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Spider Plants
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Spider Plants
Q. I was recently given a Spider plant
as a gift but no instructions as to its
care. Any advice/recommendations would be
appreciated.
A. Spider plants are one of the easiest house plants to raise. The number one factor is water. If you give them too much
they will rot and die. If too little the leaf tips and edges will burn
turning brown. So make sure that the plant is in a well-drained potting mix and water flows freely out the bottom holes. When you water
allow that water will drip from the bottom since you want to drench well. This also leaches out soil salts which are detrimental. Provide good light for the plant
but do not have it set in bright direct
hot afternoon light. Shelter it during this time with other plants sheer curtains or blinds. The plant will dry out quickly
with the heat causing problems. Give the plant monthly feedings of a general house plant fertilizer 12 months out of the year. The food will keep the plant growing and healthy. You can plant the baby spiders after they have grown with a few roots out the bottom of a cluster. They are easily spread and actually grow outside as a ground cover in moderate climates.
Q. About the spider plants do you leave
the long stem on the plant when you take
the babies off?
A. No. By leaving this stem on you increase
the chance of rot. Its purpose was to supply
water and food from the mother plant until
the plantlets could subside on their own.
Once mature and starting to show air roots
below their leaf stalks they are ready to
be removed and potted on their own. Use
care not to plant too low covering any of
the green and white portions of these blades
as moisture from the soil mix can rot them
resulting in death. Use a light well-drained
mix with added perlite and vermiculite.
Grow on the dry side but do not allow to
wilt as the tips will brown. Low indoor
humidity also leads to tip burn. Set dishes
of tap water around pots during particularly
dry periods.
Q. We live in Houston (Hardiness Zone 9)
and a section of our yard was always icky
because that area gets almost no sunlight
and we could not get any grass to grow. The
result was sandy mud after every rain. I planted
babies from my Spider Plant in that area three
years ago and now those plants have prospered.
Some of them are over 6" in diameter
at their base and nearly 2' tall. They get
only filtered morning light and no afternoon
sun all summer; during the winter when the
trees lose their leaves they get more sun
but it is still filtered. I only feed them
occasionally since the dead leaves from the
surrounding trees that fall amongst the plants
compost adding organic material to the soil.
The only drawback is that the runners (which
have the baby plants on them) can become invasive
and messy-looking. Use a metal-tined garden
rake to rip runners out. With minimal maintenance
we have a nice tall ground cover that is green
year-round with our mild Houston winters and
no more mud puddles!
A. This is sound advice and will assist other gardeners with similar muddy locations. myrtle
vinca [periwinkle] dichondra
English ivy monkey grass
sedum liriope
jasmine pachysandra
cotoneaster and pachystachys work well too as do low-growing dwarf evergreens. Ground covers are very practical. They treat the largest amount of area with the least amount of effort
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