I have never been one to have to too many House Plants in my home, partly because I tend to forget to water them for weeks on end and also because my two Cats like to destroy them.
One type of Plant that I have always had however are Spider Plants or to give them their correct Latin name Chlorophytum (or Chlorophyta in the plural).
These Plants may not produce beautiful Flowers like many other House Plants but they do add a little bit of colour to my home and more importantly they seem to thrive on neglect.
Spider Plants are Indoor Plants that need plenty of daylight but they shouldn't be placed in direct sunlight. I used to keep my oldest Plant on a Window ledge until I noticed that the tips of the edge of the leaves were beginning to get scorched and were turning brown. I now have it proudly displayed on top of a low Cabinet in my living room which is a nicely lit location but away from the harmful direct sunlight and my Cats.
I know that I said that Spider Plants thrive on neglect but obviously this is not exactly true. They do not die if they go without water for a few weeks
but obviously they do not thrive under such conditions and lack of water will cause the leaves to shrivel and turn brown. They also cannot tolerate frost so should not be exposed to frost of any kind and ideally not be subjected to temperatures below 7 degrees centigrade.
During the Summer if the weather is warm I do sometimes put my Spider Plants out on my Patio but I always make sure that they are in a shaded spot beneath the fence.
Given plenty of water Spider Plants will grow quickly and they will quickly outgrow their pots. When they are ready to be re-potted their pale white-yellow roots will start to push out from under the bottom of their existing pot. I find that it is easiest to re-pot these Plants when the soil is quite dry. I have only ever used a standard all purpose Compost and the re-potting of these Plants is simple, even if you are a bit of a novice.
To re-pot a Spider Plant I usually put a couple of sheets of newspaper down on the floor and then remove the Plant from its existing pot by tapping on the bottom. The Plant usually comes out of the pot very easily with most of the soil still attached to its roots. If you have allowed the Plant to remain in an undersized pot for too long however it may be more difficult to remove and it may even be necessary to snap or snip off some of the larger roots that are protruding from the bottom of the pot, this will not cause any harm to an established Plant.
Once the Plant is out of its old pot with most of its soil still clumped around its roots it can then be transferred into a larger pot. I only transfer my Plants to the next size pot upwards as in the past I have transferred them to much larger pots thinking that I would not have to re-pot them again for a longer time but I have found that in an oversized pot Spider Plants grow even quicker and can quickly get out of control.
Spider Plants have a mass of long thin leaves that go to quite a sharp point, these grow outwards from the centre of the Plant and I suppose they resemble a Spider, hence their name, with a small body and long thin legs (or arms). The majority of Spider Plants have striped leaves that are pale green and creamy white but my oldest Plant is completely green and has no stripes at all.
Spider Plants are either male or female and the female Plants produce tiny white flowers during late Spring or early Summer. When the Plant has finished flowering they then throw out long thin straggly stems and on the end of each of these a new tiny Spider Plant begins to grow. Generally speaking Spider Plants will flower and perform perfectly well providing that they are watered regularly, just at the point when the soil begins to dry out but when the Plant starts to flower they will then need a little extra water and the soil should be kept damp. When a Plant begins to produce its little babies I also give it a little bit of Plant Food, which is usually Baby Bio just for that little bit of extra strength.
The miniature baby Spider Plants grow quickly and soon start to throw out tiny roots from underneath them. Left unattended the new Plants will reach a size where they are too heavy to be supported by their stem and then they will fall off. If they are fortunate enough to land on soil their roots will quickly bury themselves beneath the soil and a whole new Plant will grow. At the point where the tiny roots appear it is however a sensible idea to remove these from the host Plant manually by simply breaking them off with your fingers. If you want some new Plants simply place them on top of some soil and hey presto! But be warned baby Plants soon grow into bigger Plants and it is easy to get carried away and let them take over your house.
There is a not of a lot of maintenance required for Spider Plants other than watering, occasional feeding and re-potting and they are also surprisingly resistant to diseases and pests. During Winter when the Plants have stopped growing they will only require watering every few weeks and over watering at this stage will cause the leaves to start to curl and turn yellow and if not corrected eventually brown. In fact the discolouring of the leaves is always the best indication that something is not quite right. This is usually simply either too much or not enough water so the problem can be easily rectified and once corrected the Plant will recover quickly.
Thank you for reading.
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