Spider plant care

Spider plant care comes down to bright indirect light, watering when the top inch of soil is dry, and temperatures between 60 and 80°F. It is non-toxic to pets, survives missed waterings thanks to thick storage roots, and its only chronic complaint, brown tips, is mostly a water-quality and feeding problem.

Below: exact watering intervals, a brown-tip decision guide, how to get and root babies, and when to repot those famous pot-cracking roots.

About the plant

Chlorophytum comosum is a clump-forming perennial from coastal South Africa with narrow, arching leaves growing from a central crown. University of Wisconsin Extension describes it as one of the most common houseplants, easy to grow and propagate, tolerant of neglect. Mature plants are 12–24 inches across, with runners trailing 2–3 ft, which makes them natural hanging-basket and shelf plants.

Common US varieties:

Light

Spider plants want medium to bright light. Clemson HGIC recommends bright, indirect light and notes the plant tolerates some direct sun, but midday rays can damage the leaves.

• Best: an east window, or 3–5 ft back from a south or west window.
• Acceptable: a north window or a bright room away from windows. Growth slows and stripes fade.
• Too much: a south or west sill in summer — expect bleached, crispy patches.
• Too little: an interior bathroom with no window. Leaves go limp, narrow and pale; add a grow light for 12 hours a day. See light for houseplants.

Watering

Water when the top inch of soil is dry. For a 6-inch pot in a bright US home that usually means:

• Spring and summer: every 5–7 days.
• Winter with heat on: every 10–14 days.
• Hanging baskets near the ceiling dry faster — check twice a week in summer.

Water until it drains from the bottom, then empty the saucer. Clemson suggests letting the soil dry slightly between waterings; Wisconsin Extension adds that the thick, fleshy roots store water, which is why the plant forgives a missed week. What it doesn't forgive is a pot that never dries: yellowing leaves and a sour smell mean the roots are rotting (see root rot).

Water quality matters more for this plant than most. Spider plants are notably sensitive to fluoride and dissolved salts. If your city water is fluoridated or hard, use filtered, distilled or collected rain water, or at least flush the pot with plenty of water every few months to push accumulated salts out of the drainage hole.

Brown tips: what causes them and what to do

Brown tips are the single most common spider plant complaint. Wisconsin Extension lists low humidity, overly dry soil, salt buildup and chemicals in tap water, particularly fluoride or chlorine, as causes; Clemson points to too much fertilizer or water high in soluble salts.

Work through it in this order:

1. Is there a white crust on the soil or pot rim? Salts. Flush with 3–4 pot volumes of water, then switch to filtered or rain water.
2. Has the soil been going bone dry? Water a little sooner.
3. Are you feeding monthly or more? Cut back to every 2–3 months at half strength.
4. Is it next to a heating vent in winter? Move it; group plants or use a humidifier to get above 40%.

Snip brown tips off at an angle following the leaf shape. The cut edge may brown slightly again but new leaves will grow in clean once the cause is fixed. Detailed troubleshooting is in spider plant brown tips and the general brown tips guide.

Soil, pot and repotting

Use any all-purpose indoor potting mix and add 20–30% perlite for drainage. Choose a pot with a drainage hole.

The roots are thick, white and tuberous, and they expand fast. A plant can fill a pot in a year and literally crack thin plastic. Repot in spring when:

• Roots are visible on the surface or poking out the drainage hole.
• Water runs straight through without soaking in.
• The pot bulges or the plant dries out in 2–3 days.

Go 2 inches wider, or divide the clump into 2–3 pieces, each with leaves and a good share of roots. The RHS suggests repotting and dividing every 2–3 years or replacing old plants with young plantlets. A slightly snug pot encourages babies; an oversized one stays wet and delays them.

Temperature and humidity

Ideal daytime temperature is 65–75°F, with nights down to 50–55°F according to Clemson HGIC. Keep plants away from cold drafts and freezing window glass in winter. Spider plants aren't frost hardy; the RHS keeps them above roughly 50°F.

Average home humidity is fine. In very dry winter homes (under 30%), tips brown faster; a humidifier or grouping plants helps more than misting.

Outdoors: in frost-free, warm-winter climates spider plants are grown as ground cover or in shaded containers year-round. Elsewhere, hang them on a shaded porch from late spring until nights fall below 50°F.

Fertilizer

Feed every 2–3 months in spring and summer with a balanced liquid houseplant fertilizer, or more often at half strength. Wisconsin Extension notes that heavy fertilizing can reduce plantlet production and increase tip browning — this is a plant where less is more. No feeding in winter. See the fertilizer guide.

Babies (plantlets) and propagation

Spider plants flower on long wiry stems (stolons), and small plantlets form at the nodes after the tiny white flowers fade. Wisconsin Extension notes runners typically develop in response to short days and long, uninterrupted nights for at least three weeks, which is why most plants produce babies from fall into winter. A plant under lamps every evening may stay "barren."

Rooting them is about as easy as propagation gets:

1. Pin while attached. Set a small pot of moist mix next to the mother, press the baby onto it and hold it with a bent paper clip. Roots grow in 1–2 weeks; then cut the runner.
2. Water rooting. Cut babies that already show nubby roots and stand them in a glass with the base just touching water. Pot when roots are 1–2 inches long.
3. Direct to soil. Push a baby's base into moist mix, cover with a clear bag for a week to keep it humid.

Clemson notes that plantlets root readily when in contact with soil. Division of large clumps works too. Full steps and timing are in spider plant propagation.

Pets and kids

ASPCA lists spider plant as non-toxic to dogs and cats. Cats are drawn to the grassy, dangling leaves and a cat that eats a lot may vomit from plain fiber irritation, so hanging the pot out of reach is still sensible. For other safe options see pet-safe plants.

Pests

Spider plants are rarely bothered, but in dry heated rooms watch for spider mites, and in leaf bases for mealybugs. Constantly damp soil attracts fungus gnats; letting the top inch dry is the first step, and our sister site covers the rest in how to get rid of fungus gnats.

Air purification

Spider plant was one of the species in the 1989 NASA sealed-chamber study, which is why it appears on "air-purifying plant" lists. A later review by Drexel University researchers concluded you'd need 100 to 1,000 plants per square meter to match ordinary building ventilation. Grow it because it's easy, safe and pretty; open a window for clean air.

Spider plant through the year

Common mistakes that cost spider plants their looks

• A huge pot "to grow into." Extra soil stays wet, roots rot, and the plant puts energy into roots instead of runners. Go up 2 inches at a time.
• Watering on a fixed schedule in winter. A plant that needed water every 5 days in July may need it every 2 weeks in January. Check the top inch first.
• Fertilizing to fix brown tips. Tips are usually a salt problem; more fertilizer makes them worse.
• Lamps on until midnight in the same room. Long artificial days can suppress flowering and therefore babies. A plant in a bedroom or spare room often produces more runners than one in a lit living room.
• Leaving a cracked pot. Thick roots that have split the pot dry out in hours. Divide the clump instead of squeezing it into a slightly bigger container.
• Treating it as a low-light plant. It tolerates medium light for a long time, but the stripes fade, leaves get floppy and the plant stops making babies. Bright indirect light is what keeps it looking like the photos.

Spider plant vs look-alikes

Spider plant is sometimes confused with a few other strappy, striped plants. Liriope (lilyturf) is an outdoor ground cover with stiffer leaves and no plantlets on runners. Variegated spider ivy sold as "Chlorophytum laxum" or "Bichetii grass" is shorter and rarely makes babies. Dracaena 'Warneckii' has similar stripes but grows on a woody cane. If the plant sends out long, arching wiry stems with tiny plants at the ends, it is a spider plant.

Quick spider plant checklist

• Bright indirect light; no hot afternoon sun.
• Water when the top inch is dry; use filtered or rain water if tips brown.
• Feed lightly, spring and summer only.
• Repot or divide when roots fill the pot, about every 2 years.
• Keep above 50°F.

More beginner-proof picks are in easy houseplants and trailing plants.