The spider plant or airplane plant, Chlorophytum comosum, is a plant native to southern Africa. It is, nevertheless, grown as a houseplant all over the world.
This fast-growing plant can reach a full size of 12-24 inches in a few years if given sufficient care. The long arching stems will ultimately sprout offspring on the ends, which is one of the plant’s distinguishing characteristics (and why it’s frequently referred to as a “airplane plant”).
It also has the added virtue of being an air-purifying houseplant, according to scientists. As a result, make sure it’s in an area where it’ll provide you delight while also improving your interior air quality.
Types Of Spider Plants
There are various types of spider plants, but they all fall into one of two categories: variegated or solid leaf.
One white stripe runs along the middle of each leaf of the most popular variegated spider plant. However, you can get ones with a green center and white stripes on the outsides of the leaves.
Spider plants with variegated foliage are more popular than those with plain green foliage because the foliage adds more visual interest. Curly leaf types are also available and make a delightful addition to your collection.
Does spider plant grow fast?
- Grow in a potting mix that is soil-based and drains nicely. Spider plants prefer a consistent amount of moisture; they don’t enjoy being too dry or too wet.
- Plants should be kept in bright to mild indirect sunlight. Direct, hot sunlight is not good for spider plants since it can burn their leaves, resulting in brown tips and patches.
- Spider plants grow swiftly and might quickly outgrow their pots. Plan on repotting a spider plant every other year or so.
- During the summer, spider plants can be cultivated as annuals outside. As long as they are kept out of direct sunshine, they look great around the edge of a container or bed.
How long does it take for a baby spider plant to grow?
If this method is still too slow for you, attempt cultivating spider plant babies in water.
Place the spiderettes in a glass of water for 1 to 2 weeks to see how quickly they grow. While you are not required to water the plant separately, some individuals still enjoy the process of growing a plant in a glass and seeing it develop.
When you’re practicing plant propagation through the water, these curling spider plant babies are so cute and enjoyable to look at.
Once in water, your spider plant babies will take about 7-10 days to sprout roots.
You have the option of putting the plantlet in soil or water to allow the roots to grow.
You have two options: keep the baby on the parent plant until it takes root or remove the runner and separate them. In either case, this will work. Because I have a hanging spider plant, I prefer to snip it.
How long do spider plants live for?
Spider plants can be found nearly everywhere these days; one has been sitting next to the staircase at my parents’ home for the past 20 years and doesn’t appear to have aged at all. As a result, I began to wonder how long spider plants live.
Many spider plants outlive their owners because they are perennial plants with an unlimited existence. They can easily live for 50 years or more with proper care, and their durability makes them popular as family heirlooms.
They’re also fairly resilient and one of the best air filtering plants, which is why they’re so common in offices. Check out the material I’ve compiled below if you’re intrigued about what makes them masters of survival.
Why is my spider plant growing so slow?
In reaction to changes in temperature and light, spider plants normally grow more in the spring and summer, and their development might halt significantly during the winter.
In order of most common causes, I’ve listed the following reasons for a mature spider plant to stop growing:
Temperature
The temperature being too low or too high is the most typical reason for spider plants not developing.
During the day, the temperature for Spider plants should be between 65°F (18°C) and 75°F (23°C), while at night, the temperature should be around 55°F (12°C).
Your spider plant may cease growing if temps are much warmer or colder than this range.
(Read my post for additional information on how to prevent spider plant leaves from becoming black due to frost damage.)
Spider plants are flexible and may thrive in a variety of environments, although they do best in temperatures between 65°F (18°C) to 75°F (23°C).
If the temperature is consistently below 55°F (12°C) for an extended period of time or above 80°F (27°C), the spider plant’s leaves will stop developing, become brown, and eventually die back.
Once a spider plant is in its optimal temperature range, it normally recovers quickly.
(Read my post on how to revive a dying spider plant if you think your spider plant is dying.)
Low Levels of Light
Bright, indirect light is ideal for spider plants. While they can endure shade, a reduced intensity of light or fewer hours of sunlight can cause your spider plant’s growth to decrease to the point where it appears to be stagnant.
This is why, in the winter, your spider plant may stop developing due to a lack of light.
If the spider plant is kept in constant heavy shade, the leaves will not grow at the same rate, and the variegated varieties will lose their colors and turn completely green.
Spider plants may adapt to reduced light levels, but for optimal growth, they should be placed in a brighter environment.
I must highlight the importance of not placing spider plants in direct sunlight, especially after being in heavy shade, as this causes sunburn and drought stress, which causes the spider plant’s leaves to become brown.
Lack of Water During the Active Growing Season
Spider plants can grow all year in our homes since the correct kind of stable conditions for growing exist indoors, but they thrive in the spring and summer.
The spider plant may stop growing if it is subjected to drought stress during active growth.
Spider plants are tropical plants that demand higher humidity levels than are normal in indoor situations.
Spray the spider plant’s leaves with water at least once a week, and possibly more in the summer or in dry places, to create a humid-microclimate that mimics the circumstances of its tropical habitat.
During the spring and summer, the soil should be irrigated well to ensure that it is evenly moist all the way to the roots, but the top inch of the soil should be allowed to dry out between waterings.
When the top inch of the soil feels dry, it’s time to water to achieve the ideal moisture balance, ensuring that the spider plant has enough water for vigorous growth but not so much that root rot occurs.
(Read my post, Must Know Spider Plant Watering Tips, to understand all the best techniques for watering spider plants so they grow to their full potential.)
Lack of Fertilizer
A shortage of nutrients might cause spider plants to stop developing. The roots of a spider plant that has been in the same pot for years can deplete the soil of nutrients, slowing the growth of your spider plants in the Spring and Summer months.
However, fertilizing too regularly or with too high a fertilizer concentration might cause the spider plant’s leaf tips to become brown, indicating stress.
So, from Spring to Mid-Summer, use a half-strength liquid house plant fertilizer once a month to ensure that the spider plant gets all of the nutrients it needs to thrive.
How often should I water spider plant?
Spider plants are thirsty plants that are extremely forgiving if you overwater them. Water your spider plants roughly once a week in most cases. Check the soil of the plants to see if it’s dry before watering. If the soil is still wet, wait another day and repeat the process until the soil is dry. Although the plant is thirsty, it prefers the soil to dry out every now and again.
To avoid overwatering your spider plant, make sure to inspect the soil. Once isn’t a problem because the spider plant recovers rapidly, but doing so on a regular basis will destroy it. By keeping an eye on the soil’s moisture levels, you may allow the spider plant to absorb nutrients at its own speed. When watering your spider plant, remember this simple phrase: let it dry out a little before watering lavishly.
Symptoms of overwatering your spider plant
If you accidently overwatered your spider plant, it will let you know right away. Overwatering will cause your spider plant to show a few signs, the most obvious of which is that the leaves will begin to turn brown and die slowly. If this occurs, stop watering, let the soil to dry up, and then water again. Within a few days, the plant should resume where it left off. It usually bounces back quickly.
Symptoms of underwatering your spider plant
Make sure the plant hasn’t gone more than a few days without water when you let the soil dry up. Your spider plant’s leaves will start to fade to a lighter tint if it doesn’t get enough water. The leaves are normally a dark green color, but if your plant isn’t getting enough water, the leaves will turn lighter. This makes determining whether or not your plant requires water very simple.
The leaves of your Spider plant will also begin to fold up down the length of the leaf as a result of being submerged.
It’s time to water your plant again when you see this.
Whether you’ve just watered your plant, give it a day or two to see if it unfolds its leaves again.
It’s preferable to delay a day rather than overwater your plant.
How can I make my spider plant grow faster?
To preserve their stripes, all variegated Spider Plants require a light spot. The all-green variant (which has no variegation to lose) will grow in a darker environment, but at a considerably slower rate. Direct sunlight should be avoided at all costs.
Watering
In the growing months (Spring through Autumn/Fall), water your plant thoroughly, and if you’ve placed it in a light position, you’ll see rapid growth and a decent probability of Spider Babies.
Water sparingly in the winter because growth slows down regardless of what you do, and too much water sloshing around the roots might cause the plant to rot.
Feeding
These hardy plants can handle sporadic feeding, but for consistent development, feed at least once a month with a basic houseplant fertilizer. During the winter months, do not feed newly planted Spider Babies / Pups or mature plants.
Temperature
The key to good growth is the average warmth of a normal dwelling. In the summer, you can leave your plant outside, but remember to bring it inside before the winter begins.
Your plant will thrive in temperatures as low as 5°C / 41°F if the soil is dry. If the soil is damp or the temperature drops below this, some damage is likely to occur. Any plant that is exposed to a heavy cold will be completely destroyed over night.
Repotting
If given proper care, a Spider Plant will need to be repotted into a larger pot every Spring until it reaches maturity, which takes about 2 to 5 years. You can use regular houseplant or garden compost for this. Check out our repotting instructions if you think you’ll need some assistance repotting your plant.
If you’re concerned that your plant is already too big and you won’t be able to relocate it, don’t repot it into a larger container, as this will limit its growth.
Propagation
Planting up their offsets or Spider Babies is a simple and rapid way to reproduce Spider Plants. When repotting, some people also divide the plant. The three strategies for propagating Spider Babies are listed below:
How do I make my spider plant thicker?
Cutting or separating the root ball into many portions, each with lots of leaves, and then repotting the sections into separate containers with fresh potting soil helps keep all of your plants healthy.
You can either plant the spiderettes you cut away directly into moist soil or start them in water to help them grow stronger roots before planting.
When the roots of your spider plant can be seen growing through the drainage holes in the pot, it’s time to repotte it into a larger container in the spring.
When transplanting your spider plant, choose a pot with plenty of drainage holes and make sure to use new potting soil.
When it comes to dirt, spider plants aren’t picky, so use any nice, well-draining organic potting soil.
Do spider plants need sun?
Your Spider Plant may withstand lower light levels, but it thrives in bright indirect light. With indirect lighting, the leaf striping will be more visible. The leaves will be scorched if they are exposed to direct sunlight. When the top half of the soil is dry, water your Spider Plant.
Are there male and female spider plants?
You’d be shocked how often I hear the following useless horticultural information: a spider plant, also known as an airplane plant (Chlorophytum comosum), must be a male if it produces no “babies” (plantlets). And wouldn’t it seem natural, given that only female animals give birth to offspring?
But, of course, that is nonsense. The gender of a plant has no bearing on whether or not it produces offsets (babies). They’re a type of asexual reproduction in which no exchange with another plant, male or female, is required. And it just so happens that, like the great majority of plants, the spider plant contains “ideal” flowers, i.e. bisexual flowers. Male and female organs are both present and working. As a result, it is both male and female hermaphroditic.
It is thus for some other reason that the spider plant does not produce kids. That’s usually because it’s either too young (it has to be around a year old before producing offsets) or it’s not getting the proper growing circumstances.
A spider plant, it just so happens, is a very simple plant to grow (indoors at least, outdoors, it needs a tropical climate). It will produce at least a few offspring on its famous hanging stems despite inconsistent waterings, prolonged drought, little or no fertilizer, and barely acceptable temps.
When a spider plant doesn’t produce any offspring, it’s almost always because it isn’t getting enough light!
Keep in mind that for green (photosynthetic) plants, light is their only source of energy. Light is as crucial to them as food is to humans. Spider plants are extraordinarily hardy, and they may survive for years in low-light circumstances, despite being basically half-starved the entire time. However, they will not blossom in those conditions, and blooming is necessary for them to reproduce.
Spider plants, for example, will develop arching flower stalks with small white blooms in even somewhat excellent light. They aren’t particularly flashy and are relatively short-lived, so they may go undetected. Despite the appearance of flower buds, the flower stalk continues to lengthen, arching downward under the weight of the small plantlets that form on it. These are the “kids” you’ve been looking forward to. The stem droops more as the plantlets grow larger and more numerous, giving the plant its well-known trailing habit. However, it must blossom before it can produce kids, which necessitates the use of light.
The spider plant grows on the ground in the natural (it’s a common groundcover in Sub-Saharan Africa), and the arching stem quickly reaches the ground, where the babies take root and produce new spider plants. As a result, asexual reproduction (rooted plantlets) is more important to the spider plant than sexual reproduction.
It just keeps generating more and more hanging flower stalks in hanging baskets, and even the baby plants in free fall begin to develop their own flower stems, leading the plant to cascade even further downhill… which is why the spider plant is such a popular houseplant.
The spider plant, on the other hand, need a lot of light to produce a lot of pups. At the very least, moderate light for even a small number of newborns. It will just develop leaves in low light.
How big do spider plants get?
One of the most common and well-known houseplants is the spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum. It’s especially popular among novices because it’s simple to grow and spread, tolerates neglect, and thrives in practically any environment. The little plantlets produced on long trailing stems that resemble spiders give it its common name.
This clump-forming perennial herbaceous plant with narrow, strap-shaped leaves that emerge from a central point is native to coastal parts of South Africa. The leaves might be pure green or variegated with white or yellow streaks running lengthwise. The leaves appear to be funneled or folded down the middle, rather than being flat. Plants reach a height of 12-15 inches. The plant’s large, fleshy roots and rhizomes have developed to retain water, allowing it to withstand irregular irrigation.
Long, wiry stems up to 2 feet long, with a few small leaves, are generated, especially in response to short days and long, uninterrupted nights for at least three weeks, though they can appear at any time of year inside. At the terminals of the stems, little white star-shaped flowers appear. More leaves are generated at the end of the stems after flowering, generating miniature plantlets. When a flower is fertilized, it produces a leathery, 3-angled capsule-type fruit with flat black seeds.
Spider plants have been shown in studies to be very effective at cleaning indoor air by absorbing chemicals such as formaldehyde, xylene, benzene, and carbon monoxide in homes and offices.
Indoors, in medium to bright light, spider plants are very easy to grow all year. It thrives in moderate humidity and chilly to moderate temperatures, while it can endure higher temperatures. Use a soilless medium or a general-purpose potting soil. When plants are slightly pot-bound, they flourish and generate the most plantlets. They require periodic repotting to perform at their best because they grow swiftly and the roots can easily become overcrowded.
Between thorough waterings, allow the soil to dry gradually. Fertilizing every 3-4 months or feeding more regularly with a half-strength fertilizer solution is typically sufficient. Be careful that plants that have been intensively fertilized may not produce as many plantlets, and that too much fertilizer might cause tip browning.
Except for scale insects and mealybugs, spider plants have little pest concerns. Leaf tip burn is a widespread condition with a variety of causes. Brown leaf tips can be caused by low humidity, overly dry soil, salt accumulation, and/or pollutants in tap water, particularly fluoride or chlorine. Tip browning can be avoided by using distilled or rainwater. Root rot can be caused by overwatering or planting in poorly drained soils.
In cool climes, this plant can also be cultivated as an annual outside. It thrives in most well-drained soils and should be bedded out once the last frost has passed. With its grass-like foliage that contrasts nicely with other foliage types, spider plants make a fantastic addition to containers. It’s ideal for a hanging basket because the stems can dangle down. They require bright light when grown outside, however if grown in full sun, they may become sunburned. They create a beautiful ground cover in partly shaded regions of the garden in warmer climates.
Planting the “spiders” or plantlets that follow the flowers in their own pots is a simple way to reproduce spider plants. Set the plantlet on the surface of a pot filled with soilless potting material, still attached to the mother plant, and allow it to root before removing the stem attaching it to the mother plant. To keep the plantlet in contact with the soil until it grows roots, use a bent paper clip or a piece of wire. Alternatively, choose a plantlet that has already begun to produce roots and pot it. Plants that are larger can also be divided. They can also be produced from seed, though offspring may not have the same leaf hue as the parent.
- The leaves of ‘Milky Way’ have green borders and a large white to cream center, giving it a lighter appearance than other cultivars.
- The dark green leaves of ‘Vittatum’ have a wide, creamy white stripe running down the middle of each leaf. It grows at a slower rate than the green varieties.
- The leaves of ‘Variegatum’ are relatively broad green with white edges. Compared to other cultivars, this one produces fewer plantlets.
- The middle leaf vein of ‘White Stripe’ features a short white to cream line that fades as the leaf ages. Instead of being green, the flower stalks are cream to yellowish.