Grow and Care for Spider Plant

Keep a spider plant in bright indirect light and water when the top of the mix is just dry. Brown leaf tips usually come from fluoride, chlorine, or fertilizer salts — not from a plant that needed more water in an already wet pot.

spider plant is the all-green clump. Spider Plant ‘Vittatum’ has a white center stripe. Spider Plant ‘Variegatum’ has white edges. Airplane plant and ribbon plant are names for the same species. Stripe ID, plantlets, and a cracked pot live on the child pages.

Bright indirect light, and a mix that dries slightly

North Carolina Extension wants bright light without a long spell of direct sun, and a mix that dries a little between waterings. Dim rooms keep a green plant alive and fade the stripes on variegated kinds. Thick tuberous roots store water, so a missed week is kinder than a wet saucer.

Bright indirect is an east window, a south or west window with a sheer, or a spot a few feet back from hot glass. Morning sun is fine. Midday sun bleaches stripes and cooks the crown. A dark stairwell keeps the clump alive and turns variegated leaves muddy.

Dry slightly means the top of the mix is just dry to a finger, or the hanging basket feels light when you lift the hook. Then water until it runs, and empty the saucer. In winter the room is cooler and the pot stays wet longer, so water less often. Ice cubes do not belong in this mix.

If the saucer refills overnight, empty it again. A sealed cachepot with no inner drain is the same failure as a wet saucer. Lift the grower pot after you water.

Brown tips versus a wet pot

Brown tips are the usual complaint. Clemson Extension points to extra fertilizer, water high in soluble salts, low humidity, or a mix that went too dry — and tap water with fluoride or chlorine can burn the same tips. Distilled water or rain is kinder if the tips keep browning on tap.

Do not answer brown tips by watering a pot that is already wet. That is rot. Dry the surface. Empty the saucer. A brown tip from salts is a trim, not a flood.

Trim the brown with clean scissors. Follow the dead tissue. Leave the green. A brown tip that stays firm is chemistry. A crown that smells sour, with leaves that pull out wet, is rot. That plant needed a drain yesterday, not more water today.

Low humidity can crisp the same tips in winter heat. A tray of pebbles is optional. It is not a reason to keep the mix wet. Extra feed in a small pot salts the mix fast. Skip winter feed.

Flush once with plenty of water if the crust on the surface is white, then go back to dry-slightly.

• Brown plus wet mix: empty the saucer. Let the mix dry before the next watering. Do not flood.
• Brown plus a light, dry pot: the mix went too far. Soak, drain, then let it dry slightly again.
• Brown plus heavy feed: cut the feed. Trim the tip.
• Stripes gone green: brighter indirect light, not a new species.

Choose the stripe on Types of Chlorophytum. Clone from plantlets on How to Propagate Spider Plant. Move it before the roots crack the pot on How to Repot Spider Plant.