who on this forum loves Spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum)

teengardener1888

I love them too..hard to kill ever resilient plants

They make a great border in my garden and a filler for mass planting, too! Very hearty, and fun to share with others.

Yes, spider plants have always stuck around my collection even in the most gross conditions

They are pretty much indestructible! And who isn't cheered up when a stalk of cute little flowers shows up?

Hi purple, nice to see you! I thought you didnt like spider plants

I had someone give me a spider plant (the regular variegated one with the white in the center) and when it got older and kept producing babies I decided to add them to my list of houseplants for sale. Each year it amazed me how many people loved these plants. I then found one that was a reverse variegated with the green in the center of the leaf and white on the edge). They too were popular but not as much as the older one. Then, someone sent me some solid green starters and also some "curley" spiders (they are just like the variegated but the leaves are all curley. I only have four of them and I want to try and reproduce them.They are just adorable. I had no idea there were so many and I promised myself someday I would research them and see how many different ones I could collect.

Maybe we could do that together on this thread. Anyone interested and has the time? No hurry, just a thought.

Hey, TG, I love spider plant. One little patch in one pot is as much as I'm going to have. When I lived in OH, they were one of my fav plants, and still are, for other people. It's just that the novelty has worn off after having to dig up the patch of it my Mom let grow in her yard. That's where plant pictured below came from, dug up the patch in November.

To give you an idea of how dry it can take, the plant below was literally pulled out of the ground, after being loosened with a shovel. I thought this would be a good potted plant for my daughter to take to college so I dropped the mass in a pot that was handy, mostly naked roots with no added 'dirt,' and forgot all about it. Until I noticed it again yesterday.

Mom said she's never watered it, and by now the pot is full of oak leaves around the roots, with a small amount of the yard dirt that was clinging to the crown area where the roots attach. So the roots have been naked except for a cover of hard oak leaves. The babies were making roots of their own in the leaves that are the mulch in the area where this pot has been sitting since November. It's been rained on almost every day for the past 5-6 weeks, but right before that, most of May/beginning of June, there was a month with nothing but a couple of light sprinkles that didn't even get the ground wet under big trees.

Thought you might be interested in seeing it so took a quick pic with my phone in the rain.

These plants can hold a lot of water in their roots..so it can really sustain itself a lot when it is not watered. I found that out when I did a repot last 2012, the container was just too tightly packed..I was amazed how thick those roots were, no wonder they seem so drought tolerant..they are literally water hoarders From then on, I no longer get worried if I forget to water them..I know they are gorging with water at the root level.


JB: you know what, I think this plant makes its own transformation, depending on the amount of water and light it gets. I have this spider plant which is growing in the shadiest side of my patio..since it is nearer the faucet, I get to water this one a little more frequently than the others on the opposite end...the babies it made had leaves with different styles of variegation: so it made me think, maybe it is not really different types of spider plants..just plants getting different watering/lighting at different phases of their growth.

Here are the three I have pictures of.
These area varietaged babies:



These aren solid green babies:


These are reverse variegated babies:



If they can revert their own colors, then how do we explain they throw off babies of what they are.
For example, they all have babies of their own color.....could that happen if they started out as one and because of the light they change......I don't think so. Just my old mind not wanting to grasp that thought.

I don't know JB they are simply something else right? I have observed other plants do that reverse variegation, for whatever reason, they just do..so I guess it is a trait some plants can do, and some stay firm to their original nature.

OK, I am old and I need this explained......how do the plants know what to reproduce? If you put a variegeted in the sun or wherever they would be put to change from variegated to reverse variegated....that would be a real treat to know how that would be done. Then what kind of babies would they have? We need to find someone who knows more about this than we do.

Isn't this fun?

Tarev, that one shot of the two babies are still both the same type. They are both variegated with the white in the center. Am I seeing that correctly? One is just pale and one is dark but the white is in the center.

It is as you see it...variegation is wider, center white on some; thin on some, almost green on some..narrow green left on some. That is my container that gets more frequent watering & in more shade.

I get what you are saying Tarev. Mine reproduce all sorts of variations as well as simple greens.The ones in shade look a bit different than the ones that get more sun. Once, I bought what I thought was a curly leaf variety. I think it was just a lighting issue causing the leaf curl because once potted and left on it's own, it looks just like all my others!

Many variegated plants respond to different amounts of light with alteration in the variegation, either more or less distinct, or even by covering more or less of the leaf. Finding the sweet spot where you think it looks best is the fun part, IMO. I haven't had a variegated spider in decades so not much to say about them, but many variegated plants can definitely revert and begin making plain green foliage. Vinca vine is the first that comes to mind. I've also seen Polemonium and Tradescantia fluminensis do this. Various variegations are caused by a variety of factors, some stable, some not.

Purple is correct, evn though the spider plants may revert or change/vary the variegation, genetically, they are still that variety, so if a reverse variegated spider plant turned plain green, it is not getting enough sun and will change back apoun recieving what it wants. The plantlets also can occasionally temporarly change colors. Spiders grown by seeds are going to be either green or white, the latter dying from lack of chlorophyll

I do believe you all, and I am not trying to be difficult, I really am trying to learn more about these plants.
Reading all of your comments I feel the only explanation I can give to why mine stay the same is that they are all in the same area and get the same amount of sun, water, etc. in the greenhouse. Would you say that may be the case?

Also, vigourousness is different with different varieties. The solid green is the most vigourous, having the most chlorophyll. I have noticed the white middle stipe variety is the second most vigourous, including its curly cultivar. The reverse variegated is to me the prettiest and least vigourous variety, remember, all spider plants are vigourous

Purple
I think spider plants only and rarely temporarly lose variegation, I have seen eunonymus do that. Coleus can also change color