Planta
Tilbake til Pests, diseases and problems

For a plant the is allegedly one of the easiest to care for and a… | Pests, diseases and problems | Planta-fellesskap

J-Mo

For a plant the is allegedly one of the easiest to care for and a good starter plant, spider plants seem to be my nemesis. I don’t know what I am doing wrong, I have 4 of them, they were all lovely looking and full-ish. Now they all seem to have yellowing and or rotting leaves. I have them in various light sources, I only water when necessary. My soil is potting mix + perlite. They were all doing so much better when just grown in water. What do these apparent fussy buggers like? I guarantee you, it’s not me! Gary (left) was in a pot with no drainage, so I repotted him and he now has drainage, maybe he is still suffering from his previous lack of? He lives right in our kitchen window which has an overhanging roof, so gets bright-ish indirect light. Shelob (right) has drainage but is on a top shelf in our bedroom, maybe she needs more light so her soil drys faster/doesn’t remain wet for as long? I was going to relocate her today to a brighter spot. Please help, any advice appreciated.

Vedlegg 1 av 2Vedlegg 2 av 2
1 like 9 kommentarer

9 kommentarer

  1. Josie

    I think you have too much soil and that could be the issue. One of the reasons it’s not drying out like it supposed to it because the amount of soil to root is too high so the roots aren’t absorbing the moisture. Spider plant root systems are small when they’re that little so they or any need smaller pots and possible even better draining soil but if have a good amount of perlite it’s probably not that Personally I wouldn’t have plants that size in anything bigger than a 2-3 inch pot. If one of them didn’t have drainage before if you didn’t take off any dead roots and then use peroxide water to disinfect it could still have root rot bacteria causing it to be sickly.

    3 likes
    • J-Mo

      Hi Josie, thanks for the reply! I can definitely downsize their pots. When I checked the roots previous they still looked healthy but I will repot and check again. I haven’t had to use peroxide on roots yet, do I just mist them or give them a dip?

      0 likes
    • Josie

      When having issues no more than an inch bigger than the rootball is a good rule and a regular rule is 1-2 inches bigger than the root ball. And water only when dry. Also you can mist or dip. It shouldn’t hurt the roots as long as you don’t use a mix with more than 3%. Water then once you downsize then let them get dry all the way before doing it again for the first few times after

      2 likes
    • Debbie

      I recommend filing them in diluted peroxide mixture for 10-15 min

      1 like
  2. Kirsten

    I agree with the pot size. I had similar instance with my spider plant and repotted into a smaller pot and now it’s growing new leaves

    Vedlegg 1 av 1
    3 likes
  3. 盛开

    I was wondering cause I’ve had problems with my spider plant now I’m not but do spider plants like to be root bound cause mine has just barely began to look happy and healthy but it also is almost root bound

    2 likes
  4. J-Mo

    Thanks everyone for the advice! I will down size the pots and see how it goes!!

    0 likes
  5. J-Mo

    Ok, they both got a major downgrade, and I stole some of Shelob to give to Gary. I rinsed off the roots, soaked Gary’s in peroxide because they didn’t look happy and gave them a slight trim to remove the scraggly looking ones. I’m not sure if Gary’s long leafs are going to make it but we will see. What do you think?

    Vedlegg 1 av 1
    5 likes
  6. send_nodes

    Agreed on the pot size - here’s mine in a 4” pot. It gets gets direct sun in the morning, and bright indirect sun throughout the day. I also only water when the soil is completely dry - they have quite thick roots that hold a lot of moisture.

    Vedlegg 1 av 1
    6 likes