Chlorophytum spp. - Spider Plant

[Robert Salmon]

I have a common variegated spider plant with many children and planted one
of its spiderettes after the baby had been accidentally cut from the plant.
I potted it almost a year ago and it lives on.

The spiderette is growing, but I wouldn't say thriving, as a cluster of
small, quite attractive, broad-leafed rosettes and has so far declined to
produce any of the usual long, arching leaves. It gets perhaps an hour or
so of morning sun in an east-facing window box, regular water, and very
dilute fertilization once a month or so.

Is this rosette stage part of its development? (I can't find any mention of
rosettes on chlorophytum sites.) And how do I get it to act normally? Or
have I produced some mutant?

[Cereus-validus-...........]

You wish you produced some new mutant. More likely your plant is stressed
out.

Since the plantlets, you call spiderettes, (they are not children) are
produced only on the flower stems of a mature flowering plant, you should
wait until the plant flowers and encourage it to do so.

If the plant gets enough daily light and is regularly watered and
fertilized, it should bloom from a rooted plantlet within a year. Which of
these requirement haven't you met? Here's a clue: an east facing window
isn't good enough.

Also, the plants do very poorly in soggy soil. They do not do well in
standing water. They grow best in a pot with drainage holes in the bottom.
If you look at the rootstock, you will notice the plant has tuberous roots
and is adapted to a soil that occasionally dries out.


"Robert Salmon" > wrote in message
. 11...
>I have a common variegated spider plant with many children and planted one
> of its spiderettes after the baby had been accidentally cut from the
> plant.
> I potted it almost a year ago and it lives on.
>
> The spiderette is growing, but I wouldn't say thriving, as a cluster of
> small, quite attractive, broad-leafed rosettes and has so far declined to
> produce any of the usual long, arching leaves. It gets perhaps an hour or
> so of morning sun in an east-facing window box, regular water, and very
> dilute fertilization once a month or so.
>
> Is this rosette stage part of its development? (I can't find any mention
> of
> rosettes on chlorophytum sites.) And how do I get it to act normally? Or
> have I produced some mutant?

[Robert Salmon]

Thanks, Cereus. I think I'm watering it correctly, but I will take your
suggestion to find it more sun - not easy in my shady house.

[Cereus-validus-...........]

A south or west facing window would be much better.

Stick your finger deep down in the soil to see if it is too wet. Window
boxes always have problems retaining too much water because they have no
drainage.


"Robert Salmon" > wrote in message
1...
> Thanks, Cereus. I think I'm watering it correctly, but I will take your
> suggestion to find it more sun - not easy in my shady house.

[Robert Salmon]

Oh, my bad. By window box, I meant a window that projects from the side of
the house with glass on all sides and top in which I'm growing a variety of
plants, each in its own pot. I didn't mean one of those troughs that hang
outside a window.




"Cereus-validus-..........." > wrote in news:
:

> A south or west facing window would be much better.
>
> Stick your finger deep down in the soil to see if it is too wet. Window
> boxes always have problems retaining too much water because they have no
> drainage.