How I Keep My Spider Plants Healthy

 

Every time my mother brought a spider plant for me expecting at least that time it would manage to survive,  I would do something askew and it would end up dead or rotten,  but that taught me a lot, and thanks to my amazing mom who didn't care if the plant died each time she got me one,  rather concentrated on the benefit that experience would affect me in my journey. I've never ended successfully in looking after spider plants, until recently. Although experts say it is one of the easiest maintenance plants, it hasn't really been for me and now I've realized the mistakes that I've been doing - ranging from overwatering to lack of proper sunlight in order for them to have those stunning leaves, flowy and clean. Now here I am to prevent you from ever doing these mistakes unconsciously to your first spider plant or your last one you've decided to give the tenth try.

Are spider plants really easy to care for?

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The first answer to this is  - like any other living thing - as long as it has the correct conditions and proper parenting, a good yes, and you have a doubtless chance!

I personally give more attention to these plants in order to spot any illnesses or deficiencies in them because of my horrible past experiences. Perhaps by the end of this post, you will never do these mistakes and will never even have a bad experience with these astounding plants.

 In what ways is this plant beneficial to us? 

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Giving a little extra special attention to this plant even though it might not necessarily require it,  is not a waste at all as it will as well help you in breathing better oxygen or rather provide more oxygen for you as it comes in the category of air purifying plants. Because of this beneficial fact, I try my best to propagate spider plants, not only because it helps us but also due to the extreme elegance it shares with any home. 

How should I start off with this plant? 

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The question you might probably pose now is 'if it is so seeming beneficial and appropriate to any home,  how should I start off with a spider plant?'. Well not to mention again how easy it is in maintaining, starting off is quite basic. 

If you purchase a spider plant from a nursery then the first thing you must do is place it in an area that has extremely indirect sunlight,  however, if you are living in a place that doesn't have a shady area because of high heat and humidity levels,  keep it safely indoors away from animals or pets,  especially cats as they take a special liking towards spider plants. 

A sapling requires rather much lower sunlight so keep it preferably indoors as it is vulnerable more than a full-grown plant. 

When you hope to accomplish placing it in a larger pot, as usually, nurseries sell plants in poor soil conditions or perhaps only extremely rich fertilizer that is overly sensitive to a plant because of too much nutrition, it would be more healthy for your plant if you could remove it from the original pot and check the state of the roots.  If the roots or yams are whitish and store a solid look rather than broken, brown, or even mushed, then you are safe enough to place the plant into its new surroundings. 

As for if you happen to have a few disadvantages by getting an unhealthy plant first cut gently or remove the rotten roots using your tools making sure to only keep the healthy ones available, furthermore, you could place in in the new surroundings while taking obvious care in order that it wouldn't attain root rot again. 

Keep in mind it is seldom to receive a rotten or unhealthy plant as it would clearly or mildly show symptoms in the leaves so look out for yellow leaves all over (if yellow or wilted leaves lay at the bottom, the plant is likely to be healthy as it is just the old foliage that is natural to drop or get yellow. ) and sickly faded leaves as well as highly wilted tips,  you could choose your own plant as it is your right to require a choice of your own which is simply a healthy plant. 

As for if you've noticed bad symptoms in a spider plant that you already have and hope to improve its conditions, start off by identifying what is the cause of the source problem. This could be quite strange and even difficult at times as not all of us are able to express the exact problem to the internet, or rather it would be hard to search it out there, it might diagnose the illness wrong, perhaps. In order to prevent this stress for you as a plant parent, first, make sure to know whether the disease is due to a fungus or pest, some very common pests like mealy bugs aphids, and red spider mites can be easily spotted by eye. (read this beneficial post from Homestead Brooklyn so you can identify which pets have afflicted your spider plant ). Not everything is because of pests it could also be due to sunlight management or the wrong watering schedule.

How much sunlight should I provide?

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Just like any ordinary plant, spider plants need sunlight and without that, they wouldn't be able to function well and be healthy. Keep your plant outdoors or in a sunny area indoors every other day in order that you could enjoy its beauty of it as well as it could receive the perfect amount of sunlight. This works perfectly for me, however, adjust the timings according to your environment, it's easy as you could make it simpler by just providing sunlight for 1 - 2 hours in the morning. This makes it convenient for the plant as long as indirect sunlight is provided, or else if direct sunlight faces the plant it might as well get severely scorched or even burned and the tips get brown resulting in an unsightly appearance.

How should I know when to water and how much to water?

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Making big mistakes with watering any plant is dangerous. Never take it for granted. ALWAYS check the plant's soil BEFORE watering, this isn't only for spider plants but rather any plant of any kind. You could use your finger or if you feel dirty to touch the soil, a stick would do the same. 

If the top 1 inch of the soil is hard and dry, your plant's indicating "I'm thirsty!", otherwise if it is moist leave it till the plant asks for water. If you risk the plant's life by overwatering it is quite certain that root rot may befall it, keep in mind that this is fatal yet curable.

Most importantly, don't leave the spider plant with soggy watering soil that is like diarrhea, rather keep it moist yet manageable. Once away keeping the plant thirsty (not for long) might be a good idea as it makes the plant use up any remaining water in the soil.

Water till the excess water seeps through the drainage holes, let it settle then you could bring it indoors to brighten your home.