Last updated on September 26th, 2022 at 12:58 pm
Pruning your spider plants helps keep them at a manageable and desirable size, making your garden look finer. It also helps to rejuvenate the overall health of the plant and its vigor.
You should cut off the babies of the spider plants quite regularly. Pruning it will help the plant last longer and grow healthier. Moreover, the more babies this plant produces the more fertilizers and watering it will need.
What Should You Do When Your Spider Plant Has Babies?
Whenever you notice that your spider plants have begun to bear babies, one best step is to take is to cut and replant them.
When you cut off the babies of the spider plant, it will let the mother spider plant continue to bloom properly. But this doesn’t mean that the babies have to die off if you don’t want them to.
There is one thing you can do to the pruned spider plant babies to keep them alive. And it is plant propagation. There are two main methods of propagating spider plant babies. They include :
Propagating the Spider Plant Babies in a Fresh Soil.
This soil propagation involves growing the baby spider plants in a separate soil than the mother plant.
This method is done in a few easy steps, and even a toddler can do it with ease. The steps are:
- Prune the spider plant babies from the mother plant.
- Put the babies into small pots of organic soil (well fertilized soil, that is).
- The plants will by themselves plant into the soil.
- There the baby spider plants will propagate. However, it might take the roots a little more time to establish. This means that the plant growth will go unnoticed for a while, but It doesn’t mean they are dead.
Propagating the Spider Plant Babies in Water.
In the water propagation method, the whole process is done in water, as the name implies. This is one of the most common ways used in the propagation of spider plant babies.
The basic aim of this method of propagation is so that the plant root will grow the firm. Then, you can later transfer the new plants into a proper garden space or soil pot.
This method is carried out in four easy steps. They include:
- Separating the baby spider plants from the mother plant.
- Put the baby plants in a glass containing a bit of water. Ensure there isn’t too much water in the glass, though. The water should be just enough to cover up the baby spider plant root at this time.
- You should change the water regularly, so everything remains as neat as possible.
- When the roots finally develop sufficiently, transfer them to the soil. You should use a plant pot first.
Remember the best out of the two methods mentioned will always depend on which one you can are able to do better. However, it is widely believed that the best propagation method of baby spider plants is water propagation.
You should well take care of these newly propagated plants to ensure maximum growth. Water the plants regularly and ensure the soil is always moist but not wet. Note that constantly wet soil will cause the root of the new plants to decay.
Also, ensure that there isn’t an excess supply of sunlight on the new plants. Too much sunlight will cause the plant to dry and wilt. A maximum of six hours of sunlight a day is just enough for the plant.
The best time of the year to propagate baby spider plants is during spring. This is because spring is the beginning of a new planting season, and the plant will do better. Also, spring has more favorable growing conditions for spider plants.
When Can You Remove Spider Plant Babies?
Knowing the right time to separate the spider plant is another thing to pay attention to. The babies are ready to be removed once they are matured. This happens when they are around one inch and a half or two inches long.
Removing the spider plant babies is a part of the entire plant growing process. However, there is a period when it is most appropriate to carry out this activity.
The plant is most suitable for removing when they are matured, but how to tell the pant has matured?
The maturity of the baby spider plants is said to have happened when:
- The plant sprouting newly has gone up to one and a half inches above the ground.
- The plant sends multiple runners that have white and delicate flowers on end. (Sometimes, despite the flowers, you should let the baby plants stay about a month before you cut).
However, if you cut the plants before attaining a certain maturity level, they will die off. This is because when the plants have not matured enough to be cut, they can barely survive independently.
You can also separate plants that look too bushy or are going bad from the good plants during the cutting.
This will give space to the reasonable plans to grow properly and give desirable results. The best time for this procedure is spring, but you can do it whenever you deem it reasonable.
How Do I Get Rid of Spider Plant Babies?
To get rid of the spider plant babies, cut the full plant stems back to the base. Do this for both the baby plant and the mother spider plant.
When your spider plant begins to reproduce younglings at the bottom, you should definitely cut them off. Cutting them off from the mother plant helps to avoid situations like:
- Overcrowding of the plants in the garden. When the garden is overcrowded, it begins to look like a bush instead. It will in turn make the garden harbor dangerous pests and insects.
- The growth of both the mother and the baby plants remains stunted, because they are now struggling for nutrients in the soil to survive.
However, cutting these little plants off the mother plant should be done carefully while following several steps. This is so that no external harm will be caused to the mother plant nor the baby plant.
In a condition where the cutting of the baby spider plants has gone wrong, these will be the consequences:
- The mother plant might be injured at the root or stems. Thereby resulting In stunted growth of the plant.
- The baby spider plants may get damaged and not grow again no matter how hard you try.
- Sometimes even when the baby plant begins to show signs of growth, it becomes stunted. This is because the tissues of the plant have been injured during the separation.
To ensure that all these are well avoided, you should be careful and precise during the cutting. The cutting process of the baby plant is not very difficult if patience is applied.
If you don’t know how to go about this separation of mother and baby spider plants, follow these steps:
1. You’ll need a couple of tools to make this whole procedure easy for you. Get a sharp garden knife and an extra garden pot with good drainage holes.
2. Be certain that the other pot has good drainage holes (the pot carrying the mother plant).
3. Gradually use the knife to dig around the plant. Make sure you don’t touch the roots. This is to make pulling the plant out easier.
4. Use your hand to bring out the plant from the roots.
5. Hold the plant by the head under running clean water and wash the roots.
6. After you’ve washed the roots, you’ll be able to differentiate between the healthy and rotting roots.
7. Cut off the rotting roots or the roots that look weak and dying. Slice them from on top of the plant and dispose of them.
8. When you are sure that all which is left are good plants and roots, then you can divide. Examine the portions to be cut and divide them slowly from top to bottom.
9. In fresh soil, in the other pot, replant the mother spider plants. Then you can choose which propagation method to use for the baby spider plants.
If you follow these steps one after another as they are, you’ll find the plant division very easy. However, it is not always necessary that you replant or propagate the spider plant babies.
In a case where you don’t need them, you can dispose of them. However, disposing of them doesn’t mean that you will not divide the plant first or take necessary precautions.
You can use the divided portion you won’t be propagating to mulch other crops in the garden. They can also be allowed to decompose on another portion, not soil reserved for planting.
This will help increase the nutrients in the soil as it serves as organic manure.
Conclusion
The spider plant is a very common and neat plant amongst many gardeners. But when they begin to multiply, they become overwhelming to look at. Hence, the propagation.
Cutting and propagating the plant, however, helps both the parent and baby plant to grow better. Whether you choose to do with the plant, you cut off, always ensure your cutting method is safe.
This is so that the plant is not affected negatively and caused to die because of the careless cutting method.