How to Propagate Spider Plants – 4 Easy Ways

Do you have a spider plant that’s start to produce babies? Ready to propagate your baby spider plants to create a new spider plant?

Well you’ve come to the right place. Today I’m going to share everything you need to know to propagate your spider plant babies to create new spider plants for you (or your friends and family!).

Spider Plant Care

Let’s start out with what you need to know about caring for your spider plant. Spider plants are one of the most easiest houseplants to master and make a great plant for beginners. Their proper name is Chlorophytum comosum but they also go by airplane plant, ribbon plant or spider ivy.

spider plants

They’re very forgiving indoor plants and can survive in a variety of different light environments. They do best with indirect sunlight but can do ok with more or less light.

If you notice the leaves getting washed out, chances are it’s getting too much light. On the flip side, if it’s too droopy and sad looking, chances are it needs a bit more light.

Spider plants like consistent watering (usually every couple of weeks) but not too much water. Too much water can lead to root rot.

Be sure to touch the top inch or so of soil before watering. If the soil is moist, wait to water it! On the other hand, if it’s dry, give it a good drink.

They prefer pots with drainage holes so they don’t get root rot.

How to Propagate Spider Plants

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What are Spider Plant Babies

Spider plant babies, also called pups, spiderettes or plantlets, are small plants that emerge from a mature spider plant. You will see long stems shooting out from the main spider plant. They will look different then the leaves of the spider plant – more firm and round.

spider plant babies

This is where you’ll find your spider plantlets. You’ll see flowers and eventually the flowers will turn into little babies! Letting the babies stay on the plant for a while will make spider plant propagation that much easier and more successful.

How to Get Spider Plant Babies

The best way to get babies on your spider plant is to have a mature plant! The older your plant and the more root-bound that it is, the more likely you are to get babies.

Spider plants don’t like to have too much space in their pot. They like their roots nice and tight to encourage new growth and babies to form.

I’ve had the best luck have spider plant babies from mother plants that produced a LOT of babies. My grandma had a spider plant that was constantly having babies so I would take spider plant cuttings frequently from her. Those cuttings have given me the most babies as opposed to the few plants I got from nurseries.

When to Propagate a Spider Plant

Girl surrounded by plants

The best time to propagate a spider plant is during its growing season or spring or summer. However, spider plants are incredibly hardy and can be propagated throughout the year.

As mentioned above, the bigger the spider plant baby, the better luck you will have in propagating it. If you cut the baby too early it’s going to be hard to have a happy healthy plant.

Have a little patience and let it grow a bit before cutting it from the main plant.

How to Propagate a Spider Plant

There are a variety of different easy ways to propagate your spider plants. I tend to do multiple spider plant babies at once to create a larger, more full plant rather than just one little plant from one spider plant baby. But you can do whatever you want with however many spider plant babies that you have!

Let’s get started.

1. Water Propagation

spider plant babies in jar

The easiest way to propagate spider plants is to simply cut the babies from the stalk and put them in water. All you need to do is cut the baby plants off of the parent plant using a pair of scissors. Fill up a small jar or propagation station and put the baby plant in the jar.

Make sure you don’t completely submerge the entire plant, rather submerge just the bottom of it. After a few weeks you’ll begin to see tiny roots pop out. For best results, give it a bit of time to grow nice and long, healthy roots before you pot it a new pot.

2. Detach and Put Directly in Soil

Spider plant babies

Another way to propagate your spider plant is through soil propagation.

You’ll first cut off the baby at the base of the plantlet. Next, you’ll plant it directly into moist soil. You could go the added step of dipping it into rooting hormone to encourage growth before planting it. It will begin to form new roots in a few weeks!

3. Keep Attached and Put in Soil

You can also keep the babies attached to the mother plant (also called the stolon) and simply place the baby in a pot of soil to encourage it to root. This is a little safer than cutting them first so they don’t go into shock.

Spider plant with babies

All you do is fill a small pot with potting soil. Take the base of your pup and gently press it into the soil, ensuring that the base is completley covered. Give it a good watering and place both the baby and mama in bright indirect light.

After a few weeks you’ll begin to see root growth! (Yes, you’ll have to dig around a bit to see them.) Once you’re confident that your new plant is fully rooted, you can cut it away from the main plant.

4. Propagation by Splitting

If you’re not getting new babies, you can always propagate your spider plant by splitting it! Splitting a large spider plant is an easy way to give you smaller plants.

First you’ll want to remove the entire plant from the pot. Get as much of the soil off of the roots as possible. Then, split the plant into smaller plants.

Once you have the size of plant that you want, you can transfer it into a new pot (you’ll likely want a smaller pot) with fresh potting soil. Give it a good watering and watch it flourish!

Propagating your spider plant is super easy and a great way to grow your houseplant collection or create gifts for friends and family. I hope this tutorial helped you in propagating your own spider plant!

Want to know why your spider plant is getting brown tips? Head here!

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  • Jen

    Jen got her first plant in college from her mom and the rest, as they say, is history! She's owned hundreds of plants over the years and loves learning how to grow each one. She believes everyone needs to own at least one plant in their home and loves sharing her knowledge with others.

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