Maybe you are a small space gardener or don't actually have a garden? Or you could be a full on garden addict with your own allotment. However you get your "green fix", likelihood is that you could do with more house plants!
One solution is to make some more - for FREE! And the Spider Plant is an ideal place to start.
What spider plants can do for you
It was once thought that Spider Plants were better than any other at removing toxins from our air. Further research in the area has debunked this as other plants have been found to do the same. Just 15 spider plants would purify the air of an average size house though so they are still worth having.
The Spider Plant is still top dog in other ways too. They are very forgiving plants which will put up with irregular watering and prolonged drought. They will survive neglect on your office window sill with little or no fertilizer but will still purify your air and produce free plantlets to boot!
Spider plants are very easy to grow indoors. Propagating spiderettes or plantlets, (spider plant babies), from an existing plant is super easy too and a great activity for gardening with kids.
Spider Plant Babies
Spider plants produce babies on long stems called runners. They only do this when they are mature and conditions are right. They generally have to be a year or more old. The baby spider plants are a form of asexual reproduction: so they don't need another plant to produce mini replicas of themselves.
Propagating Spider Plant Babies
There are two main ways.
For both ways the first step is to find the nodule - a little knob-like protrusion possibly with tiny roots - on the bottom of each spiderette. Once you have found one with this you are ready to plant.
1) Propagating Spider plants in soil
Fill a small Pot with a lightweight potting mix such as peat free Growlite. Make an indent in your soil and place the plant baby into it. Leave the baby attached to the parent plant if you can until the new plant takes root. Once the little plant is established snip the runner.
If you have nowhere to balance the new pot near the main plant you can separate the baby from the parent plant before planting by snipping the runner.
2) Planting Spider Plants in Water
This is perfect for kids gardening as you can actually see the roots form and watch the plants' progress. All you have to do it find a glass jar, fill with water and pop your spider plantlet in the top. As with soil planting, you can separate it from the parent plant or not. Once the roots are a few inches long, transplant into soil as per the method above.
If you can't find a suitable glass jar - it needs to be fairly small so the little plant doesn't fall in - then you can simply moisten kitchen towel and place the spider plantlet onto it. Ideal if you have younger children who may knock the jar over. And I am sure they will enjoy spraying the plants to keep them moist! Once, the roots have grown, plant into soil as above.
And that is all there is to it. Give to grandma for her birthday or keep the plant for yourself and build your own jungle!
Top Tips: Coffee grounds are good for spider plants. You can use them as mulch, or liquid fertilizer to boost the soil's acidity and promote spider plant growth.
Fun Spider Plant Fact:
Spider plants grow best in temperatures that are 18°C – 32°C (65°F – 90°F) but can they can grow at temperatures as low as 2°C (35°). A truly versatile plant!
Comments
Hi Alison,
There are a few things you can do to encourage your plant. The first one might be to just wait. If it is in too big a pot you might have to wait for it to grow enough to fill the pot before it ‘feels the need’ to branch out and produce plantlets. If it is filling the pot then you need to make sure its other needs are being met. You can try feeding it – add worm compost to the top of the soil or use a liquid houseplant fertilizer every two weeks. You also need to make sure the temperature is right for it – spider plants prefer temperatures between 18-24°C (65–75°F) And lastly make sure you are watering regularly – they like an even moisture level, but they don’t like to sit in water. Pour away any excess water after watering.
Good luck!
My spider plant hasn’t produced any baby spiders for a long time. Is there anything I can do to get it to produce babies?
The first question is how big a pot do you have them in? If the pot is too big then the plants will still be expanding to fill it and won’t need to create offsets to ensure its survival. Another likely explanation is that they may have too little light or temperature is too chilly where they are positioned – they like to be around 65-75°F (18-24°C), Try moving them nearer to natural light or out of any drafts and see if these help. You could also feed it with a houseplant fertiliser. It is more normal to do this in the growing season (Spring / Summer) but if you haven’t been doing this then the soil may be depleted so you could feed them.
I have two well established healthy spider plants that are more than 2 yrs old. I started them from a friend’s baby spider plant. I wish I could have spiderettes. What’s the problem?
Hi Peter, glad that you found the information helpful. Will you grow your own plants as [part of the project?
Hello, I am in fact a real person. I am a student doing a project about asexual reproduction, this very much helpe me