Spider plants maybe are the most common and favorite in-house gardening plant of all time. As they are easy to grow, even beginner-level gardeners can easily raise them. Its tremendous air purifying capacity also makes the ribbon plant adored by all.
The plant requires almost no care besides water and indirect light. In the meanwhile, the plant produces a lot of babies or spideretts within a short period. These baby plants will provide you with the great opportunity to get more plants in your garden but it may not always be the same.
Spider plant babies may seem harmless to you but as they feed upon the mother plant, they drain out a large portion of energy and nutrition from the mother plant. For that, many gardeners suggest the idea of cutting them off to keep the adult plant fit and happy.
Although it entirely depends upon whether to keep the baby spider plants attached to your plant or not you may go through the following to rethink and take the necessary steps.
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Can the babies harm the plant?
Yes, the baby plant can damage your beautiful spider plant. It won’t directly kill your plant but drain nutrients from the mother plant. The more babies your plant produces, the more fertilizer and water it requires because this consumes a large portion of its energy.
If you fail to meet the demand accurately, the babies will feed upon the mother plant, and eventually, you will lose your lovely plant.
To avoid these types of circumstances, you should cut off the babies. The sooner you prune them, the better for the plant, which improves the environment in your home.
If you don’t want your beloved plant to suffer then you should cut the baby plants to prevent them from harming the adult plant.
Should I Leave the spider plant babies?
Yes, you may allow the babies to be with your spider plant. This will help you to get more spider plants. You may end up having more and more plants and gift them to your near and dear ones.
But if you don’t have such kind of plans, then the idea of keeping the babies or spideretts is not suggested for you.
If you plan to create more spider plants from the existing ones, you may keep some of the babies and let them grow till it’s time to plant them. If you choose to leave the babies attached to the spider plant, you will need to supplement the mother plant with nutrients.
Keep an eye on your plant if you don’t want to lose all in the process of gaining some plants.
What to use while cutting the babies?
Before you start cutting off the babies from your adult spider plant, you may want to have a clear idea about the options you have at your hand to do the job most conveniently.
To prune your spider plant simply, use a regular pair of scissors. You should also purchase a pair of garden scissors or pruning shears because you will be pruning the spider plants frequently for both cuttings of babies and foliage. You can easily find them at any gardening store near your home.
Before pruning your plants, you can also use some disinfectant measures. You can use readily available sanitization methods such as hand sanitizers or any other simple method that is easily accessible to you.
Disinfectants will assist you in reducing the possibility of bacterial and fungal contaminations and keeping your plant safe and strong. You can also use these to disinfect:
- You can use a 10% bleach solution. Bleach will destroy your blades’ sharpness and eventually harm your blade if used frequently.
- You may opt for a household cleaner if you are a nature lover.
- Rubbing alcohol or white vinegar is also a good option.
How To Cut off the spider plant babies?
If you wish to cut off the little plants on unnecessarily draining energy and nutrient from your beloved plant, you are always welcome to do so.
Although these come with the benefit of gaining more plants, the bait does not always match your expectations. These little ones may create more hassle for your plant and eventually generate misery for you.
For these, anyone would appreciate your plan to cut them off. The sooner you cut them off will be more convenient for your plant.
So, get your scissors and cut them off. Even if you want more plants, you can reduce the number of babies while keeping some for propagation.
If you are still not sure what exactly is spider plant baby is, then get closure to your plant. You will notice some small bush or foliage are kind of separate from your plant while being connected with the plant through a string. These small bushes are the babies you are looking to get rid of.
Get your hands on your garden scissors or pruning shears or even your regular kitchen scissors and go through the strings.
Cut off the babies by cutting off the connecting strings from the base of the plant and if possible, make sure no portion of the string stays with the plant. These will help your plant to retain its energy and sparkle.
Remember, even if you want to keep the babies and generate more plants from them, it would be always suggested that you cut some off the babies and keep the number of babies limited.
It will help you to keep a tab on your plant’s energy drainage and get some healthy babies or more healthy plants.
How to plant spider plant babies?
If you like the idea of growing more plants from your existing Spider plant and thinking about how to do so, then worry not.
Follow the steps below and get some more magnificent spider plants for you and your loved ones without much effort.
1. First, choose the perfect spider plant baby. Your plant may contain many babies but still, all of them might not get you a great plant.
So, look in the babies and select the ones with some nodes or tuberous roots below the leaves for propagation. These babies are better for planting and growing more spider trees.
2. After selecting the baby to propagate, you should set up the pot to plant the baby in. Get yourself a pot with a better drainage system.
As spider plants hate to waterlog, a pot with a bigger drainage hole will be able to keep your plant free from excess water while passing them away. After selecting the pot fill it up with a decent amount of soil.
You may add some fertilizer and some perlite to make it more suitable for the plant.
3. After everything is set, you can move into planting the baby.
At first, remove the Spider baby from its mother plant while completely removing the hard branch that connects the two plants. After removing the hard branch, it’s time to remove the tiny little leaves near the nodes or roots and clear the root of any extra leaves.
Now is the time for the tree to be planted into the ground pot.
4. Dug out the soil a bit and make a small hole and place the baby plant in it.
Add some more soil to the pot if needed. Fill up the pot with soil so that the roots or nodes stay under the soil. After that, gently water the soil with a bit of water and try to keep the plant dry or free from moisture.
After watering, let the excess water drain out from the moist soil.
5. Then the water has been drained, place the plant in a shaded area, preferably away from direct sunlight, to keep it alive.
After two weeks, the plant will have some mature roots, and within a couple of weeks, it will be fully mature, ready to be planted in your garden, or given to a friend or neighbor as a gift.
Last few words
Don’t hesitate to cut off the babies from your spider plant. Even if you cut them all at once, you will always get them again soon.
And if you plan to grow more plants out of your plant, you may keep the number of babies on your plant limited.
You can always reconsider the decision but always keep in mind that even if the babies don’t harm the plant but still it hogs out the energy and nutrients from the mother plant.