Long story short, I just bought this lovely plant at home depot about a week ago and it is a beauty! It has several spiderettes and looks great hanging next to the window. When I first brought it home, it was bone dry so I gave it a good dose of water. For the first week or so, it was placed a few feet away from my east facing window. However, because some of the leaves have been drooping/bending, I was advised by one of the users on this forum to place it next to the window and to water it every few days.

Besides the bent leaves issues (which I think shall pass), there have been random grey/black/brown patches on random 3-4 leaves on the plant. It's not a big deal but I'm not sure if this is a light/water quality issue, or if I should be repotting it? When I look through the drainage holes at the bottom, I can definitely see that this plant is root bound. Since I'm still a newbie when it comes to houseplants, do you suggest that I move this to a bigger pot, separate this plant into several smaller ones, or just leave it alone for now? I think that there are several spider plants in this plot and not just one.

I have a reverse green thumb for as long as I could remember....so any advice is helpful lol! Thank you guys for your help.

Welcome @lnguyen41! Your spider plant looks lovely and healthy. I wouldn't up-pot it right now. Give it at least 3 to 4 weeks to acclimate to your new location.

lnguyen41 said:Long story short, I just bought this lovely plant at home depot about a week ago and it is a beauty! It has several spiderettes and looks great hanging next to the window. When I first brought it home, it was bone dry so I gave it a good dose of water. For the first week or so, it was placed a few feet away from my east facing window. However, because some of the leaves have been drooping/bending, I was advised by one of the users on this forum to place it next to the window and to water it every few days.

Besides the bent leaves issues (which I think shall pass), there have been random grey/black/brown patches on random 3-4 leaves on the plant. It's not a big deal but I'm not sure if this is a light/water quality issue, or if I should be repotting it? When I look through the drainage holes at the bottom, I can definitely see that this plant is root bound. Since I'm still a newbie when it comes to houseplants, do you suggest that I move this to a bigger pot, separate this plant into several smaller ones, or just leave it alone for now? I think that there are several spider plants in this plot and not just one.

I have a reverse green thumb for as long as I could remember....so any advice is helpful lol! Thank you guys for your help.

Don't repot it! This often just makes problems worse. I think it's always best to wait until the plant is in good health to repot. Don't worry too much about any cosmetic issue with spider plants, as they're extremely tough plants. The brown streaks are most likely just from being allowed to dry too much at Home Depot. The area where you have it now looks like a great one if the spider gets that light for a good chunk of the day!

Hi lnguyen41,

Your lovely Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum) looks fine and I agree with the advise of not repotting. Your plant likely suffered a bit of stress in going from the greenhouse, to Home Depot Garden Center, to your home and it's now acclimating to it's new location; repotting at this time would just cause additional issues and stress.

I don't think there are many pristine, perfect plants; they can get specks, spots and marks on the leaves and the flowers which can be caused by numerous things like changes in water, lighting changes, bug bites, etc. Unless the issue becomes drastic and more noticeable throughout the plant, I wouldn't worry. If the plant is so root bound that water is rushing through the pot really quickly, just water longer and more often. Give the plant bright light but no direct, hot sun.

Thank you everyone for your replies! I am definitely going to leave my plant alone and not repot it now lol. This forum is amazing!

I can't help but giggle when I read all the agreeable comments. I enlarged the picture before reading the comments. Most of the time I agree but this time I did not. My sight is not what it used to be but to me I thought if that was me, I would give it about a 2 inch larger pot and fresh potting soil, a good drink and then see what happens. @Plantladylin we usually agree and I apologize for not this time.

The plant looks good but you know how I am about spider plants. They are my one and only love as houseplants.

@JB, Jacquie, you never have to apologize for disagreeing. You are a true expert when it comes to growing Spider Plants and I think Inguyen41will welcome your suggestions and advice!

Hi @JB,

Thank you for your advice! I probably am going to repot in in a week or 2. Can you please recommend your favorite brand of potting soil for spider plants? I was told that I should get some soilless potting mix..but as a plant newbie, I'm not sure which one to get lol.

JB said:I can't help but giggle when I read all the agreeable comments. I enlarged the picture before reading the comments. Most of the time I agree but this time I did not. My sight is not what it used to be but to me I thought if that was me, I would give it about a 2 inch larger pot and fresh potting soil, a good drink and then see what happens. @Plantladylin we usually agree and I apologize for not this time.

The plant looks good but you know how I am about spider plants. They are my one and only love as houseplants.

I'm sure @JB/Jacquie will be able to offer suggestions for a good potting mix.

Thanks for calling me an expert. Not sure I deserve the title but if you get to be an expert by dumb luck and pure determination, then I am one. I no doubt lost more plants than most of you have grown in your young lifetimes due to poor judgment or poor advice.

@Injuyin41 I am a great fan of Miracle Grow potting soils and the one I use for most of my babies and older plants is their Moisture control soil. It also has fertilizer in to last 3 months and by that time you usually know if your plant will survive the new environment and container.

If you want to see some of the spider plants I have grown and sold you can look at my plant list. At one point I had a very nice collection and now I only have Hawaiian, Green Curly , Bonnie Curly, Green and Ocean. It amazes me that there are so few other species out on the market. I have been trying to find a few of my other favorites but have not been able to do so. I refuse to deal with just anyone because there are very few who sell online that actually have the accurate names with the plants. One of the worst offenders is Hirt. You can never be sure what you get from him.

I would recommend that if you want a slow growing but beautiful plant you get an Ocean. This picture is one that I have grown from a baby someone gave to me. I will not take any WITHOUT NAMES, It is really difficult for me to identify them since my eyesight is failing so much.






See what happens when you get me going on spiders.. I am such an old softy when it comes to my plants. I treat them as humans....in fact better sometimes.

Thank you @JB for the advice! This definitely helps because there are so many potting soil out on the market and it can be difficult to know which one is good for indoor plants. Your spider plant looks great! Hopefully mine would look like that one of these day lol. Also, thank you @plantladylin and many others for taking the time out of your day to help me. Greatly appreciated! Hope everybody has a great day. Cheers!