What to Do With Spider Plant Pups & Babies

What are spider plant babies, pups, and spiderettes? Chlorophytum comosum is one of the few houseplants that hands you fully formed baby plants without being asked. Once a spider plant matures — usually after it's slightly rootbound — it sends out long stems tipped with small plantlets, sometimes called spiderettes or pups, each one a genetic clone of the parent. Each plantlet already has tiny root nubs at its base before it ever touches soil or water. That makes propagation close to foolproof: snip a plantlet off the stem (or leave it attached while it roots, if the stem reaches), and either set it in water until roots lengthen, or press it directly into moist potting mix. Both work; water lets you watch the process, soil skips a transplant step later. ## How to propagate spider plant pups Rooting a pup while it is still attached is the easier of the two. The runner keeps feeding it, so it roots faster and never wilts: set a small pot of moist mix beside the parent, press the base of the plantlet onto the surface, hold it down with a bent paperclip or a pebble, and cut the runner once the pup has taken hold and started to grow. A detached pup roots on its own reserves instead. In water, expect roots in a week or two; in soil, two or three weeks. The parent plant isn't harmed by producing pups and doesn't need to be cut back to force it — flowering and plantlet production tend to happen on their own once the plant is mature and mildly stressed by tight roots, which is part of why spider plants are often left slightly underpotted on purpose. A long runner often carries several plantlets, and sometimes a runner of its own off the end. Each of them can be separated and grown on, and the largest - the ones with visible root nubs and a few full-length leaves - take fastest. Three or four potted together fill a pot much sooner than one will. A plant producing no pups at all is usually young or short of light. Runners follow flowering, and flowering follows maturity and decent light. A plant just moved into a much larger container also tends to spend a season filling it with root before it does anything else. ## How to care for baby spider plants Light and water needs for a new pup are the same as for the adult plant: bright indirect light, and water when the top inch of soil is dry. There's no special juvenile care required.