How to care for a spider plant

The spider plant is probably one of the easiest plants to take care of. When you do this well, the plant will reward you with a lot of little spider plant sprouts you can plant to grow another plant or give to friends and family. In this post, I'll talk about watering the spider plant and what kind of sunlight it needs. At the end of the post, I'll show you a few different varieties of spider plant, so you know what to expect when buying or growing this plant. Let's get right into this post.

Watering

I water my spider plants around once a week. I check the soil of the plants every day I to see if the soil is dry, if it is, I water it. If, after a week, the soil is still not dry, I don't water it. It's important to not overwater this plant. The plant will just soak up the nutrients at its own pace. There is a very easy sentence to remember when watering this plant: let it dry out a little and then water generously.

Symptoms of overwatering your spider plant

Symptoms of overwatering are quite simple, the leaves will start to turn brown and die slowly. If you see this happening, stop watering, let it the soil dry out and then water again. The plant should pick up where it left off within a few days.

Symptooms of underwatering your spider plant

When you let the soil dry out, make sure the plant isn't days without water. When your spider plant doesn't get enough water its leaves will start to fade to a lighter color. Normally, the leaves are a deep green, but when your plant doesn't get enough hydration, it'll get lighter. This makes it very easy to spot if your plant needs some water.

Sunlight

Spider plants need indirect sunlight, give it too much and the beautiful white streaks on the leaves will fade to green, give it too little and the leaves will turn yellow and will start to drop. So you can place these plants in any room that gets some sun but shouldn't be placed in the full afternoon sun. My own spider plants are sitting by north facing windows, so they get the sun they need, but nothing more than that. I have tried putting one in a south-facing window, but this ruined the plant within a week or two. I do have a plant in the room with the south-facing windows, but it's only getting indirect sunlight.

The best soil for spider plants

Spider plants are thirsty plants, but can't sit in wet soil for too long. Because of this, it's important to use well draining soil, Leca, or a combination of soil and Leca. The goal is to water the plant a lot, let the soil absorb all of the water it can, and let anything it can't soak up drain away. This way your spider plant will be perfectly watered every time.

The best pot to use for a spider plant

The best pot you can use when growing your spider plant is a pot with a drainage hole in the bottom. This way, the excess water can escape, so you're not overwatering your plant. Another great idea is to use a terracotta pot, because this is a breathable material and helps to get oxygen to your plant's roots.

Varieties of spider plant

As you could see in the image at the top, the spider plant is completely green, but there is also one that has a white and green striped pattern, like the picture below. The picture at the top is a result of taking good care of little sprouts and helping them grow. The spider plant below was actually the first spider plant I've owned. Since buying it, it's more than doubled in size. Hopefully, it's going to produce its own sprouts soon.

The edges of the leaf of the plant above are lined with white stripes. There is also the variety of green edges and white centers, to see this, have a look at a few of the smaller leaves in the bottom of spider plant in the picture all the way at the top. I care for all of these varieties in the same way, they all get the same amount of sunlight and water.

I hope this post helps you to care for your spider plants. Hopefully, you can keep these plants healthy and thriving to such an extent that you get little spider plant sprouts. When you do, have a look at "How to propagate a spider plant" and I'll explain exactly what you can do to get more of these beautiful plants.

Thank you for reading this post! I hope it helps you to keep your plants healthy and beautiful! If you're looking for more guides on specific plants, you can always request a plant guide or donate a plant in order to get a guide for the plant you have trouble with.

Tags: spider plant, beginner friendly