Bare-Rooted Spider Plants

Spider plants are grown for their attractive foliage.

Spider plants are grown for their attractive foliage.

Popularly grown indoors in hanging baskets for their attractive foliage, different cultivars of the spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) have long, green, white or yellow-striped grassy leaves. The plant stores nutrients in long, wiry rhizomes or stems that are fancifully thought to resemble spider legs; hence, they are called spiders. A study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration says the spider plant helps clean indoor air by absorbing chemicals including benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and zylene.

Soil, Light and Heat

Kansas State University horticulturalists recommend planting spider plants in a commercial potting mix containing sphagnum peat moss. They suggest using little or no perlite in the mix. Spider plants will grow in temperatures between 70 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but daytime temperatures from 65 to 70 degrees and nighttime temperatures from 50 to 55 degrees are ideal. Place your plants in bright, indirect light. You can leave them in direct sunlight, but midday sunlight can scorch their leaves. Spider plants begin flowering during periods of short days and long nights after which they grow their roots or spiders. If your spider plant is in a room where the lights are on at night, creating a long day, it may not flower and will grow fewer spiders. If the light is too bright the leaves may lose their rich, vibrant green, and variegated cultivars may lose their yellow or white stripes.

Water and Fertilizer

Spider plants prefer soil that is dry or partly dry. Check the soil daily, and let it dry out briefly before you water it. For a 6-inch pot, apply 1/6 of an ounce of water soluble 19-6-12 fertilizer every three months during the growing season from March through September. Adjust the amount for larger pots, keeping the same ratio. A 19-6-12 fertilizer contains the ratio by weight of 19 parts nitrogen, 6 parts phosphorous and 12 parts potassium. Too many spiders in one plant can push a plant out of a pot or even break it. To avoid this happening, do not apply too much fertilizer. Applying too much fertilizer can also cause the leaves to turn yellow at the edges.


When the tip of a spider reaches ground, it will take root and begin growing a new plant. To grow a new plant, just cut off one of the spiders, bend a paper clip into an elongated U-shape and use it to pin the end of the spider into place on the surface of potting mix. The spider will grow into a new plant.


Spider plants grow best when they slightly crowd the pots, but if the roots become too crowded you need to re-pot them. Low humidity, excessively dry soil and the accumulation of chlorine from tap water may all cause the tips of the leaves to turn brown. To increase the humidity in dry household air, mist the plants during the winter. Move your plant away from cold windows in the winter to avoid drafts. The spider plant is relatively free of insect and mite pests and serious disease.

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