r/spiderplants

Hi everyone! I got this plant a 1.5 years ago and it’s gone crazy with babies 😭 This is my first plant that has lasted longer than a year and I really want to make it my life goal to keep it alive forever. The leaves are starting to yellow and I think it needs a repot but I don’t know where to start! If anyone has any tips I would really appreciate it. Specifically, do I cut off the babies and what size pot/ kind of soil it needs? I’ve also heard you’re not supposed to repot plants when it’s getting colder but idk if she’ll live until next summer!

My one year old spider plant, before and after. I still have the calathea but RIP to the little one

Pictures really don't do it justice. It's massive!

Short answer: yes, you can.

Longer answer: well, it depends... 🙄

Pics are taken on the spiderplant I'm going to prune today. As you can see, there is an abundance of "babies", some of which are already quite large. As you can also see, these babies are alright, albeit a bit thirsty.

Which leads to the reason I am going to prune a lot of them off today: I watered the main pot thoroughly three days ago. It's bone dry by now. All these babies drink and evaporate water. So, there are a few options left for me:

• live with watering every 2 days (nah)
• live with a spiderplant that looks limp, greyish and thirsty most of the time (nah)
• do a repot and increase pot size enough to allow for longer water retention (yes)
• prune heavily (also yes)

I will do a repot, because that plant is awfully rootbound, but I'm planning to just increase pot size a bit, because otherwise it won't fit were it is sitting now anymore. I did the last repot less than a year ago. Plus, believe me or not, I did some drastic pruning twice since then.

So: yes, technically you can absolutely leave all babies on your spiderplant. But having a happy spiderplant and a happy multitude of babies will depend on your willingness to provide nutrients and moisture either by upsizing your pots in very short intervalls or by providing an increasingly constant stream of water.

You can allow a spiderplant to get fairly rootbound. The problem is not the rootboundedness in itself, the problem is that such a pot won't retain moisture for very long, if there is an abundance of increasingly large water consumers.

The other problem in a setup like mine, where the plant is not hanging freely, is light: the upper layers of babies are blocking out the light for the lower layers. Some of those don't look too good anymore (leaves getting very long, slim and pale).

Spiderplants require quite a bit of light, and if they have it, they keep multiplying and drink A LOT. So, this is why I am going to prune at least half of those babies away before the repot now (and no, I won't propagate them 😁).

Looks way prettier than all the random baby shoots hanging around.

It’s in a pot with about 10 other spider plants.

First time spider plant momma here, any tips appreciated
Location - Sydney, Aus

It has what looks like a stem growing out of it. Will this stem eventually grow babies?

this spider plant has been struggling for a little while now and i’m not sure what to do. i’m used to cutting back browning with my other plants but now i’m scared that was a mistake. can she be saved?

My Spider Plant Ocean has limp leaves with brown streaks that turn completely brown. It's in a terra cotta or clay pot. I did miss watering it one week. I water with tap water treated with an API water conditioner.

I don't know what to do! the base of my spider plant is very unstable and looks like it will snap off. She has babies but the weight is causing her to lean over more. Do I just cut the back and let her start again, what is the best solution?

Looking a bit like a albuca spiralis to me but its a spider plant seedling😅 wonder if the leaves will stay this tight with age or thicken out.. it survived grow box into single pot though holding onto its weirdness, sooo👀 hmmmmm