I CANT get this dang plant to make babies. She looks like...
1ft to light, direct
8β pot with drainage
Last watered 1 month ago
9
For some reason Greg is telling you to water every 6 days, but that seems way too often for an 8" pot. What does the soil feel like right before watering? Spider plants like their soil to really dry out between waterings, so if she's sitting in damp soil for too long that could definitely affect her health, which would also affect her ability to produce pups. It's also possible she's not mature enough to start making babies. How long have you had her? And how long since you last repotted? Do you regularly fertilize?
Sharing my experience: As someone with an over-abundance of spider plants now, my very first one became *extremely* prolific after I repotted it with fresh soil. Attaching pictures of its first 6 babies (of 19 since last year), which I let grow roots until they were very root bound (took ~6 months), then potted them together. Two immediately sprouted offshoots, as you can see, despite still being tiny things themselves.
My guess is that the sudden infusion of nutrients from the fresh soil was the main trigger for both the mother plant and now the babies. I use FoxFarm Ocean Forest and add perlite and vermiculite. I also gave the mother Miracle-Gro Indoor Plant Food Spikes after she sprouted her first set, which may have contributed to the prolificness.
For your case, based on the picture Iβd consider splitting yours up into a couple smaller pots with either new soil or some fertilizer and see if that helps. They do like to be root bound.
My guess is that the sudden infusion of nutrients from the fresh soil was the main trigger for both the mother plant and now the babies. I use FoxFarm Ocean Forest and add perlite and vermiculite. I also gave the mother Miracle-Gro Indoor Plant Food Spikes after she sprouted her first set, which may have contributed to the prolificness.
For your case, based on the picture Iβd consider splitting yours up into a couple smaller pots with either new soil or some fertilizer and see if that helps. They do like to be root bound.
@UberFrogfruit itβs under a sunlight, but itβs not a clear sunlight, so Iβd say filtered light. Yes, sheβs a curly. I wait till sheβs feeling dry, water until the water goes thru the bottom and make sure I drain it out
@UberFrogfruit Iβd say maybe indirect? Itβs a sunlight, but not a clear one. I have since moved her to a window to experiment with that
@stephonicle yeah, 6 days is way too often! I wait till sheβs feeling dryish, use a water meter until itβs almost showing dry, then i water until the water run thru the bottom, let the water quit coming out. She was having babies when i bought her two years ago. They liked not great. I clipped them off and they just have never came back. I did have her under a filtered sun light, but have since moved her closer to an actual window
@GraceFrog yeah, so you know the gist π Not to be rude, but some of the advice π€¦π»ββοΈπ You should never water on a schedule, or assume that just because your plant dries out and needs watering every week and a half that someone else should adhere to the same schedule. There are SO many variables unique to your plant and its environment that will affect how quickly the soil dries out (temp, humidity, etc). That's why the app's reminders should be used as suggestions more than anything. It's great you check the soil to make sure it's dried out before watering, that's the way to do it. Even when the soil's surface is dry, it can still be very damp further down near the roots. That's why I always use my moisture meter to make sure it's completely dried out ALL the way down in the pot. I let mine really really dry out, since they're so prone to root rot I find it's better to underwater than overwater. Underwatering is easily corrected, but overwatering not so much.
Also...it's conflicting advice to say they like being root bound, but you should split it up into separate pots. Repotting causes stress, and a stressed spider plant is less likely to start putting out babies. You're also more likely to overwater if the pot is too big. And you don't have to repot in fresh soil to give your plant a boost of nutrients, that's what fertilizer is for! Speaking of fertilizer, I personally would NOT recommend using any type of Miracle Gro plant food. It's all chemical fertilizers and can cause fertilizer burn on roots. I prefer using organic fertilizer diluted at every watering. There's a brand called We The Wild, I use their liquid concentrate and my plants all love it.
By the way, spider plants have a tendency to get brown tips when the humidity is too low. If you start noticing this you can set up a humidifier nearby if you want, but I've found no matter what I do it's bound to have at least some brown tips. It can also happen if you use tap water (depending on your location...some areas have much harder water than others). I've noticed fewer brown tips since I switched over to distilled water.
As for light, direct sun means the sun's actual rays hit the plant's leaves...directly. Indirect is any light situation where that doesn't happen (shade, curtain, etc). Spider plants will get burnt if they get too much intense direct sun, but it might be ok getting direct sun in an east-facing window since morning sun is much gentler than PM sun. Mine has always been in a north facing window, it never gets direct sun and it puts out babies practically year round.
Sorry for the novel and for my mini-rant! πβΊοΈ I hope all this makes sense, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!! π₯°
Also...it's conflicting advice to say they like being root bound, but you should split it up into separate pots. Repotting causes stress, and a stressed spider plant is less likely to start putting out babies. You're also more likely to overwater if the pot is too big. And you don't have to repot in fresh soil to give your plant a boost of nutrients, that's what fertilizer is for! Speaking of fertilizer, I personally would NOT recommend using any type of Miracle Gro plant food. It's all chemical fertilizers and can cause fertilizer burn on roots. I prefer using organic fertilizer diluted at every watering. There's a brand called We The Wild, I use their liquid concentrate and my plants all love it.
By the way, spider plants have a tendency to get brown tips when the humidity is too low. If you start noticing this you can set up a humidifier nearby if you want, but I've found no matter what I do it's bound to have at least some brown tips. It can also happen if you use tap water (depending on your location...some areas have much harder water than others). I've noticed fewer brown tips since I switched over to distilled water.
As for light, direct sun means the sun's actual rays hit the plant's leaves...directly. Indirect is any light situation where that doesn't happen (shade, curtain, etc). Spider plants will get burnt if they get too much intense direct sun, but it might be ok getting direct sun in an east-facing window since morning sun is much gentler than PM sun. Mine has always been in a north facing window, it never gets direct sun and it puts out babies practically year round.
Sorry for the novel and for my mini-rant! πβΊοΈ I hope all this makes sense, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!! π₯°
I find that watching the leaves lets me know when to water. My spider plants get wrinkly edges when theyβre just starting to get thirsty, and if I wait then the leaves start folding down the middle. They fold back out and lose the wrinkles after watering, good as new.
Attaching photos of a spiderette I watered this morning to show the different states. Photos are 2hrs apart. This one is getting intense light and used to ask for water every 2 days, but itβs now good to go for 5-6 days because has grown out its tuberous roots and can store more water. With more mature roots or less intense light, it would go longer. Trust your plant, it knows best. βΊοΈ
Attaching photos of a spiderette I watered this morning to show the different states. Photos are 2hrs apart. This one is getting intense light and used to ask for water every 2 days, but itβs now good to go for 5-6 days because has grown out its tuberous roots and can store more water. With more mature roots or less intense light, it would go longer. Trust your plant, it knows best. βΊοΈ
