Variegated Spider Plant
Variegated Spider Plant
Chlorophytum comosum 'Variegatum'
❦ ❧ ❦
Difficulty — BeginnerFew plants have followed me home so often, or so insistently, as the variegated Spider Plant. She arrives as a single rosette of arching, cream-edged blades and, given only a little kindness, soon flings out wiry stems hung with miniature versions of herself — a whole nursery dangling in the air, asking to be potted. For the nervous beginner she is the gentlest of teachers, forgiving nearly every fault but the neglect of light that keeps her stripes bright.
Notes on Cultivation
☀Light
Bright, indirect light is what keeps her variegation crisp and her cream margins luminous. She will endure a dimmer corner without much complaint, but in shadow the pale stripes dull toward plain green, as though she economises on pigment when the sun grows mean. Spare her the harsh midday glare of a bare south window, which scorches those delicate margins to brown.
❦Water
Keep her lightly moist through the growing season, letting the top inch dry before the next drink; her thickened, tuberous roots hold a reserve, so she readily forgives a forgotten watering. One peculiar sensitivity to note — she dislikes the fluoride and salts in much tap water, and answers them with browned leaf tips. Rainwater or distilled, or tap left to stand overnight, keeps her points green. Ease off through winter.
☁Humidity
Ordinary household air contents her well enough. A little extra moisture, or the occasional misting, simply lessens any browning at the tips — welcomed, but never demanded.
✵Temperature
She is happiest between 65 and 80 Fahrenheit and asks only to be kept from cold draughts and frosted glass. Below fifty she sulks, so I keep mine well clear of winter windows and open doors.
❧Soil
An ordinary, well-draining potting mix loosened with a handful of perlite suits her perfectly. She resents heavy, water-logged ground, preferring roots that may breathe between drinks.
❀Fertilizing
A balanced liquid feed, well diluted, once monthly through spring and summer is ample. Resist the urge to overfeed — built-up fertiliser salts are a frequent cause of those scorched brown tips — and flush the pot through with plain water now and again to keep them at bay.
✿Propagation
Here she is almost comically generous. Those dangling plantlets — her spiderettes — are nursery-ready babies merely waiting to root. Nestle one into a clear cup of moist Fluval Stratum, our signature method, and within a week or two fine roots will thread through the granules; pot it up, Stratum and all, and you have a new plant for the price of a snip. I often pin a plantlet into its cup while it is still joined to the mother, severing the cord only once it has rooted. Read the full field method.
Field Observations
She throws her wands of plantlets most freely when slightly pot-bound and given good light — so resist the urge to over-pot, and let her feel a touch snug in her vessel. The arching nursery of babies is the whole charm of the plant; a crowded root and a bright sill are the surest way to earn them.
A happy note for households of curious creatures: she is entirely non-toxic to cats and dogs. Mine find her arching leaves irresistible to bat and nibble, and I have never had to fret — a rare guilt-free green among my collection.
— faithfully recorded by Mr. Phileas Plant
