Spider Plants

Q. I was recently given a Spider plant as a gift, but no instructions as to its care. Any advice/recommendations would be appreciated.

A. Spider plants are one of the easiest house plants to raise. The number one factor is water. If you give them too much, they will rot and die. If too little, the leaf tips and edges will burn, turning brown. So, make sure that the plant is in a well-drained potting mix and water flows freely out the bottom holes. When you water, allow that water will drip from the bottom, since you want to drench well. This also leaches out soil salts which are detrimental.

Provide good light for the plant, but do not have it set in bright, direct, hot afternoon light. Shelter it during this time with other plants, sheer curtains or blinds. The plant will dry out quickly, with the heat causing problems.

Give the plant monthly feedings of a general house plant fertilizer, 12 months out of the year. The food will keep the plant growing and healthy. You can plant the baby spiders after they have grown with a few roots out the bottom of a cluster. They are easily spread and actually grow outside as a ground cover in moderate climates.

Debbie writes~
About the spider plants, do you leave the long stem on the plant when you take the babies off?

A. No. By leaving this stem on you increase the chance of rot. Its purpose was to supply water and food from the mother plant until the plantlets could subside on their own. Once mature and starting to show air roots below their leaf stalks, they are ready to be removed and potted on their own. Use care not to plant too low, covering any of the green and white portions of these blades as moisture from the soil mix can rot them resulting in death. Use a light well-drained mix with added perlite and vermiculite. Grow on the dry side but do not allow to wilt as the tips will brown. Low indoor humidity also leads to tip burn. Set dishes of tap water around pots during particularly dry periods.

Brandie writes~
I just love your section on gardening hints from Gary Beck. I have a little information on growing Spider Plants, also called Airplane Plants. We live in Houston (Hardiness Zone 9) and a section of our yard was always icky because that area gets almost no sunlight and we could not get any grass to grow. The result was sandy mud after every rain. I planted babies from my Spider Plant in that area three years ago and now those plants have prospered. Some of them are over 6" in diameter at their base and nearly 2' tall. They get only filtered morning light and no afternoon sun all summer; during the winter when the trees lose their leaves, they get more sun, but it is still filtered. I only feed them occasionally since the dead leaves from the surrounding trees that fall amongst the plants compost, adding organic material to the soil. The only drawback is that the runners (which have the baby plants on them) can become invasive and messy-looking. Use a metal-tined garden rake to rip runners out. With minimal maintenance we have a nice tall ground cover that is green year-round with our mild Houston winters, and no more mud puddles!

A. This is sound advice and will assist other gardeners with similar muddy locations. myrtle, vinca [periwinkle], dichondra, English ivy, monkey grass, sedum, liriope, jasmine, pachysandra, cotoneaster and pachystachys work well too as do low-growing dwarf evergreens. Ground covers are very practical. They treat the largest amount of area with the least amount of effort, thus minimizing costs and labor such as mowing and trimming. Once established, they are low maintenance. Ground covers discourage weeds and they keep soil moist and cool by shielding it from the harsh sun. They help hold the soil preventing erosion and help alleviate water runoff problems.