Want a houseplant that forgives you while you learn? Meet the spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum. Its arching, grassy leaves and the little baby plants dangling on long stems make it one of the most familiar houseplants around.
It’s also one of the easiest: very easy to grow and propagate, tolerant of neglect and especially popular with beginners. Get the light and the water close to right and it keeps sending out new “spiders” for you to pot up and share.
The name is simple Greek. Chlorophytum comes from chloros, meaning green, and phyton, meaning a plant, and comosum means furnished with a tuft.
Chlorophytum Comosum Quick Care Tips
- Botanical name: Chlorophytum comosum (formerly Anthericum comosum)
- Common names: Spider plant, airplane plant, St. Bernard’s lily, ribbon plant, spider ivy, anthericum
- Pronunciation: kloe-roe-fy-tum koe-MOE-sum
- Family and origin: Asparagaceae (asparagus family); native to tropical and southern Africa
- Growability: Easy; tolerant of neglect
- Hardiness zones: USDA 9a to 11b; grown as an annual in colder areas
- Size: 2 to 2½ feet wide, trailing 2 to 3 feet in a hanging basket
- Flowers: Small, white, star-shaped flowers on long, arching stems, followed by baby plants (plantlets)
- Light: Bright, indirect light; no direct midday sun
- Temperature: Ideal ranges vary: 65 to 75°F by day and 50 to 55°F at night, or 55 to 70°F; below 55°F is too cool and above 80°F too warm; keep above 45°F
- Humidity: Medium; a pebble tray or humidifier helps in dry rooms
- Soil: General-purpose potting soil with good drainage
- Water: Let the soil dry out briefly between waterings; water less in winter
- Water quality: Sensitive to fluoride; rainwater or distilled water is best if your tap water is fluoridated
- Fertilizer: Light feeding during active growth; too much cuts down on plantlets
- Pests and problems: Whiteflies, spider mites, scale, aphids, mealybugs; root rot from overwatering; brown leaf tips
- Propagation: Plantlets or division
- Pet safety: Non-toxic to dogs and cats
- Florida note: Predicted to become invasive in Florida; keep it in a pot indoors
What Spider Plants Look Like
NC State Extension describes an herbaceous perennial with strappy, grass-like leaves up to 12 to 18 inches long, green or striped with white, each with a deep groove down the middle. The leaves grow from a short, compressed stem. The plant’s thick, fleshy roots and rhizomes store water, which is why a spider plant survives the odd missed watering.
In the wild it’s an African plant. Its native range is given as tropical West Africa to Cameroon and Ethiopia to South Africa, or more simply as southern Africa. It belongs to the asparagus family, Asparagaceae.
How Big Do Spider Plants Get?
Spider plants grow quickly to 2 to 2½ feet wide, and 2 to 3 feet long when they trail from a hanging basket. The plant itself stands 12 to 15 inches tall, with flowering stems up to 2 feet long.
Spider Plant Varieties
The plain green species is the least common one you’ll see. All-green spider plants are the rarest; most have a white or yellow stripe down the center of the leaf, with ‘Vittatum’ the most common. Popular cultivars include:
- ‘Vittatum’: medium green leaves with a wide, creamy white central stripe
- ‘Variegatum’: green leaves edged in white or cream
- ‘Milky Way’: a broad white or cream center with green margins
- ‘Bonnie’: green leaves that curl and twist (‘Bonnie Variegated’ adds creamy stripes)
- ‘Hawaiian’: variegation on new leaves that fades with age
- ‘Picturatum’: a yellow central stripe
‘Mandaianum’ is a dwarf spider plant with leaves only 4 to 6 inches long. ‘Vittatum’ tends to grow more slowly than green types and ‘Variegatum’ tends to make fewer plantlets. Our guide to spider plant varieties has more.
Spider Plant Flowers and Babies
Those long, wiry stems are flower stems. They carry small white, star-shaped flowers about ¼ inch across with six tepals, and leaves form at the ends of the stems after flowering, making the small plantlets that give the plant its name. A pollinated flower makes a small capsule of flat black seeds. Read more about flowering spider plants.
Day length sets this off. The stems and plantlets develop when the mother plant gets short days and long, uninterrupted nights (less than 12 hours of light a day) for at least three weeks, and spider plants make most of their offshoots as the days shorten in fall. Indoors, they may appear at any time of year.
No babies? Check the feeding and the pot. Over-fertilizing decreases plantlet formation, and spider plants grow and make plantlets best when slightly pot bound.
Spider Plant Care
Light
Bright, indirect light is the sweet spot. Spider plants grow best in bright indirect light and can take some direct sun, but midday light may scorch the leaves. Bright to moderate indirect light year round works well. Advice on direct sun varies, though: the plant is also described as preferring medium light, tolerating deep shade and being intolerant of direct sunlight, with foliage that will scald in direct sun.
I’ve photographed spider plants growing in full sun at neighbors’ homes, both as an in-ground groundcover and in pots. That’s my own observation, not a rule; the extension advice above is the safer bet. And in Florida, spider plant is predicted to become invasive and is no longer recommended, so keep yours in a pot and out of the ground.
Light also changes the look. Plants grown in high light often have lighter green leaves and more spotting, while plants in too little light have drooping leaves without the normal graceful arch. For more, see spider plant light requirements.
Temperature
Average room temperatures suit it, but sources give different numbers, so here they are side by side. Clemson Extension calls 65 to 75°F by day and 50 to 55°F at night ideal, while the Missouri Botanical Garden calls 55 to 70°F ideal. Temperatures below 55°F are too cool and above 80°F too warm, and you should keep the plant above 45°F.
Watch the winter drafts. Move spider plants a few feet away from windows in winter.
Humidity
Average household humidity is fine. Spider plants grow best with medium air humidity, and a humidifier or a tray of pebbles and water will raise it. Low humidity is also one cause of brown leaf tips.
Watering
Let it dry out a little between drinks. Spider plants should be allowed to dry out briefly between waterings, so check the soil daily. Let the upper inch of soil dry out briefly, or let the soil dry slightly between thorough waterings. Reduce watering during winter. Here are more tips on watering spider plants.
Too much water is the bigger danger. Root rot usually results from a soil mix that does not drain quickly or from excessive watering, and the plant is susceptible to root rot if waterlogged.
Water Quality and Fluoride
This is the spider plant’s one fussy habit. It is particularly sensitive to fluoridated water, and rainwater or distilled water is best if your water is treated with fluoride. Avoid watering with tap water, because the chlorine and fluorides can cause leaf tip burn; distilled water or rainwater will help prevent brown tips.
For the full story on fluoride and tip burn, read why houseplant leaves get brown tips.
Soil
Nothing fancy. A general-purpose potting soil with good drainage is suitable, or a soilless mix. It takes a neutral pH of 6.0 to 8.0. Use a pot with drainage holes. More on spider plant soil.
For growers, the best mixes have excellent aeration, such as peat (at least 50%) with pine bark, vermiculite or perlite, and mix components that add fluoride or boron are best avoided.
Fertilizer
Go light. Feed during active growth with a water-soluble or time-release houseplant fertilizer and follow the label. Fertilizing every 3 to 4 months is usually enough, or more often with a half-strength solution. Heavily fertilized plants may make fewer plantlets, and too much fertilizer may lead to brown tips.
The fertilizer you choose should not contain fluoride and should be very low in boron. After repotting, wait four to six months before feeding. Read more about spider plant fertilizer.
Repotting and Dividing
A little crowding is good; too much is not. Spider plants grow and make plantlets best when slightly pot bound, but because they grow quickly and their roots crowd fast, they need frequent repotting to do their best. Divide and repot the thick, tuberous roots before they expand enough to crack the container; you can repot at any time of year.
Repot once a year while the plant is young, then every other year once it matures. Larger plants can also be divided. See our tips on repotting spider plants.
Grooming
Brown tips and yellow leaves happen. Cut off yellowed foliage and brown tips, which will occur unless conditions are perfect. Trim yellow leaves off at the base with clean, sharp pruners, and snip off plantlets you don’t want to keep where their stems meet the plant. Our guide to pruning spider plants walks through it step by step.
How To Propagate Spider Plants
This is where the spider plant shines. Plantlets root readily when they touch soil, and you can start new plants from them at any time of year.
Root it while it’s attached. Set a plantlet, still attached to the mother plant, on the surface of a pot of soilless potting mix and let it root before cutting the connecting stem. A bent paper clip or a piece of wire holds it in contact with the soil.
Pot up a rooted baby. You can also remove a plantlet that has already started to grow roots and pot it directly into moist growing mix.
Divide a big plant. Larger plants can be divided, too.
Seeds work too, but seedlings won’t necessarily have the same leaf color as the parent. For more on rooting spider plant babies, see our spider plant propagation guide.
Spider Plant Pests and Problems
The good news first. Plant diseases are very rarely a problem in the home; too much or too little water, along with insects and mites, are the main troubles.
Insects and mites. Whiteflies, spider mites, scales and aphids are the most common pests, and scale insects and mealybugs show up too. Mealybug and scale infestations in nurseries usually arrive on infested plants, so check a new plant under its leaves and in its center before you bring it home. If you treat, pick a product labeled for houseplants and that pest, and follow the label. More on spider plant bugs.
Root rot. It usually comes from a slow-draining mix or too much water. Let the soil dry briefly between waterings and use a pot with drainage holes.
Brown leaf tips. Leaf tip burn is caused by too much fertilizer or water high in soluble salts, and low humidity, very dry soil, too little water and excess fluoride in the water can also cause brown tips. Fix the cause, then trim the brown tips.
Bleached leaves. Whitish, yellowish or grayish bleached areas on the leaves come from too much light, too much heat on the leaves, or both.
Are Spider Plants Poisonous to Cats and Dogs?
No. The ASPCA lists the spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum, as non-toxic to dogs and cats, and it’s non-toxic for horses too. Non-toxic still doesn’t make it a chew toy, so a hanging basket out of reach keeps the leaves looking good.
Growing Spider Plants Outdoors
Spider plants can live outside in warm climates, in USDA zones 9a to 11b. Where outdoor growing is possible, grow it in light shade in well-drained soil. In cool climates it can be grown as an annual, set out after the last frost; outdoors it needs bright light but can sunburn in full sun. Our guide to growing spider plants outside has more.
Florida gardeners, read this first. The Assessment of Non-Native Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas predicted spider plant to become invasive in Florida, and UF/IFAS Extension no longer recommends it. The reason: the runners root easily in soil, so the plant can multiply rapidly outdoors and outcompete native species. Keep it in a pot indoors.
Do Spider Plants Clean the Air?
Less than the old claims suggest. Spider plants do remove pollutants from indoor air. NASA’s 1989 report on interior plants and indoor air pollution listed the green spider plant (as Chlorophytum elatum) among the plants it tested for formaldehyde removal in small, sealed experimental chambers. A 2019 review by Drexel University researchers Cummings and Waring looked at 12 published studies that tested potted plants in small, sealed chambers, and found you would need 10 to 1,000 potted plants per square meter of floor space to match the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that normal outdoor-to-indoor air exchange already provides in a typical building. Grow a spider plant because it’s pretty and easy, not as an air purifier.
Is the Spider Plant the Best Beginner’s Plant?
It’s a strong contender. The University of Wisconsin Extension calls it very easy to grow and propagate, tolerant of neglect and able to thrive in nearly any type of condition, and those water-storing roots forgive a forgotten watering. Snake plants, ZZ plants and cast iron plants have their fans too, but few plants teach you as much, as fast, as a spider plant. And you’ll soon have babies to give away.
Buying a Spider Plant
You may never need to buy one; someone you know probably has babies to spare. If you do shop, pick a full plant with clean, undamaged leaves and few brown tips, and check under the leaves and in the center for pests before it comes home.
Where To Put Your Spider Plant
- A hanging basket near a bright window, where the runners can cascade
- A bright bathroom or kitchen shelf, out of direct midday sun
- An office desk near a window
- A sun porch or patio in warm weather (outside Florida)
- A few feet back from cold windows in winter
Where’s your spider plant hanging, and how many babies has it given you? Tell us in the comments!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are spider plants easy to care for?
Yes. It’s very easy to grow and propagate and tolerant of neglect, and its thick, fleshy roots store water, letting it survive inconsistent watering. Give it bright, indirect light, let the soil dry briefly between waterings and keep it out of direct midday sun.
How often should I water a spider plant?
Water when the soil has dried out briefly. Spider plants should be allowed to dry out briefly between waterings, so check the soil daily and let the upper inch dry out briefly. Reduce watering in winter. Root rot usually comes from a mix that drains slowly or from too much water, so use a pot with drainage holes.
Is a spider plant (airplane plant) poisonous to cats?
No. The spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum, is non-toxic to dogs and cats, and to horses too. Non-toxic still doesn’t make it a chew toy, so hang the basket out of reach if you want the leaves to stay pretty.
Why are the tips of my spider plant leaves turning brown?
Several things can cause it. Leaf tip burn comes from too much fertilizer or water high in soluble salts, and low humidity and very dry soil can also cause brown tips. Chlorine and fluoride in tap water can burn leaf tips too, so use rainwater or distilled water if your water is fluoridated. Trim the brown tips off; they occur unless conditions are perfect.
Can I grow spider plants outdoors in Florida?
Not in the ground. The Assessment of Non-Native Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas predicted spider plant to become invasive, and it is no longer recommended there. Its runners root easily in soil, so keep it in a pot indoors. Outside Florida, it’s hardy in USDA zones 9a to 11b, and it can be grown as an annual in cool climates.