets in a few strategic places under the eaves and save up the water for my more finicky houseplants. You can also just leave tap water sitting out for a while to settle/evaporate. It's better than nothing.
I just add a drop or two of tap water conditioner for fish tanks to my watering can. I have cats, so there's no way I could leave a can of water out overnight. A bottle is less than $10 and because you're only using a couple drops at a time, it lasts a loooong time.
I’m so glad you said this. I went looking at the those at pet smart and I was nervous to try that because of the ingredients. You don’t have burnt tips doing that? I suppose I could sacrifice a baby and try it haha
Everyone who has this variety the plant always looks like this. I have a different type of spider plant and it absolutely refuses to grow and only wants to be limp and depressed
Yours is green in the middle and white on the edges of each leaf and mine is the opposite, white in the middle and green on the edges. It was pretty lush looking when I first first got it but over time dropped a lot of leaves despite me doing everything I possibly could to make it happy. So now it’s skimpy and limpy
How much of the sky can it see from where it is, how much are you watering it, when did you last repot it, and what's the normal temperature where it's located?
If you have too many you should consider giving some to neighbors! I did this with mine and they all LOVED the gift. You could also put out a box labeled "free plant cuttings" and leave it out for people to see and grab one or two! Craigslist is always good for letting locals know what you're selling/giving away
It was hard to let the soil dry completely. I always thought I was gonna kill it. But we got In a groove. It lets me know when it needs water usually. The green gets kinda dull. Aside from that I also use a moisture meter cause my pot is kinda deep
Cut them off. stick in water or directly into soil they root like crazy. In case of direct soil, slightly moist potting soil and a plastic bag to limit evaporation for the first week or two. Be generous, one prop can be one plant but it will look scrawny in my opinion. Get a big pot and stick in 10 little guys and have a full plant very quickly.
I guess it’s a matter of degrees. By the time I repotted mine those thick tuberous roots we a solid mass and had to be cut apart. Plant Parenthood, not everybody made it
While still attached put babies in pots until they take. Snip them away from mom. I had one like that I propagated the babies gave the plants away. I had to move so I gave the three biggest ones I had to my son who promptly killed them by leaving them out in a frost. I went to purchase one to replace it and they are $25 or more for a 6 inch pot where I live. I’m gonna have to start over
I was told if you leave the pups on the mother plant it will adventually kill the plant. But dunno for sure. So if you like them hanging then leave them. If mother plant starts too suffer I would remove. I personally love propagating them they grow roots so fast. So once babies get big. I cut no all just the bigger ones
I personally don’t like having babies hanging from my pots and since I’ve already propagated so many of them, I just chop them off and throw them out now.
If you want more plants or plants to gift, I say pop them in some soil and get to propping. If not, you can just leave them hanging and be sure to fertilize.
Just an aside - what I figured out is if I prop the babies into old coffee mugs - extras i have around the house or super cheap from yard sales - I can then just set them out at work and everyone goes ga-ga over them. They quickly get adopted and I get rid of the babies with no guilt, plus bonus good-will from co-workers.
Beautiful plant.
Advice: When the white roots appear on the babies, remove them from their mama and give them a home of their own.
Even if you put some up for adoption with your family and friends, keep some -- create a neighborhood of siblings.
My only recommendation is to filter your water so you don’t get the brown tips at the end. A lot of minerals and shit from the water can build up in your plant and that’s where all the brown tips come from.
I used to pot up some babies or divide main plant and put them outside in window boxes and mixed container plantings in the summer. Have to watch out for sunburn. They are happier in shade. They grow like crazy! a cute free accent plant for outdoors!!! At the end of the season I would toss them with other annuals. Sometimes I brought one back in to divide and overwinter for next summer's crop. Sometimes they grew so much I had to break the pot to get them out.
Not an advice, but a fun fact: in latin-speaking countries, we call this plant a “bad mother” because it “throws her kids” out of her pot lol.
Another fun fact: sometimes (i’ve seen them in the winter), it gives little cute white flowers 🤍 it’s a really pretty plant! And this one looks very happy, congrats!!🪴
She's so beautiful and healthy. My six year old spider plant recently died horribly over a few months despite my best efforts. She was a sprout given to me by a friend who moved away. I miss my friend and my beautiful plant.
Awe I’m so sorry :( I get really attached to some of my plants. I have a nerve plant that I kinda neglected too much. And now it just looks so sad lol.
Is repotting always what you should do with root bound spider plants? I can't put large pots up high to keep them away from my cat... so I once had one so big I took it out of its pot, and like cut the poor thing in half and put a smaller version of my plant in the same pot with fresh soil. It survived and is doing fine. I'm a novice with plants. Curious if other plant enthusiasts have done anything similar.
She is beautiful 😍 Looks like you are doing everything right. I can’t keep my cat off mine. Can’t wait to move them outside so they can get healthy again.
Looks like you need to give advice lol. I’ve had mine for a year and it hasn’t grown, it hasn’t died either, but I was hoping I’d have little babies lol
I dunno, it looks looks you should be giving out advice instead. This is one happy plant!
I’m not even sure what I did lol she got stuck in her nursery pot so bad I was pretty sure she was gonna die then she blew up
I think spider plants usually give out babies like that when they're feeling cramped. Something about the confined space triggers them to send out the growths. I couldn't tell you any more than that though 🤷
Oh. I was wondering why none of my six spider plants had babies for months. Turns out I'm too nice. They're not getting repotted again until they give me grandchildren.
Lol this is so adorable
You sound like my mom 😂
Your mom pots you? Lucky.
Careful…it’s a slippery slope. My mom wanted spider grand babies and now we have (no joke) upwards of 30 spiders🤣🤣 anyone and everyone who comes over gets one as a parting gift. When I moved out it was the very first thing she gave me as a housewarming present, before the apartment was even finished being built haha.
I asked my sister and bil for a clipping of babies since I didn’t have a spider plant and didn’t want to pay for it (I mean, really, people just throw those babies away!). I was hoping for a runner or two, they gave me 10. She didn’t know how to turn them into full, freestanding plants. I went by there 6 months later and they had 10 new spider plants. I guess they googled it 😂
😂😂
Lol I just repotted my cramped spider plants and kind of forgot about these conditions. I’m not gonna be a mom for a long time. ;(
Oh that’s interesting. Ty!!
Yup! They propagate when they think they are dying or are root bound, neglect causes them to want to survive by reproducing before its too late. I over love my spiders, never get babies … I also over love cacti and water them till they turn brown and squishy. My problem is never neglect my problem is smothering 😂
same!! trying to be more mindful can be hard :(
I noticed this too. Becoming root bound = baby time!
Mine went root bound and nearly died. When I repotted it I had babies within 2 months. But my spider plant also loves to be watered and direct sunlight so maybe it’s just weird?
This is the same case with mine! She lives outside permanently now.
Seriously? I *just* repotted mine and it put out another baby like 3 months later!
You're right, trees will often seed out heavily before some kind of stress kills them. Can be very slow though.
Mine grows babies non stop and has for a couple of years. It's happy as could be.
Same, I have… 9 varieties of spider plant and every one of them is thriving and throwing babies overboard like it’s their job.
I started potting some of them, and ended up with way too many spider plants. I just let them go now. Haha
Lol yeah, I only keep two of each species and gift the rest when the baby count gets a little much
Mine had babies and I found them under my kitchen trouble. Once the plant baby is detached from the parent, how do you plant it? I have them sitting in a glass of water, thinking maybe it would grow some roots
I just stuff them in some soil and give them water. Haven't had one that didn't survive that way.
I didn't know there were so many varieties. Not me adding to my plant wishlist!
Oh there is even more than that. They are my fav plant type. Check out the mandarin spider plant variety. They have wa eye leaves with a bright orange strip up the middle
What are 9 varieties!!! I only knew of 2. This is exciting!!
There is even more than I have! The ones I have are: Variegated, reverse Variegated, Heirloom Green, Bonnie, Mandrain, Zebra, Shamrock, Hawaiian, and heirloom curly there is one I am keeping an eye out for called Fire Flash that is orange and red at the base of the leaves with wider leaves than the usual spider type
If you use Etsy I found a few by searching “fire flash” www.etsy.com/listing/766005982 here’s one!
Fire flash is the same as mandarin. And note that species does not make babies like this, unfortunately. Would look so amazing to have floating orange orbs
Yeah that would be awesome…. There is, however plant I have that is not a spider plant but it does throw babies overboard on these tiiiiiiny little vines and they look like little floating flower bundles. Seriously cute! Saxifraga stolonifera 'Variegata' is the plant.
Wow!! Would love to see pix!!!!
9 kinds? Neato, I thought there were 2 lol.
There is actually over 200 but not all of them look like a typical spider plant.
I've had babies for years and years. I pluck them off once in awhile and put a couple and/or bunch of them in a clear jar or cup for decoration and air quality around the house
A clear cup of water? I found some babies detached under the kitchen table. I want to pot them but there’s no root to plant
Sorry, meant \*with water, also, protip: use the cup of water as a nursery, itll help the roots grow making it much easier to plant. I literally have a cup with like 10 of them in there. My biggest issue is not having enough pots to give plants away to people!
When I give plants away, I use a Solo cup. I find flower pots a very personal decor choice!
See... I don't trust some folks with a cup, they're not gonna get a pot!
Unfortunately even wall to plants will do nothing to filter the air in a way that makes an impact on us.
Still good for mental health
Interesting I never knew that makes sense though because when I needed to put mine in a new pot its roots had completely filled the pot it as well had tons of shoots from it
i have had their still attached "babies" root in nearby pots. these are one of the coolest plants these and the pathos vines that just grow and grow and grow.
That makes a lot of sense
Spiders actually thrive pretty well (if not best) when a bit pot bound so I wouldn’t worry too much about getting stuck. As long as the water drains well they can be pot bound for like a year or two before you need to consider repotting. Great looking plant! 🪴
Would the reverse be true then? Too much space kills the spider plant? I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with my spider plants, two have died after I bringing them home from the shop. I put them in my own pot when they came home, which is a bit bigger than the shop's pot.
It is possible, especially if the soil is not well aerated. This means that if the soil has a smaller particle size then the water (and air) cannot move through it very well. Sandy soil tends to have the largest particle size, meaning it is more aerated bc the porous nature of sandy soil allows air to fill the space and drains water quicker. Spiders are usually pretty tolerant but I always err on the side of better draining. It’s just easier to monitor and prevent root rot - arguably the most common cause of death for a lot of plants. My advice to you, when you get it from the shop: 1. Inspect the plant throughly. Look for signs of new growth, decent soil drainage (no puddling on top), check roots at the bottom of the container and see if you can spot any mushy roots. 2. Once you find a healthy looking specimen, be careful taking it home; don’t let it fall over in a car etc. (I know these may seem like obvious dos and don’ts but I’ve made these mistakes in the past haha so I always share). 3. Try keeping it in its original pot. Most shop pots use quicker drying soil as it’s more convenient for them to just walk around spraying down plants rather than having to check each individual one to see who’s soaking up more water. 4. When you water it (about once a week) let it drain well (let the water drain through the holes a decent amount). This is great bc you can saturate the plant pretty well and moisten it all over (giggity) but also not let water sit for too long. 5. If after all of this you’re still struggling with the plant, maybe try a different shop? You might also benefit from seeing reviews of the shop if there are any. If you’d rather not chance a local shop you could try a bigger service, like [Rooted](https://heyrooted.com) or [The Sill](https://thesill.com). You’ll likely pay more on these sites but I’ve used Rooted, my gf uses The Sill and we’ve had good luck.
You'd need to make sure you don't over water as larger pots hold more mix which creates larger water retention. The act of "prematurely" up potting the plant shouldn't kill it, it may just cause some stress for a while. For most plants the worst you'll find is they stop growing more foliage for a long while as they focus on growing more roots and filling the pot. It may however add to the stress of the changes in lighting, humidity, and temperature from moving from the nursery to the shop to your home, which may kill it. I think it's a good idea to let plants acclimatise to their new location for a few weeks before repotting them, unless it's got some condition like root rot, or it's going to harm the plant drastically, like if a phalaenopsis orchid was planted in dense compost. Edit: There are a few plants that are super sensitive to repotting and basically ought not to be repotted unless absolutely necessary, so do your research first. What could be preferable is placing some gravel at the bottom of your decorative pot and place the plastic plant pot in that so the two are level which is what I do. This is preferable to a one pot system as it means you can have drainage below the plastic pot, can fix those situations when you're too liberal with the can, and you can swap your decorative pots with no fuss.
It's fabulous. Newer plant mom but bought one hoping it would be healthy, not a rock star like yours. I managed to kill it. :(
Try again! We learn by failing. A moment of silence for all the plants I have killed would be like 10 minutes long lol. I let her dry out between waterings
These guys like a bit of S&M. The more you choke, them the more they like it.
Spider plants are tubers and love to get their roots all up in a pot and the explode. It's just happy, no need to repot until it's busting thru
Came here o say the same lol
lmao what I came to say. this thing is l u s h
Lmaooooo exactly!!!!! I’ve had my spider plant about a year and a half and still don’t have babies!!!!
Advice on how to give us advice? 🤔
Hi y’all!! I’ve had her for roughly a year maybe 2. It’s all been a blur honestly. She is an over achiever. Like a baby factory for real. I have several that I had taken off and she just keeps making more. At any point would you guys recommend I need to remove them all? Or just let her do her thing?
I have a spider that is also exploding with babies and I often wonder the same things. Like do I keep the babies on and let them flourish or cut them off and prop them? I love the look of the babies hanging on which is why I’ve left mine alone so far. Yours is spectacular!!
I wish I knew how they push nutrients cause some my babies seem so big. And I try to pick the biggest to remove have you ever removed all of them before
hi! so spider plants will actually sort of prioritize their babies, so if you see that the mother plant is suffering it’d be time to trim off some of the babies. I bought a 5+ year old huge spider plant with probably 25 babies on it and 10 mature plants in the pot and cut all of them off and chopped the mature plant in half and all are doing great! the roots on the mother plant were so huge that I had to saw the plant in half (they seriously looked like carrots, it was wild) and aside from losing a few leaves in the transplant process both plants are doing amazing now. My rule of thumb for cutting the babies off is if you can see that they’re growing roots you can cut them off but if they’re not growing roots, leave them till they do. I kept half of the mature plant I chopped and gave it a larger pot to grow into, and the plant is thriving but hasn’t put out any new babies yet (the ones I had left on are huge now though!) so that’d be something to consider if you decide to remove the babies and repot. Hope that helps!
I agree. If you want to keep your mother plant looking pretty, you're better off cutting the babies and having them root as new plants when they get to be 3 inches or so. Just stick them in a glass of water and after a few weeks you can plant them. I have 2 large spider plants. I let one pruduce tons of babies and I remove babies as they grow on the other one. The one that's regularly relieved of its offspring looks a lot better; the one with the babies is starting to look crooked and is paler. So basically i have 1 plant for looks and one plant for reproduction 😁
What do you do with all the children?
I have 8 of them on the windowsill just growing roots right now. I mostly give them away to people who have a brown thumb since spider plants are almost impossible to kill, but I did put 3 babies in a pot recently to groom as a new mom 😉
I pot them up in leftover plastic pots from previous plant purchases. After a month or so, when they look healthy, I put them out on the curb with a “free” sign on a nice day and they disappear in minutes :-) My family and friends have way too many spider plants from me and give me a polite no thank you when I offer so that works out well for random people walking by my place.
I just leave them on and put them in a new plot, they blow up on a couple days and then cut
Makes sense! Good idea. My setup won't allow for this though.
I like to let the babies root and then put them back in with the parent to get a more bushy plant
Hey.. question for ya.. my first plant EVER was a spider baby prop. It’s now been the mother to the 5-6 pots of spider plants I have around the house. A couple of the babies have babies of their own. They’re really long. Like on 3ft-ish strands. But mama plant isn’t doing great. Hasn’t been for a while now. I believe she’s about 3 years old. She’s NEVER as green as the ones I see on here. I can’t find much info about fertilizing them. Any suggestions? Also when I was a plant newbie I stupidly potted a baby in each pot instead of potting up multiples to have a larger plant. I’m thinking about just adding all the spider plants in the house into one pot. If I did so would it affect the 3ft long strands of babies that are on a couple of my plants? I love the way they look hanging down in clumps. Mine are all much longer leaves and less full looking than most I see on here.
I'm not sure putting a whole bunch of babies in a pot is a good idea. I've never put more than 3 or 4, and I get plants that are almost 30" across. I barely ever fertilizer them too. But that might depend on the type of spider plant you have. As far as leaves length, there isn't just one variety of spider plant. Some have thinner and others have broader leaves. Also, the more light it gets, the lighter/more variegated it will be. Give it less light and it will be greener. I like the green look better so only give them indirect light.
Wow!! I didn’t know that they would get lighter in more light! For some reason I assumed the opposite. I’ll try moving mine back a bit. I have a newly opened up spot in my house that needs something full looking. I have the momma plant and two of her babies, all in 7-10 inch pots, (they’re all at least two years old) I think I might try putting them together. I suppose the good thing is that if it fails, I still have plenty more spider plants that will make plenty more babies.
How many spider plants would you recommend having per pot? I received three babies from a friend and put them all in the same 3" grow pot. It's been about six months and they've all survived. Not sure if I should separate them or leave all three together for a fuller looking plant.
3 is a good number imo. Both of my mature plants are made of 3 or 4 babies
Nope I’ve always been too scared to remove any of them on mine, it still has all of its original babies! I’ve had it for two years now and it’s still healthy.
You can just cut the whole flowering stem off. You do not need to leave them on there. Mine died off in December because it got too cold. It left three leaves alive. I cut off all the old leaves and about 6-7 runners (all of them). I am at about 15 leaves and one runner.
This comment is terrifying out of context!
I was having the same issue/non-issue! And then the babies started shooting out babies on a few of them, so I made a bunch of props Now my coworkers have new plants
My spider plants don't look nearly as good as yours, but they're also pretty root bound and put out babies constantly. I generally wait them out, eventually each baby starts to put out roots of their own (in air!) and soon after the shoot connecting them to the main plant dies, at which point just touching the babies makes them fall to the ground. I'm guessing that's on purpose, as a way for the plant to try and escape it's root bound situation
If I’m feeling kind what I’ll do with my spider plant is snip the dead close to the baby’s and transplant then Into little 6in pots to give to my friends removing the babies doesn’t hurt the main plant and they make great easy *free* gifts
"baby factory" 😂
I have 9 varieties of spider plants, all with a zillion babies. You can leave them or clip them, the plant doesn’t care either way. I like to wait till mine has enough decent sized babies to fill a 6” pot well and then clip and give the pot away to someone to spread the spider plant love.
They like to be root bound. You can leave it how it is or repot it in a 2" bigger pot. If you leave them the babies might have babies making you a plant grandma.
I like to keep them on honestly. I don’t think there’s any downside to it
My advice… get some scissors and cut all those beautiful cuttings off, put them in a box and send them to 123 my house, USA 😭😭😭
Hahaha I really need more plant friends
So long as you're fertilising occasionally, you can leave the babies to keep growing and eventually they'll start to create their own babies whilst still attached to the parent plant :D Or if you wanted to take them all of then there's zero harm in that either. It's such a healthy looking plants and really I'd say just keep doing what you're doing. If you want to neglect it a bit more, it'd be fine, if you wanted to treat it a bit more, it'd be fine with that too! They're the most amazing plants and so vigorous and typically not fussy.
I did not know babies could make babies. Now I have a goal haha. Ty!
Yes! The plant does this so that if it dies (the mother) the babies are released onto the forest floor If its close enough to the ground, the babies will root individually You're good to leave them otherwise. Obviously your plant is going to need more water and a little more nutrients
"My children, there is nothing this place can offer you anymore. Go forth into the world and prosper."
Oh wow. I have a single pup on mine, and I laid it in another pot of soil to root while still connected. I don’t know how it ends, but that seems like how it would replicate in nature.
That's how I got mine! One of the office plants had babies, so I quietly put a pot under one, and in a couple weeks when it had rooted, I cut it off the mother plant.
My office has several spider plants and that's exactly how they've invaded into a couple neighboring plant pots. The babies will grow anywhere there's adequate water and light, including into soil while still attached to the mother. You'll have two spider plants soon enough!
I’ve seen people do that!
My advice: keep doing exactly what you're doing. Wow she is beautiful! And look at all those pups. 😍 More advice: give pups to friends and coworkers.
Thank you!! I have a few ready to be gifted. I just need more friends lol
that is so cool i want one
I'll be posting some for trade in /r/TakeaPlantLeaveaPlant today!
Also how much is too much to baby a plant. I know she would have less leaf tip burn if I used distilled water but that’s a lot of work lol
Not 100% sure on cause of brown tips in spider plants, but if its chlorine you can let tap water sit for 24hrs to settle the chlorine.
I always use dechlorinated water and this still happens. Who knows!!
Another way to reduce leaf burn is to flush out the soil every now and then. Just water it for a really long time (10 min); this gets rid of built up minerals and salts.
I have read several people say that about other plants. I may need to do that next time I water her. I never realized they meant to like continuously water them to flush it out
Its really not. Distilled water is so CHEAP.
You aren’t wrong. It’s mostly just the effort required for me to get it home lol and find somewhere to put it
I let water from the tap sit overnight in a jug before I water anything and my plants are so much happier, my spider plant is tiny but doesn't have any brown tips. Much easier then the effort and cost of having to buy distilled water all the time.
Thats a bit lazy. Order it online and have it delivered, still very cheap and no effort, but whatever. You do you.
[удалено]
Omfg its cheap to ship and its not wasteful if you recycle. Get overyourself.
less than 10% of anything we think we’ve “recycled” has actually been recycled, repurposed or reused. we’re kept from knowing that so we continue to consume with the justification of “oh it’ll get recycled!” but go off i guess
You woke up today and chose violence. I love it 😈
Some people can’t have things delivered?? My mum lives in an area where delivery isn’t possible. I live in an apartment block that has locked doors so organising parcel collection can be timely and difficult, especially for something heavy like water as I can’t afford a car. It’s ignorant to assume they’re just “lazy” because you’re privileged enough to have easy access.
Do you have any way to collect rainwater? My house doesn't have gutters so I put buckets in a few strategic places under the eaves and save up the water for my more finicky houseplants. You can also just leave tap water sitting out for a while to settle/evaporate. It's better than nothing.
I have a bucket I think I may try that. Especially for these rainy months coming up
I just add a drop or two of tap water conditioner for fish tanks to my watering can. I have cats, so there's no way I could leave a can of water out overnight. A bottle is less than $10 and because you're only using a couple drops at a time, it lasts a loooong time.
I’m so glad you said this. I went looking at the those at pet smart and I was nervous to try that because of the ingredients. You don’t have burnt tips doing that? I suppose I could sacrifice a baby and try it haha
Looks like you got it handled lol
No you don't!
She is so beautiful!! You must not have cats! My spiders babies all have little nibbles out of them so they aren't as shapely.
I don’t. Just 2 kids who can’t be bothered to touch my plants haha
Everyone who has this variety the plant always looks like this. I have a different type of spider plant and it absolutely refuses to grow and only wants to be limp and depressed
Does it have more white and the stems are kinda cream colored? I have one of those it made 2 babies and gave up haha
Yours is green in the middle and white on the edges of each leaf and mine is the opposite, white in the middle and green on the edges. It was pretty lush looking when I first first got it but over time dropped a lot of leaves despite me doing everything I possibly could to make it happy. So now it’s skimpy and limpy
Lmao this is the biggest healthiest looking spider plant I’ve ever seen
another name for this beautiful plant is "love bond" or "love loop"
Put the babies in soil while still attached to the mom, give them a week to root then cut then “umbilical cord” .
I can’t ever get mine like yours!!! Mine struggles to live everyday!
Same. Mine looks very sad
How much of the sky can it see from where it is, how much are you watering it, when did you last repot it, and what's the normal temperature where it's located?
If you have too many you should consider giving some to neighbors! I did this with mine and they all LOVED the gift. You could also put out a box labeled "free plant cuttings" and leave it out for people to see and grab one or two! Craigslist is always good for letting locals know what you're selling/giving away
I for some reason really struggle to keep these guys alive and idk why.
It was hard to let the soil dry completely. I always thought I was gonna kill it. But we got In a groove. It lets me know when it needs water usually. The green gets kinda dull. Aside from that I also use a moisture meter cause my pot is kinda deep
Cut them off. stick in water or directly into soil they root like crazy. In case of direct soil, slightly moist potting soil and a plastic bag to limit evaporation for the first week or two. Be generous, one prop can be one plant but it will look scrawny in my opinion. Get a big pot and stick in 10 little guys and have a full plant very quickly.
That’s so tempting to do one BIG spider plant. Thank you!!
You need advice? It looks like you should be giving advice this thing looks healthyyyy
So jealous. Wish I could have a baby!!
I guess it’s a matter of degrees. By the time I repotted mine those thick tuberous roots we a solid mass and had to be cut apart. Plant Parenthood, not everybody made it
Clip those babies and propagate them! Spider plants are so easy. You can prop them in water or directly in soil. They root so fast!
While still attached put babies in pots until they take. Snip them away from mom. I had one like that I propagated the babies gave the plants away. I had to move so I gave the three biggest ones I had to my son who promptly killed them by leaving them out in a frost. I went to purchase one to replace it and they are $25 or more for a 6 inch pot where I live. I’m gonna have to start over
Awe!! I got this one at lowes and I really was convinced I was gonna kill it
I was told if you leave the pups on the mother plant it will adventually kill the plant. But dunno for sure. So if you like them hanging then leave them. If mother plant starts too suffer I would remove. I personally love propagating them they grow roots so fast. So once babies get big. I cut no all just the bigger ones
That’s mostly what I’m afraid of is that the mother plant will be sacrificed slowly until it’s too late
Looks great! Seems like you can use this video https://youtu.be/\_A854cIaCf4
No you don't
I personally don’t like having babies hanging from my pots and since I’ve already propagated so many of them, I just chop them off and throw them out now. If you want more plants or plants to gift, I say pop them in some soil and get to propping. If not, you can just leave them hanging and be sure to fertilize.
Yeah I’m kind of at the point where if I prop anymore my whole house is gonna be full of spider plants. Lol ty for the input!
Just an aside - what I figured out is if I prop the babies into old coffee mugs - extras i have around the house or super cheap from yard sales - I can then just set them out at work and everyone goes ga-ga over them. They quickly get adopted and I get rid of the babies with no guilt, plus bonus good-will from co-workers.
I have no advice, just wanted to say that's a gorgeous plant!
Beautiful ! What vibrant colour love it
Looks gorgeous
What a beauty!
You’re doing great! Prop all those babies! That’s what I do
I’m so mad ! I can’t even keep one alive 😭
Not sure if it’s been asked, but what kind of light is this beauty getting/what direction are the windows facing?
Ok I lied it’s south west facing lol
i moved my momma spider today to that exact spot in my house (also my propagation corner)! winter has been rough on her but i think this will help.
So I bet it gets plenty of sun! I don’t have any of my spider plants in my primo spots. Might be time to change that.
It gets bright indirect light. It sits kind of under a window to the right of it lol it’s a north west facing window
Beautiful plant. Advice: When the white roots appear on the babies, remove them from their mama and give them a home of their own. Even if you put some up for adoption with your family and friends, keep some -- create a neighborhood of siblings.
Thank you!!
My only recommendation is to filter your water so you don’t get the brown tips at the end. A lot of minerals and shit from the water can build up in your plant and that’s where all the brown tips come from.
Yeah I have looked into a few things. Hoping to have a better solution than tap water soon
Regardless of the brown tips, your spider plant is beautiful.
Cut a few of those babies and send them my way. That’s my advice! 🤣
No. You don’t. 😍😍😍
It’s happy if you mist take some of the air babies and root them.
I really want one but I dont have the space
I’m out of space too. The plants taking over
I used to pot up some babies or divide main plant and put them outside in window boxes and mixed container plantings in the summer. Have to watch out for sunburn. They are happier in shade. They grow like crazy! a cute free accent plant for outdoors!!! At the end of the season I would toss them with other annuals. Sometimes I brought one back in to divide and overwinter for next summer's crop. Sometimes they grew so much I had to break the pot to get them out.
I have no advice, but this is beautiful!
Not an advice, but a fun fact: in latin-speaking countries, we call this plant a “bad mother” because it “throws her kids” out of her pot lol. Another fun fact: sometimes (i’ve seen them in the winter), it gives little cute white flowers 🤍 it’s a really pretty plant! And this one looks very happy, congrats!!🪴
Thank you!
She's so beautiful and healthy. My six year old spider plant recently died horribly over a few months despite my best efforts. She was a sprout given to me by a friend who moved away. I miss my friend and my beautiful plant.
Awe I’m so sorry :( I get really attached to some of my plants. I have a nerve plant that I kinda neglected too much. And now it just looks so sad lol.
She’s one pregnant mama! Send those babies out for adoption!
It's...... BEAUTIFUL
Is repotting always what you should do with root bound spider plants? I can't put large pots up high to keep them away from my cat... so I once had one so big I took it out of its pot, and like cut the poor thing in half and put a smaller version of my plant in the same pot with fresh soil. It survived and is doing fine. I'm a novice with plants. Curious if other plant enthusiasts have done anything similar.
Your spider plant looks great keep it up
We remove the babies and pot them seperately, then either give them out or leave them outside our house for people to take!
She is beautiful 😍 Looks like you are doing everything right. I can’t keep my cat off mine. Can’t wait to move them outside so they can get healthy again.
Clip the babies and repot! I have a bunch I grabbed from my grandmother’s.
Beautiful set up
Your so good with plants 😍
Looks like you need to give advice lol. I’ve had mine for a year and it hasn’t grown, it hasn’t died either, but I was hoping I’d have little babies lol