Spider Plant – How to Grow and Care for Your Spider Plant
The spider plant is a popular and easy to grow houseplant. It has nice striped leaves that provide a little contrast and it will make all kinds of cute little baby shoots when it’s thriving.
We even included it on our list of the Best Houseplants for Beginners.
We’ve got the complete guide to the spider plant. We’ll tell you more than you want to know about it and how to make yours happy so read on.
Spider Plant Overview
If you’re interested in all things spider plant we’re sharing it here. Knowing it’s common names and scientific names make it easier to search for when you’re looking for a spider plant to purchase.
| Common Name(s) | Spider plant, spider ivy, airplane plant, ribbon plant, hen and chickens |
| Scientific Name | Chlorophytum comosum (klo-row-FY-tum co-MO-sum) |
| Family | Asparagaceae |
| Origin | South Africa |
| Height | Up to 24 inches |
| Light | Varied |
| Water | Medium |
| Temperature | 65-75°F |
| Humidity | Moderate |
| Soil | Any good potting mix |
| Fertilizer | Monthly |
| Propagation | Creates it’s own small plants to be repotted |
| Pests | Aphids and spider mites |
The spider plants scientific name “comosum” actually means long hair. Which is the perfect description of this plant. The leaves are long and form from a center stalk which really does resemble hair.
You may even get some flowers on your spider plant in the summer time.
The long shoots that the spider plant sends out have mini plantlets on them, and in the wild these will root into the ground and grow into new plants. On a hanging basket you’ll have to cut them and replant them but the babies are a fun part of these plants.
Spider Plant Care
The spider plant is one of the easiest houseplants to care for. They’ll very tolerant of their growing conditions and they can tolerate low light and erratic watering.
Light
A spider plant will grow in almost any kind of light – except direct sunlight. They really thrive in a nice bright room with indirect lighting but they’ll survive even if all they receive is fluorescent lighting.
This means that a spider plant will stay alive in an office building without windows. That’s not going to be a spider plant living it’s best life, but it will live there.
Plants that get bright, indirect light for more than 6 hours per day will produce more baby plants. Their favorite spot is going to be about 4-6 feet away from a south-facing window.
Temperature
A spider plant is going to be happiest in the temperatures that we’re happiest in. Roughly 65-75 degrees on average. They can live if the temp drops down to 35 but they’re not going to grow. They definitely don’t like direct sunlight and temps above 90 degrees will just cook them.
Water
The spider plant is pretty accommodating when it comes to a watering schedule. It will prefer to be watered once a week but it’s okay if you miss that target once in awhile.
The best thing to do is to make sure that you water it evenly and thoroughly. It’s best if you’ve got a planter with a saucer on the bottom of it, but if not be sure to water it over the sink so that water runs out the bottom of the drain holes.
Water the soil, not the leaves. If you water over the leaves it tends to just run off and not actually reach the roots of the plant. This plant likes to store its water in its roots.
If you’re in a city that has a lot of chemicals in the water you may want to let your water sit out overnight before you water your spider plant. They can be sensitive to fluoride and salts and they can store that up in their roots. Alternatively, you can use bottled water or distilled water for your spider plant.
Humidity
The spider plant likes a little more humidity that we humans prefer, but it will be just fine as long as you keep it away from a direct blast. That means heat or arctic, don’t place it where the air is blowing on it and that’ll help keep it’s soil (and leaves) from drying out too much.
If your skin is dry from your indoor heat you can assume that your spider plant is feeling pretty dry as well. Be sure that you’re watering often enough or you can try keeping it in the bathroom, which tends to be more humid in general.
Soil
Potting soil is what you want for your spider plant. Avoid garden soil because it’s meant for gardens. You might think these are interchangeable but potting soil holds water a little better and that’s what to look for. It’s not a specialty soil, it’s just potting soil.
Fertilizer
These plants don’t need to be fertilized very often and too much fertilizer can kill them so this is one area where its better to err on the side of too little.
If you’ve got an all purpose fertilizer that you use for your indoor plants you’ll want to dilute it by half for the spider plant. Once a month is often enough for your spider plant.
Spider Plant Propagation
The spider plant is one of the easiest plants to propagate because they make their baby’s all ready to be adult plants. This makes it easy and fun to share with all your friends, or to keep a few smaller ones around all the time.
The easiest way to propagate your babies is just to cut them off and plant them directly into the soil. That’s it. Really.
Well you’ll need to water them too, but it really is that easy.
You can also root them in water if you’re careful to keep only the roots wet, but we think that putting them directly into the soil is the easiest process. Of course you want to be sure that you’re using potting soil so they’ll keep on flourishing.
How to Repot Your Spider Plants
The spider plant is one of the plants that doesn’t mind being root bound. Their roots are pretty good at holding water and they’ll just keep expanding.
When it’s time to replant you don’t want to go too big on your post size, just be sure the pot is about an inch larger all the way around. They may not be happy if you move them into a pot that’s too large, it might shock them a bit.
You’ll know that it’s time to repot your spider plant if they seem to need water more and more often. They may not have enough soil left in their pot and it’s time to move them up a size.
A little fun fact for you – the roots of a spider plant have been known to break pots when they became too large. Don’t let that happen to you.
Pruning Spider Plants
If you need to prune your spider plant just cut any leaves off all the way at the base. Generally this is only if you have some lower leaves that have turned brown from not getting enough light. It’s okay to remove any dead or discolored leaves and it’ll make your plant look (and act) much healthier.
It’s also a good idea to cut back the baby spiders to keep your plant thriving. If you plan to leave them on your plant then you’ll need to fertilize and water your plant more often since it takes a lot of energy to raise all those kids.
Spider Plant Problems
The spider plant is a pretty forgiving houseplant and not a whole lot will bother them. There are a few things to watch out for so keep an eye out for:
Brown Leaf Tips
You might find that the tips of the leaves turn brown and this can be caused by a few different things. The first thing is that they’re not getting enough water, so you may need to adjust the watering schedule to a little more often.
The second is that they don’t like the water. The spider plant can be a little sensitive to chemicals in the water so you may need to switch to distilled water.
It’s okay to trim the brown tips off so that your plant stays looking pretty.
Bleached Leaves
If your leaves are looking very pale they may be getting too much direct sun or too much heat. The best way to remedy this problem is just to relocate your plant.
Root Rot
Root rot is a pretty easy problem to prevent. Once your plant has root rot it could be hard to recover it, this is one of those thangs that you really have to catch it before it happens.
There are a couple of reasons that your spider plant might get root rot. One of them is that you’re watering too often. In this case you just want to space your waterings out more and let the soil dry out a bit in between.
The second reason is that your soil, or your pot, isn’t draining well. Be sure that you’re using potting soil and that the pot you’ve chosen has drainage holes in it and you should be fine.
Spider Plant Pests
Spider Mites
Isn’t is funny that spider mites are the most common problem for spider plants? We think it’s funny but not so much fun when you’re actually dealing with them.
I’m always curious about how we can even get pests inside our homes, but if you do, just use insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on your plants. Do this every few days until you don’t see any more evidence of them.
Aphids
Aphids are another pest that you might find on your spider plants. They like to eat the sap in the plants so you’ll likely find them down in the crevasses of the plant. You can get rid of them with a strong spray of water and then use a cotton swab with rubbing alcohol to kill the rest of the pests.
That’s all there is too it!
Growing a spider plant is pretty easy and it makes a great hanging plant in just about any room. These are easy to care for plants and you can share the baby’s with your friends and family too.
They’re also non-toxic and help clean the air so we should all have these where we spend the most time!
