If your spider plant has started producing little baby plants dangling from its long arching stems, congratulations, your plant is doing the hard work for you! These tiny plantlets are one of the easiest ways to grow your collection, and with a little help, each one can become a brand-new spider plant.
Method 1: Rooting Spider Plant Plantlets in Water
The plantlets, sometimes called spiderettes or pups, are the small offsets that dangle from the mother plant on wiry stems. Choose one that already shows small nubby roots at its base. Snip it from the runner, sit it in a glass of water so the base is submerged but the leaves stay dry, and put it somewhere bright and out of direct sun.
Roots usually lengthen within one to two weeks. Once they are 3 to 5 cm long, pot the plantlet into a small pot of fresh compost. Water propagation is satisfying because you can watch progress, though roots grown in water are slightly more delicate, so pot them up before they get too long. If you are new to cuttings, our guide on what a node is and why it matters explains where roots come from.
Method 2: Potting Plantlets Straight Into Soil
This is our preferred method at the nursery because the roots adapt to compost from the start. You can either detach a plantlet with a few starter roots and pot it directly, or peg it down into a nearby pot of compost while it is still attached to the mother plant, then cut the runner once it has rooted.
Use a light, free-draining mix, keep it lightly moist for the first two weeks, and hold off on feeding until you see new growth. A spot in bright, indirect light gets things moving. Our houseplant substrate range has suitable mixes if you need one.
Method 3: Dividing a Mature Spider Plant
If your plant has grown into a dense clump, division is the quickest way to make more. Slide it out of the pot, tease the root ball apart into two or three sections, each with a good share of roots and leaves, and pot each up separately. This is also a handy fix for a plant that has become congested or is drying out too fast between waterings.
Caring for New Spider Plants After Potting
Once potted, keep the compost lightly moist but never soggy for the first few weeks while roots establish, then switch to your normal routine of watering when the top couple of centimetres dry out. Hold off feeding until you see clear new growth, usually after a month or so, then feed monthly through spring and summer. Bright, indirect light gives the fullest plant; too little and it grows thin and pale. Spider plants can be sensitive to fluoride and chlorine in tap water, which shows as brown leaf tips, so if your water is heavily treated, leaving it to stand overnight or using rainwater helps.
When and Why to Propagate
Spring and summer give the fastest results, as the plant is in active growth, but spider plants are forgiving enough to root at most times of year in a warm room. Propagate when your plant is throwing out plenty of plantlets, when you want to fill a pot out, or simply to share one. A mature Chlorophytum comosum 'Vittatum' or the curly Chlorophytum 'Bonnie' will produce runners readily once settled. You can see the whole range in our spider plant collection.
Why Won't My Spider Plant Make Babies?
If your plant is not throwing out any plantlets to propagate from, it usually comes down to three things. Young plants simply are not old enough yet, so give it time. Too little light slows everything, so move it somewhere brighter but out of harsh sun. Oddly, spider plants tend to send out the most runners when they are slightly pot-bound, so a plant swimming in an oversized pot may put its energy into roots and leaves instead. Feeding through spring and summer and letting it fill its pot usually gets the babies going.