Spider Plant problems & how to fix them
Chlorophytum comosum
Drooping, yellowing, brown tips, or a plant that just won’t thrive? Here are the most common Spider Plant problems, what usually causes them, and how to turn things around.
Common problems
Crispy tips (low humidity)
Fluoride and salts in tap water are the classic cause of its famous brown tips. Brown, dry leaf tips caused by air that is too dry for the plant, common in heated or air-conditioned rooms. Existing crispy tips never turn green again, but with higher humidity new growth should come in clean within a few weeks.
Rootbound
The thick tubers can bulge or crack pots within a year — repot regularly. The plant has outgrown its pot: roots circle the inside, crowd out the soil, and can no longer hold water or nutrients well. Repotting into a slightly larger pot almost always fixes it, with the plant perking up within a few weeks.
a root-bound root ball, roots circling the pot's shape
Photo: Keith Williamson · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Root rot
Water-storing roots rot when the pot never dries. A fungal or bacterial infection of the roots, almost always triggered by soil staying wet too long. Caught early, most plants recover within a few weeks after repotting; if most roots are already mushy, recovery is uncertain.
Phytophthora root rot on a dug-up root ball
Photo: Jerzy Opioła · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sunburn
Hot afternoon sun bleaches and scorches the striped leaves. Leaf tissue scorched by more direct sun than the plant was acclimated to, often after moving it to a brighter spot or outdoors. Burned patches are permanent, but the plant itself usually recovers fully once moved - new growth comes in healthy.
a sunburnt rubber plant leaf, bleached and browned where the sun hit
Photo: Secretlondon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The mistakes that most often kill it
- Chronic overwatering in a pot without drainage.
- Leaving it rootbound for years until the tubers strangle themselves.
- Very little else — this plant survives most owners.
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