Houseplants: Spider Plant Runners?

Replies: 18 Views: 150

Author	Comment
bunni August 25, 2009 01:02 AM	Once I have cut off the baby spider off the runner close to the baby what do I do with the long runner? Do I leave it? Will it regrow another baby? Or do I have to cut it back so it will re grow and re grow a baby? Thankyou :)
dipsydoodle Newcastle upon Tyne United Kingdom August 25, 2009 08:18 AM	I normally cut the runner off. I don't think it serves any use except to the baby spider plant.
kwanjin West Valley City, UT (Zone 5a) August 25, 2009 03:56 PM	Dipsy is correct. Once the babies are cut off, the runner serves no purpose. Cut it off and enjoy your new babies.
bunni August 25, 2009 05:51 PM	Ok thankyou I found so much info on cutting the babies I couldnt' find out what to do with the actual runner after the fact..
kwanjin West Valley City, UT (Zone 5a) August 25, 2009 08:53 PM	Funny how everybody assumes we all know what to do "after". My 1st spider babies kept the stem they were on until it fell off. They looked ridiculous with these long stems sticking out of the water glass and pot! LOL
bunni August 25, 2009 10:26 PM	lol... Well I now have 10 babies in pots & potting soil I just bought LOTS of pots from the dollar store, 6 in water, 3 in my tortoise enclosure my husband is going to be THRILLED when he gets home and my plant still has about 25 babies still attached! I only got it the other day for my tortoise because the babies will make great little plants for her terrarium but I kind of got all this surplus to have fun with!! haha. I'm going to leave the remainder as is... but I want back up incase my mommy plant dies or something awful happens! It better not as i'm now obsessed with it!!
dipsydoodle Newcastle upon Tyne United Kingdom August 26, 2009 08:25 AM	I'm obsessed with spider plants too; I have 4 at the minute; one I bought and the other 3 were given to me as babies. I've always had a fascination with them. I did have either 10 or 11 solid green ones, but I gave them all but one away. I kept the smallest one; I think it was the baby of a baby of a baby'. It had 4 leaves on it; the longest of which was about an inch in length; that was last June/July...now it's bushy and 18inches tall..thriving; I did keep a few but then more people kept commenting on how nice they were so I gave the "nicer" ones away and kept the really cute little one.
plantladylin (Zone 9b) August 26, 2009 06:35 PM	I always thought of the runner as the umbilical cord, once the babies are removed you cut the cord! I have Spider Plants: http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/chlo_com.cfm growing in a flower bed in my backyard and something is eating the foliage ... Grrr! I never knew there were so many different varieties, I see 15 listed in Plant Files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Liliaceae/Chlorophytum/no...
kwanjin West Valley City, UT (Zone 5a) August 26, 2009 06:47 PM	Nice way of putting it, Lyn. Thanks!
flowers_delight Leicester, NC (Zone 8a) August 28, 2009 04:26 AM	If you take the babies and put them in the dirt with the mother you will get a fuller plant. After they root then you can cut them loose.
dipsydoodle Newcastle upon Tyne United Kingdom August 28, 2009 09:51 AM	There are LOADS of spider plant varieties. You can get short leaved ones and long leaved ones of most varieties. I have 4 varieties; I have a curly spider plant (with a white line down the little), two with the white on the outside of the leaf, a pure green one and a normal one with a white line down the middle; all of mine are the longer leaf ones; I prefer them to the shorter leaf ones; I like them to grow big, I think the other ones look little and fat hehe. I have 3 on my desk at work and 2 at home; the guy I sit next to has one of the many green ones I obtained on his desk right next to mine; someone else has one of the green ones as well; our office cleaner got a green one and a one with stripes on the end as well; my neighbour had 2 soild green ones. I got the many solid green ones from Spain; this year is the first time I've seen them in garden centres here (but they were only the short leaf ones).
trinawitch Canton,IL &Dent County, MO (Zone 5b) August 29, 2009 12:40 AM	hello, my names Katrina. New to DG and some gardening taks..but I've never cut the runners on my spider plants. I just pinch off the babies and put them in water, and the runners just kept reproducing. However i didn't know i could plant them outdoors until this spring...I had so many babies I ran out of pots so I stuck them down in my flower garden, I thought for sure they would die, but to my suprise not only did they live they thrived! they are all now 5 times as large as the mother plant and having tons of babies! I have so many I can't give them away anymore! these are all solid green and very stout...who new they liked blood meal & bone meal!!! and they looked very neat with all the roses and huchera
hanseycollie Cynthia (N. Kansas City), MO (Zone 5b) August 31, 2009 08:38 PM	Trinawitch, do you have to dig them up and bring them in this winter, or are you treating them as annuals? I really would love to put some of mine in the ground, but they are so gorgeous now that I can't bear the thought of them freezing this winter. I normally cut off the runner, leave an inch or two on the stem and bury it when I put the babies in dirt. So far, it's working. These plants really root like crazy, don't they? View Larger
dipsydoodle Newcastle upon Tyne United Kingdom September 1, 2009 08:52 AM	I put two in the garden last year (zone 7 to 8); they out-grew the house and they died off last winter (although we had an exceptionally cold winter). The first sign of frost and they were gone.
hanseycollie Cynthia (N. Kansas City), MO (Zone 5b) September 1, 2009 01:59 PM	I brought all mine in yesterday cause they are forecasting the 40's - in Missouri in August? Amazing. Thought I'd put them by the windows and see how they adjust to filtered light while I can still have the doors open for fresh air. The buggers multiplied so much that I'm still looking for friends to take some!!!
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) September 4, 2009 04:06 AM	IS there somewhere you can order any of these spiderplant varities. I have 2. one green and one varigated. Like you i love these plants. Vickie
dipsydoodle Newcastle upon Tyne United Kingdom September 4, 2009 02:12 PM	you could always try the plant exchange on here; or there are places like e-bay. Our garden centres here don't sell many; I've just found it's pot luck if you find one in them or not.
plantladylin (Zone 9b) September 5, 2009 06:42 PM	cando1: Glasshouse Works sells different Chlorophytum (Spider Plants). Scroll down almost to the bottom of this page for their listings: http://www.glasshouseworks.com/trop-c.html I've never personally bought anything from this company so have no experience with their plants but, if you scroll down this page, you can read feedback from other customers in the Garden Watchdog section of DG: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/154/
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) September 5, 2009 08:06 PM	Thanks dipsydoodle and plantlady,

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