Spider Plants are one of the easiest care indoor plants around. They’re tolerant of a wide range of conditions and are adaptable and durable as can be. Here are Spider Plant care and growing tips to keep yours healthy, looking good, and producing babies.
The fancy botanic name for a Spider Plant is Chlorophytum comosum. Other common names they’re called are Airplane Plant, Ribbon Plant, and Spider Ivy.
These hanging plants, with fleshy rhizomatic roots, need a bit of room to show off their arching displays. Those long stems, with babies and flowers at the ends, just spray out any which way they want to. Spider Plants aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but I love their wackiness and somewhat wild growth habit.
Note: This post was originally published on 7/30/2014. It was updated on 1/15/2022 with more info & new images.
Some Of Our General Houseplant Guides For Your Reference:
- Guide To Watering Indoor Plants
- Beginner’s Guide To Repotting Plants
- Indoor Plant Care For Beginners
- 3 Ways To Successfully Fertilize Indoor Plants
- How to Clean Houseplants
- Winter Houseplant Care Guide
- Plant Humidity: How I Increase Humidity For Houseplants
- Buying Houseplants: 14 Tips For Indoor Gardening Newbies
- 11 Pet-Friendly Houseplants
Plants hanging in the grower’s greenhouses. As you can see, the mother plant is not as brightly variegated as the Spider Plant babies (aka spiderettes, plantlets, or pups).
If you’re “houseplant challenged” then Spider Plants might just be for you. Here’s what you need to know about caring for these trailing plants whose arching leaves look like large blades of grass.
I grew them outdoors year-round when I lived in Santa Barbara, CA. They grew in my side garden in pots in a shaded spot. They’re as easy to care for outdoors as they are indoors.
I now grow mine indoors in Tucson, AZ. This is about Spider Plant care as houseplants. Most importantly, they adapt to a wide variety of conditions in your home.
Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to find answers to many frequently asked Spider Plant care questions.
Size
The leaves of these plants are long. A large plant would be approximately 36″ wide x 20″ high, not including the babies.
Mine is currently 28″ wide x 20″ high, including the pot.
Growth Rate
Moderate to fast, depending on the growing conditions.
As you see here, Spider Plants come in a variety of leaf variegations. These are just a few & there are many on the market now.
Uses
Spider Plants make great hanging plants, especially if they have stems with babies. This really shows them off. Smaller ones are fine tabletop plants. I’ve also seen them in living walls.
SPIDER PLANT CARE
Water
Spider Plants have low to average water needs. Water yours when it’s dry or almost dry. Be sure to let the water drain all the way through the pot and if in a saucer, don’t let it sit in water.
Depending on how warm and bright your house is, this might be every 10-21 days. I really can’t tell you how often to water yours because there are many variables that come into play. Here are a few: the pot size, type of soil it’s planted in, the location where it’s growing, and your home’s environment.
Here in Tucson, the climate is warm, sunny, and dry. I water my Spider Plant in a 12″ pot about every 14 days in the summer and every 21 days in the winter.
The thick fleshy roots of a Spider Plant store water. Don’t keep yours too wet or it’ll ultimately succumb to root rot. It’s best if the bottom of the pot has one or more drainage holes. This allows the excess water to flow out.
If your tap water is high in salts (Spider Plants are sensitive to minerals), consider using distilled water. I have a tankless r/o water filtration system in the kitchen that puts the good minerals back in.
Related: How to Water Indoor Plants
Light
Here’s where Spider Plants are most adaptable. They prefer nice bright light, near but not in a west, north, or east window.
A south exposure is fine, just as long as it’s not in a hot window. This will cause the plant to sunburn. Mine grows in my kitchen about 7′ away from a south-facing window.
Even though bright, indirect light is their sweet spot, they will tolerate lower light conditions. Just know that if you have 1 of the variegated varieties, some or all of it will revert to solid green.
If the light is too low, the leaves will become paler, weaker, and limp.
They’ll actually do fine in good strong artificial light. Be aware that they probably won’t produce flowers and babies without natural light.
You may have to move your Spider Plant to a brighter spot in the winter months so it gets the light it needs. Here are more tips on Winter Houseplant Care.
Temperature
If your home is comfortable for you, it’ll be so for your indoor plants too. Be sure to keep your Spider Plant out of any cold drafts as well as away from direct blasts from air conditioning or heating vents.
This photo has nothing to do with Spider Plant care, but the spiderettes do make a good headdress!
Humidity
These plants are native to subtropical and tropical regions. Despite the fact that they prefer humidity, they’re adaptable. They do fine in our homes which tend to have dry air.
The humidity here in the desert can be as low as 10%. My Spider Plants have brown tips because of this.
I have this humidity meter in my dining room close to the kitchen. It’s inexpensive but does the trick. I run my Canopy humidifiers when the humidity reads low, which is almost all the time here in the Arizona desert!
Every month or so I take mine outdoors, give the foliage a good shower, and leave it in the shade for a few hours. It also helps to keep the foliage clean.
If you think yours look stressed due to lack of humidity, here are a couple of other things you can do. Fill the saucer your plant sits on with pebbles and water. Put it on the pebbles but make sure the drain holes and/or the bottom of the pot aren’t submerged in water.
Misting your plant a few times a week will help too. I like this mister because it’s smaller, easy to hold, and puts out a nice amount of spray.
We have a whole guide on Plant Humidity that might interest you.
Fertilizer
Every spring, I give the majority of my houseplants a light application of worm compost with a light layer of compost over that. Easy does it – a 1/4 ” layer of each is enough for a 6″ size houseplant. Read about my worm compost/compost feeding right here.
I give my Spider Plant a watering with Eleanor’s vf-11 3 times during the warmer months which are spring, summer, and early fall. Alternately, I feed with liquid kelp or Maxsea 2-3 times. We have a long growing season here in Tucson.
Two times per year may do it for your houseplants. Don’t over-fertilize because salts can build up and eventually burn the roots of the plant.
Spider Plants are sensitive to salt. Too much will show up as brown spots and/or brown tips on the leaves if you fertilize too often or use too great a ratio.
Avoid fertilizing a houseplant that is stressed, ie. bone dry or soaking wet.
Soil / Repotting
Spider Plants aren’t too fussy in regards to the soil mix. Just be sure to use good organic potting soil that is labeled for houseplants or indoor plants. It’s very important that it drains well.
The mix I use for mine is a blend of 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 coco coir, and 1/3 pumice. I toss in a couple of handfuls of compost as I plant, and top with a thin layer.
Spider Plants like being a bit potbound so don’t rush to repot them. They’ll actually produce babies if slightly tight in their pots.
When I repot Spider Plants (which isn’t too often), I generally go up 1 pot size. I last repotted mine 2 1/2 years ago and it’s showing no signs of stress.
Spring, summer, and early fall are the best times to repot.
Lots of beautiful spiderettes. Just a few stems have produced so many potential new plants! Don’t let too many babies hang on the mother plant for too long. Remove some of them because they’ll eventually zap out some of the energy from mama.
Pests
I’ve seen them with mealybugs and scale.
I’ve talked about mealybugs and scale before so you can identify these pests and treat your plant accordingly to get rid of them.
Pests can travel from plant to plant fast and multiply practically overnight so make sure you get them under control as soon as you spot them.
Pruning
This plant grows thick with foliage. I prune mine every couple of months to remove any yellowish undergrowth and bent and/or dead leaves.
And of course, to remove the stems with the babies for propagating!
Just make sure your Pruning Tool is Clean & Sharp before you do any pruning.
Propagation
Spider Plant babies are miniatures of mama and very easy to propagate. The roots start as tiny brown nubs on the bottom of the spiderettes and turn whitish as they grow and elongate.
The most popular way of propagating is in water. Put them in a jar or vase with water and the roots will grow really fast. You can plant after 7-10 days.
You can also put them in a light soil mix to root.
Another way to propagate them is by division. This can be challenging if the plant is older because those root balls are extremely thick, dense, and fleshy. You could lose a portion of the plant and/or root ball in the process.
On the left, you see a young baby with little “root nobs”. As the baby grows (still attached to the mother) the roots grow also. On the right is a baby that I’ve been rooting in water for a month now. The roots looked like the image on the left before putting it in water. It’s a fast process!
Pet Safety
Wave the flags! This one is deemed non-toxic to cats and dogs according to the ASPCA website.
Just be aware that Spider Plant leaves are like crunchy grass. Fluffy or Fido might love to munch away so it might make them a bit sick.
My kitties occasionally chew on the ends of mine so that’s another reason for pruning.
Flowers
Oh yes, they do! They’re not particularly showy and are small and whitish. The flowers appear as the plant ages.
Spider Plant Care FAQS
It grows the fastest in moderate to high light exposure.
Spider Plants love bright natural light but will burn in the strong, hot sun. They’ll survive in lower light but won’t grow much. This is when the foliage can turn pale and weak.
No! I think they’re one of the toughest indoor plants around.
Spider Plants can live a long time, well over 30 years. I knew a woman who had inherited her grandmother’s 40-year old+ Spider Plant. Nice to have a living memory!
No, they don’t. If they have a lot of spiderettes attached, hanging gives them more room to do their thing. They look better this way because it really shows the sprays of babies off.
I would choose another indoor plant if you want one to grow upright. Spider Plants have long, arching leaves that looked best displayed as is. Besides, they rarely get above 20-24″ tall.
You can. Just know ow that if you leave too many babies on for too long and they get too mature, they’ll drain the energy out of the mother.
It depends on many factors so I can’t tell you. It’s better to keep them on the dry side, watering when the soil is almost dry.
Again, it depends. I live in a climate with mild, sunny winters and water mine in a 12″ pot about every 21 days.
Yes, I do. A broken leaf will never grow back. Besides, Spider Plant foliage grows densely so the plant will put out more leaves in no time.
The most common reason is dry air.
don’t because I don’t like the look. You can if you’d like, but it will be an ongoing task!
Yellow leaves are commonly due to too much water, too much fertilizer, not enough light, or tap water too high in minerals. My Spider Plant is big and very full. Some of the low under leaves turn yellowish due to lack of light.
In no time at all! The roots are already poking out on the bottoms of the babies. The roots are well along after 7-14 days of being in water.
When rooting in water, just be sure to keep the water at a steady level. Change it out every 7-14 days so it stays fresh. If in soil, keep it evenly moist.
Here’s a video shot in the greenhouses where we took the photos for our book. Be warned, it’s one of my very early videos. I’m shooting a new one soon.
Happy gardening!
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I would like to know I live in Florida in the middle of the state and I would like to know if I can leave my spider plant outside in the winter time if it does get cold I could cover it up because I would like to put it in a birdbath well drained
Hi Jack – I’m not sure how cold you actually get by Spider Plants are hardy in USDA zones 9-11. I lived in Santa Barbara,CA where the average winter lows were around 40 degrees F & my Spider Plants did fine in my garden. They can’t take a freeze. Hope that helps, Nell
my spider plant babies keep getting brown and dying on me, i have it in the south window because my house is facing the south.
Hi Nichole – You could be over watering. Or, if the plant is potbound, they could be too dry if the plant is getting a lot of sun. Nell
My spider plant on the stem has brown looking bugs an it has a sticky white residue on it what can I do for it?
Hi Wanda – It sounds like scale; spider plants are susceptible to them. Here’s a post & video I did which will help you out: https://www.joyusgarden.com/scale-thrips-how-to-control-them/ Nell
Loved the video! Am I to understand that spider plants should be planted individually? I was recently given several baby plants that had been living in water. I planted them in an 8″ hanging planter but not too closely together. They are growing beautifully but I haven’t gotten any babies yet. Should I try to separate them and plant them separately or is it too late?
Hi Miriam – I plant them individually because they grow so fast & have thick roots. You’ll eventually need to transplant them because they’ll crowd out an 8″ pot. Plus, they get heavy as those roots grow! I’ve found they produce babies readily when they’re slightly pot bound. Nell
im struggling with my spider plant..
I got it because its supposed to be easy.. or so I thought… I keep getting yellow/brown tips.
I have it hung in a macrame hanger it gets some pretty good bright indirect light from an east and west window, I just recently started watering with distilled water but the brown/yellow leaves keep popping back!.. im also watering when the top 2 inches are dry….what am I doing wrong!
Hi Yessica – I’ve since moved to the Arizona desert where my Spider Plants now grows outdoor in the shade. It gets brown tips here because of the dry air, especially in summer. Yellow leaves can be caused by a few things but the 2 most common are: too little light & salts in the water. Even though you’re using distilled water now, if salts are the cause, they’ve built up in the soil & it’ll take them a while to all flush out. Nell
Great info here…. thank you!!
Mary Lou
Thank you Mary Lou … & you’re welcome! Nell
To Jack Mainville in Florida. I live in south Louisiana and have been growing spider plants outside in the ground for decades and they have endured our winters just fine. They’ve spread like ground cover. So they have lived through 20 degree winters.
Hi James – Good to know. I now live in Tucson, AZ & mine has survived temps to 27F. I took it inside because of our extreme summer heat. Nell