Why does spider plant need frequent repotting? Three pictures tell you the answer
Do spider plant roots eat soil? Quite a few gardening friends have left me this message. Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), as one of the most common foliage potted plants, has green leaves all year round, is easy to grow and needs only rough management. But even the easy-to-grow spider plant has some small problems that trouble gardening friends. For example, the most common problem of repotting!
Why does spider plant need frequent repotting? Just look at the spider plants of the gardening friends below and you will know!
Source: Spider Plant Tieba, gardening friend: Aihua Jiaren
Look at the spider plant of this gardening friend above, these roots have grown like nothing else, and the soil has already become so little. It seems this gardening friend is an experienced veteran grower who knows to repot in time, otherwise after another period of growing, the spider plant's leaves would turn yellow~
From the potted plant pictures shared, you can tell this is a gardening friend who super loves growing spider plants, and there are probably more than just the four pots above!
And another gardening friend's spider plant has the same problem: the spider plant's roots grew so lushly that the soil was all gone~ Some gardening friends may think it does not matter. If you do not repot in time, the direct impact is that the spider plant cannot get the nutrients it should from the soil, and even water cannot be stored. You can imagine what the consequences would be, right? Yellow leaves, dry tips, withering and a whole series of spider plant problems will appear.
The spider plant of the gardening friend "I am crazy for flowers" actually burst the flower pot open~ See the picture below: hurry and check your own spider plant, has it been a long time since you repotted it?
Some gardening friends ask why spider plant roots grow like this. Actually the reason is easy to understand: the roots of spider plant, like the roots of clivia (Clivia miniata), are fleshy roots with a very strong ability to retain water and grow. This makes the roots more developed than those of other plants and flowers. Of course, you should understand by now that clivia also needs frequent repotting~ otherwise, with no soil in the pot, it is prone to flower stalk clamping and may even fail to bloom!
Finally, one more thing: when repotting spider plant, if you find the spider plant too vigorous, or showing signs of yellow leaves, I suggest gardening friends just start over growing the spider plant! Cut off the leaves! See the picture below for details:
The gardening friend Aihua Jiaren is very experienced. When repotting, she directly cut off the branches and redistributed the flower pots. With such care for spider plant, how could it not grow well? Gardening friends, learn from this!
Some people ask, if it is all cut off like this, can the spider plant still survive? Do you remember what I said earlier? Spider plant has fleshy roots. As long as the roots are kept well, sprouting and growing will absolutely be no problem! Of course, the premise is that you care for it properly after repotting. For example, the experienced gardening friend above, in just about one month, now it has grown like the picture below. It can rival those in the flower market, right?
Sometimes, when we grow potted flowers, it is actually not about how much experience you have; as long as you are attentive, that is enough. Even people who do not understand flower growing will gradually figure out the growth habits of potted plants if they are a bit attentive. This is the trick by which many people can grow spider plants, asparagus fern (Asparagus setaceus) and clivia, these seemingly easy-to-grow plants, for five or even ten years!