How to Keep Spider Plant Happy?

Spider plant is beautiful foliage of grass-like long leaves in shades of green to white. Its identifying feature is the plantlets or pups hanging by the stalk in the midst of leaves. It’s a very low maintenance indoor or outdoor plant. It’s the best plant to start your garden with since it’s a very forgiving & adaptable plant you could blunder around it.

Temperature

The spider plant is very adaptable it could survive winters and summers well. The best temperature though is from 10-30°C. It could not survive well in harsh winters or scorching heat so you might have to keep it inside if you live in such conditions. It prefers humid conditions so if you live in dry conditions place the pot over pebbles and put water in the pebbles so that plant could get constant humidity from them.

Lighting

Spider plant prefers deep to moderate shade or it could survive well with indirect light. It doesn’t need a lot of sun so it’s a good plant that could be placed in your bathroom or bedroom. If you find the plant is getting wrinkled then move it farther away from the window.

Watering

Spider plant needs well-draining moist soil. It doesn’t prefer wet soil so when you feel that the topsoil is dry then water the plant. If your plant is indoor then water it once a week but if the plant is placed outdoors then you might have to water it more frequently.

The plant survives well in purified or distilled water.

Fertilizing

Fertilize the plant during summers and spring 1-2 times/month, avoid it in case it has outgrown the pot or in winters. Liquid fertilizer is better than the granular one.

Repotting

If there’s excessive spillage of plant or you see roots growing out of the drainage hole the repot the plant. Take 3-4 inch larger pot and plant it.

While repotting if the plant is large you could divide it and propagate the plant.

Propagation

It’s very easy to propagate the plant

• Divide the main plant and repot it
• Use the pups/ plantlets and put it in water till roots emerge then plant it in the soil.

Common problems with spider plant:

Brown tips on leaves

The plant often develops brown tips, there could be a number of reasons for that:

• Over/ under watering
• Excessive mineral accumulation because of tap water
• Over/ under sun exposure

Remedy the cause and the plant would recover. Till then cut off the tips diagonally so that the beauty of the plant is restored.

Spider mite or insects infestation:

Protect the plant from aphids/ spider mites. You could spray neem oil regularly on plants for better care.

Leaves appear Blanched

Over sun exposure may blanch or scorch the leaves. Place the plant further away from the window and the plant would recover.

I hope my post would be of some help to you and your plant would be healthy and growing always.

Happy Gardening to all.