Spider Plant (Chlorophytum Comosum)

Let me start off by saying after years of not buying any plant life at all. This was the plant which started my plant journey. I started off with a "baby" spider plant that was rooted in water for two weeks. I wasn't surprised that I saw roots popping out very quickly. Let me start off by giving you some basic information about this plant. The most common name I've seen for this plant is "Spider Plant". I can see why it's called such a name... when this beautiful plant starts growing it hangs gracefully giving off a "spider leg" look in my opinion. Some people also call it the "airplane" plant and of course the botanical name for this beauty is "Chlorophytum Comosum". No matter what you want to call it it's a very easy beginners house plant. Now here's some of the plant features the spider plant has been around for years and years and withstood many test over time. It's been a popular house plant for many years and still is a popular plant today. It's a very easy to grow house plant and as I stated before a very nice beginner friendly plant. It's thrives in bright light but not to much direct sun but it also do well in low light conditions. So far as watering in my opinion it don't mind being water frequently but will also go a while without water making it a very good plant for those of us who live a very busy lifestyle and those who travel often. Here's a few growing instructions to help you on a nice spider plant journey. You can grow a spider plant in just about any room in your home or office. This plant does a wonderful job at filtering out indoor air pollution which can be rewarding to our health. This plant thrives on regular watering maybe like once a week or so but I will say watering any plant will depend on the environment. What I personally do is check my soil with a light colored stick. I stick my stick in the soil and if any soil comes out on the stick I personally won't water my spider plant. Now of course if the stick comes out bone dry I take my spider plant over my sink or tub and give it a good watering. From my personal experience you should ALWAYS use a planter that have drainage holes in it. If you got to have that beautiful planter (one without drainage holes) use it has a cache pot. You want all the water to drain out the bottom of the pot (never allow this plant to sit in water) to prevent root rot which can lead to the death of your plant. You always want to invest in a good draining potting soil I don't recommend garden soil because that's a lot heavier and just not a good fit for indoor house plants. I personally use Miracle Gro potting mix for cactus,palm, and citrus plants for all of my house plants. Spider plants also love to be a little pot bound so don't be so quick to hop from pot to pot but if you must repot only take it up a size or two bigger then the current pot. I made a mistake of putting a spider plant in a bigger pot to soon and I almost over watered my plant! Another thing that I found my plant love is regular misting. I've done a lot of research and misting your house plants on the regular increase the humidity which is good for your plants. Spider plants also are prone to brown leaf tips which I find to be kinda normal for this plant. I deal with that by trimming them off which makes the plant look much better. If you find that the leaf tips are turning brown more often try to increase the humidity and make sure you're not over fertilizing your plant. Speaking of fertilizing the only thing I do is feed my plant Miracle Gro liquid or foam plant food at least once a month during the spring and summer and none at all in the fall and winter. All in all these are super easy plants to grow and take little care and they can thrive for years to come. Also remember only mature plants will flower and eventually most of those flowers will turn into "babies" that you can later on root. To root babies from the mother plant I've found it easier to pluck the babies off when you see little nubs or roots starting to form. Stick those babies into some water and within two weeks or so you should see roots popping out. From there you can get a container with drainage holes add some soil and create a whole new plant. Propagating these plants is as easy as it come and they take off growing with little care. Bottom line is it don't matter if you have a green or brown thumb growing this plant can't get any easier and anyone can grow it successfully. If there's any questions you still may have about this plant please feel free to contact me on here or my Google+ plus page and I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for visiting my blog and remember do your part to keep this world green!