Raising Spider Plants

Characteristics

• Spider plants display cascading long-green and white-striped or solid green leaves and flowering stems with small, white, starry flowers. These plants can thrive as easy-care houseplants and also outdoor plants where the year-round temperature dips no lower than 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Outside, spider plants thrive in zones 9 to 11 of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Spider plants respond well to artificial lighting making it an ideal plant for office buildings and commercial settings.

Houseplant

• Over-watering and incorrect lighting are the most common mistakes made by novice houseplant owners. Spider plants thrive in evenly moist but not soggy soil. Keep the soil moist at all times with the exception of winter when you can let it dry out slightly. Bright indirect light keeps the spider plants healthy. They sunburn or fade in direct sunlight, and do not produce plantlets in low light. Spider plants prefer a cool home around 55 degrees Fahrenheit, but tolerate average indoor temperatures. The fleshy, tuberous roots store water and grow quite rapidly. Spider plants need repotting frequently or the ever-expanding roots can force the pot to burst.

Outdoor Plant

• Spider plants make an attractive groundcover in warmer climates or during the summer months. These plants also display well in planters, pots and as edging along sidewalks or as border plants in a garden bed. If you live in a cold climate, you can either treat spider plant as an annual and replace it each year or bring it indoors before the first frost.

Soil and Fertilizer

• A good commercial potting mix for indoor spider plants and well-amended soil for the outdoor plants provides nutrients and adequate drainage. Clay soil needs to be generously amended with compost to correct drainage problems. Fertilize the plants once a month with a foliage plant food. Over fertilizing may result in poor production of plantlets. If this occurs, the try cutting back on the frequency of fertilizing.

Potential Problems

• Whiteflies, spider mites, scales and aphids are problematic for spider plants when the soil becomes soggy. Washing the plants off regularly and watering correctly prevents this problem. Spider plants usually get some brown tips on the leaves. Trim the brown tips off regularly. When rampant brown tips are appearing, it's time to do some troubleshooting. This can be a sign of too little water, excess salts in the soil, or the plants may need repotting. If you planted in clay pots, and the outside of the pots have white areas on them, or a white crust on top of the soil, you're looking at excess salts. To solve this problem, place the plants in the sink and run tepid water through them several times. Let the water drain out each time before you water again. This leaches the salts out of the plants. Place some new potting soil in the pots.

Propagating Spider Plants

• There are two ways to propagate spider plants: divide the root ball or plant the offsets. The easiest way to plant the offsets is to fill a small pot with planting soil, water the soil, place the pot next to the parent plant and place the plantlet, still attached to the parent plant on moist soil. Pin the plantlet down with a hairpin. When roots of the plantlet grow into the soil, you can cut it free from the parent plant.