Spider Plant

Description

Spider plants are the easiest plants to care for. We love their thin, palm-like leaves which will bring a tropical effect to your living space, office or bathroom. The spider plant’s other names include chlorophytum comosum, spider ivy, ribbon plant and airplane plant. These nicknames have been given due to the shape of the plant’s leaves – some say they look like spiders or propellers. 

The spider plant has an incredible feature – it produces its own babies. These babies are also known as spiderettes or pups – how cute is that! These babies can be easily spotted as they are the mini little spider plants you see on the end of a runner or offshoot from the plant. You can leave them attached to the main parent spider plant but they can take root and start growing a new plant. If you have a bundle of plants on a shelf, then you might not want a new spider plant growing into a neighbouring pot. Therefore, another option is to cut the runner to separate the spider plant baby from the parent and grow it into a new plant!

Not only is this a way to create a brand new spider plant (which could be a lovely present for a friend), but it also helps to keep your main plant in good health. The more babies a spider plant produces, the more it will need fertiliser and water as the babies use up a lot of the parent’s energy (just like with humans).

You can find out even more about our wonderful spider plant and how to take care of it in a guide we have written that covers the spider plant’s needs when it comes to watering, light, temperature and more.