Usually when it gets thirsty all of the leaves droop and then I water which has worked out for the last two years but now the leaves are yellowing and shriveling which is new. It’s in a west facing window and I recently repotted with succulent mix and cut some of the babies off.
by jmeicke
10 Comments
Following out of curiosity
Honestly? Probably not anything wrong with it. The droopy leaves have just bent too far from when it got too thirsty. Also spider plant leaves yellowing and dying off like that is normal, just pull them off.
To me it looks very healthy and as it ages these things happen. If in doubt check the roots and see if it needs a repot.
I’ve had spider plants since I was so young and when neglecting and abusing them multiple times, they’ve always bounced back and I even still have some of them to this day.
It’s by a window and you watered it, that’s enough.
Are you using tap water? Spider plants are sensitive to the chlorine and chemicals in tap water – try purified or rain water.
Long skinny leaves = insufficient sunlight.
Flopping leaves usually means its being underwatered.
Underwatering coincides with the terracotta pots which are recommended for cactus/succulents which want dry arrid soil. Tropicals do best in plastic/ceramic because they want to stay moist longer (although make sure excess water can drain freely out of the pot or out a plastic inner pot into a decorative pot to catch drips).
Mine look like that when they have too much light/not enough water. The snake plant in the back looks dehydrated too.
My spider plant’s leaves seem to fold like that when it’s thirsty. They seem to be very resilient plants though.
Water them once weekly at the edge of the pot, mine gets bright indirect light for most of the day sitting on top our fridge with 12 ft ceilings. I also have two others that get bright direct light, they dry out faster so I water them more.
A moisture meter is very helpful here too, I water when mine show dry.
Start with weekly though if you don’t have a set schedule already.
The fact the leaves are curling at the sides to me shows it doesn’t have enough water
You’ve got it in succulent mix and terra cotta pot. It’s drying out way too fast. Spiderplants are squarely middle of the road plants, they’re not dramatic and don’t want constantly soggy soil, but they also don’t like to dry all the way out like that. I usually mix my own soil mixes for most of my tropicals but I just use basic miracle grow potting soil for these, maybe with some extra perlite mixed in but thats it.
It’s basically fine, but could be even happier.
A bit more sun for wider leaves, and a bit less time spent dry for a less pale and wan aspect.