What to Do With Spider Plant Babies
Spider plants are forest floor dwellers that originate from tropical West and South Africa. They thrive underneath dappled sunlight that’s common below dense tree canopies. For this reason, they love growing inside homes in shady spots. This species thrives more often than most other houseplants, offering similar hardiness as snake plants or pothos vines.
While thriving, your spider plant will sprout thin stems from the center of their shoots. White flowers may appear on them; they need help for pollination, so shake or brush the flowers if you’d like to grow seeds. After the flowers fall off, spider plant babies grow in place of the blossoms. They grow aerial roots and pull nutrients and water from the mother plant while still attached to the stem.
You have a few options when it comes to handling baby spider plants. Leave them be, grow new specimens, or use them in unique arrangements for parties. Rejoice in the abundance of your houseplant, as these are among the most prolific species inside gardeners’ homes!
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Propagate Babies in Water
Water propagating is the simplest and easiest way to grow new spider plants. Simply snip babies off their stems, place them in a clear glass container, and fill them with water to cover their roots. Place the container near a bright window and watch as your plant grows lush leaves and tuberous roots.
The propagules can live a long time in water. They’re perfect for bathroom windowsills, grow light gardens, and amongst your existing houseplants.
Another unique way of growing these perennials in water is to leave them attached to the stem and place their roots in water. This will give you multiple young specimens with robust root systems that you can pot up and place throughout your home.
Grow New Plants
Skip the water propagation and go straight to using soil! Spider plant babies have roots on them already, and they grow more when you place them in the dirt. Start by preparing new containers for the sprouts. Fill the pots with moist potting soil and set them aside.
Gather your sprouts by snipping them off their stems. Ensure they have roots and leaves, and place each in a container. Water them well, then place them under bright indirect sunlight or shade if they’re outdoors.
New specimens are ready for transplanting into bigger pots after a year or more of growing. These forest floor dwellers are quick growers that like being rootbound; they’ll manage well in containers for many seasons.
Enhance a Leggy Plant
Spider plantlets offer the perfect solution for a leggy plant. If you have a spider plant in the center of a large container, you can place the babies around it. They’ll fill the container with new growth and create a bushy appearance instead of a leggy one.
You may also trim leggy stems if you’d like. They may root if you place them in water or soil, offering additional free babies! From the wound will sprout two or three new shoots, creating a bushy appearance after they grow. It takes some time for new shoots to sprout and wounds to heal, although the plant will look much better afterward.
Crowded containers will need repotting more often because there are more roots than a single specimen has. Aim to repot crowded containers every year or two as they start showing signs of rootbound.
Let Them Hang
Instead of fussing over the baby plants, just let them hang! They’ll continue growing on the stems, spreading roots and shoots into the air. A big spider plant with dozens of babies is a sight to see. An easy way to get one is to let a single plant grow untouched for years.
The best way to display a spider plant is in a hanging basket or macramé cloth hanger. The plantlets cascade off the sides, creating the illusion of a “spider.” Grow multiple hanging specimens near each other to create a wall of spiders!
As the sprouts age, they may grow dusty or dirty. Wipe them with a damp cloth to keep them clean, or move your plant to the shower and give it a good wash. The water will hydrate the babies and clean their leaves so they can photosynthesize better.
Make an Arrangement
Because spider plants survive in water or soil, they’re ideal choices when making floral bouquets and arrangements. Add them to the base of a floral bouquet to add a bushy, grassy touch. They may outlive the flowers!
A more comprehensive, but rewarding, project is to make a hanging log with spider plants growing around it. Pack in clay soil around a piece of driftwood, and place the baby plantlets inside the soil. Tie them up with a fishing line or string, and add moss over the dirt to cover the strings. Keep the soil moist with regular misting, and soak the log every two or three weeks.
If you only need decorations for a day or two, these houseplants are ideal greenery for table arrangements and placements. Simply snip them off and scatter them about as your design requires. They’ll stay perky and green for two or more days depending on the room’s humidity.
Plant Them Outdoors
Spider plants survive outdoors in USDA hardiness zones 9 through 11. They prefer deep shade or dappled sunlight and moist, porous soil. Like coleus and impatiens, they’re excellent summer annuals in frosty zones.
You can plant these perennials outdoors after the last average frost date in your region. They don’t like cold and will die back considerably if frosty nights return. Grow them in borders, baskets, or beds alongside other shade lovers. They may send out additional plantlets that will fill in empty spots in your garden.
Keep in mind that hard autumn frosts will kill this tender species. You can dig them up and bring them indoors, or leave them to decompose into the soil. Leave them if you have enough houseplants already, as the decomposing parts turn into valuable humus for next year’s beds.
Gift to Friends
Generosity is the sign of a good gardener. Gardeners have too many houseplants because they know how to take care of them! Gift your extra spider babies to friends and you’ll add charm to their homes. Since you enjoy the plant, why not let your friends and family do the same?
An easy way to ensure the babies survive the transition is to place them in jars of water. They’ll drink through their roots and start growing. If the trip is a day or two, you can snip the sprouts off without giving them water. Promptly soak or plant them when they get to their new home.
If you have the time and resources, you can plant the sprouts in pots before gifting them. Pot them up in small containers, let them grow for a week or two, then give them to all of your closest friends. Some of your fellow plant lovers may give you extra seedlings of their own!
Start a Business
This solution requires a bit more work than the others. Online plant businesses are passion projects that may make a profit. They’re an ideal option if you love growing indoor species and have a passion for nurturing plants for others to enjoy.
Some states require paperwork to get started, while others have simple requirements for selling plants. Consult your local and state offices to see what you need to set up shop. Look online for further information to avoid penalties down the road.
Rather than selling online, another easy store method is to sell the babies locally. Pot a few dozen, make special arrangements, or offer them alongside other unique houseplants. Many farmers’ markets allow plant sales and are easy to start in.
Throw Them in the Compost
When all else fails, throw the babies in the compost. No waste is truly waste if you compost it. The fungi, bacteria, and archaea in the pile eat up the dying plant and turn it into humus. Humus is a valuable soil product that causes it to be porous, absorbent, and fertile.
In the absence of a compost pile, you can throw extra plantlets on top of the soil to act as green mulch. They’ll decay in place and boost the soil’s fertility and structure. Burying them is another option if you’re designing raised or in-ground beds. They’ll decay belowground and offer nutrients to deep-rooted crops.
No matter what you decide to do, you’ll have to do it often! This species produces babies after experiencing three weeks of long nights and days shorter than 12 hours. Every fall and winter you’ll see new shoots pop out from your existing specimens. Hopefully, one of these solutions offers a good technique for you to manage these future babies!
