Spider Plant

It does best in bright shade near a window, where it grows fullest and its stripes stay crisp. It handles less light, just slower and paler, and sun on its leaves may scorch the blades.

A north-facing room suits it, or anywhere well back from a sunny window. Hung high, it has room to let its babies swing out on their runners.

It tolerates deep shade for long stretches (NC State), though a thin, sparse plant usually wants a little more light. Give it what you have, and treat the next runner as its thank-you note.

It drinks more steadily than most: a deep drink about weekly, the surface drying slightly between, never soggy. Let it go dry and the tips brown, though its fleshy roots store enough water to ride out a dry spell.

Let the surface dry slightly between thorough waterings, and give it a little less in winter (NC State). Soil that stays wet for long can rot those fleshy roots (University of Wisconsin Extension), so a regular pot you water by hand is likely a better fit than a self-watering one.

Its tips are the tell. If they begin to brown, and that bothers you, consider distilled or rainwater: University of Wisconsin Extension points to fluoride and salts in tap water as a common cause. It’ll survive either way, and you can snip the brown ends off with clean scissors.

Gone for a while? Two weeks is fine if it’s watered the day you leave. Any longer and it looks rough for a while, then recovers.

A fountain of striped blades about a foot tall, with runners that arch out 2 feet and dangle babies. Made for a hanging pot or a high shelf, where the babies can spill; snip them to keep it tidy, or pot them up to share.

Its blades run 12-18 inches long, so even a modest pot spreads 1-2 feet wide (NC State).

A crowded pot isn’t all bad. A slightly potbound plant tends to make the most babies (University of Wisconsin Extension). When it finally needs more room, cut the root ball in two and make two plants.

Each baby on a runner arrives with roots already started: set it on moist soil, still attached if you like, and snip the runner once it takes hold.

The ASPCA lists it as non-toxic to dogs and cats, and a children’s poison center (CHOP) lists it as non-poisonous for kids. Some cats love to chew the arching leaves, harmless to everyone but the plant.

Cats sometimes vomit after chewing the leaves; it passes on its own.

No harm, no foul, no problem. The spider plant is one of the easiest plants for parents and pet owners to have, with nothing harmful to a crawling baby or a curious cat.

Some cats find the arching blades irresistible, and a well-grazed plant mostly just looks ragged. If yours treats it like a salad bar, hang it high or let it trail from a shelf the cat can’t reach. It’ll keep making babies either way.

1. ASPCA: safe for dogs.
2. Merck Veterinary Manual: mild for dogs (rates the whole genus).
3. Pet Poison Helpline: safe for dogs.
4. ASPCA: safe for cats.
5. Merck Veterinary Manual: mild for cats (rates the whole genus).
6. Pet Poison Helpline: safe for cats.
7. CHOP: safe for kids.

Cats and dogs: The ASPCA lists it as non-toxic.

Kids: CHOP lists it as non-poisonous.

Happiest at 65-80°F, and it shouldn’t sit below 45°F. Humidity can drop to 25% without trouble.

Temperature

65-80°F

Rarely bothered. If something turns up, look at the crown, leaf bases and runners for scale and mealybugs, under the leaves for mites and whiteflies, and in new growth for aphids and thrips.

• Scale insects
• Mealybugs
• Spider mites
• Whiteflies
• Aphids
• Thrips

Not many. A few sap-sucking bugs now and then, and root rot if the soil stays soggy.

Mealybugs look like tufts of white cotton where the leaves meet; scale looks like small brown bumps stuck to the leaves. Wipe them off with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol (a fingernail lifts scale), then check again next week.

Spider mites leave fine webbing and a dusty, speckled look, mostly in warm, dry air like a heated room in winter. Rinse the whole plant in the shower, undersides of the leaves included. Aphids and whiteflies turn up less often. If anything keeps coming back, an insecticidal soap spray is the next step.

Diseases are rare. Root rot is the one to watch: if it wilts while the soil is wet, let it dry out, empty the saucer and water less often.

Snip brown tips and trim or pot up heavy plantlets twice a year, and feed 3 times from spring to autumn. Repot yearly while young, then every other year, dividing every 2-3 years before tubers crack the pot.

• Feed3× a year
• Prune2× a year
• Trim or pot up plantlets2× a year
• Repot1× a year

Any potting mix that drains fast, in a pot with a drainage hole and a little on the snug side.

Crowded roots make more babies, so there’s no rush. Repot every two years, one pot size up, or sooner if the thick roots start lifting the plant out of the soil.

Food is optional. A houseplant fertilizer at half strength a few times over spring and summer is plenty; too much means fewer babies.

Long, narrow green blades with pale stripes arch out from the center like a fountain. The surface is matte and smooth, and the leaves mound up so thickly that the soil disappears.