Spider Plant

My spider plant that I have had for a few months now is dropping some of its lower leaves, they are turning solid yellow (its verigated)... The rest of the plants looks very healthy and continues to grow.

Is this normal?

It sounds like too much moisture, although yellowing foliage can also be a sign of not enough water. I'd remove the plant from the pot and check to see if the soil is retaining water and check to see what the roots look like.

Thanks Lin. I will examine the roots tomorrow. Hopefully it is as simple as that and can be easily corrected.

I agree with plantladylin. It sound's like your "spider plant" is getting a bit too much moisture.

daisy am I gonna have to drive down there and do a watering can inervention? LOL

Step away from the can, put your hands up, and slowly step away from the can, lol. I have been petting leaves, ya know, dusting, to get my nurture nature fix in. It is healthier for the plant, and I still am "taking care" of it :)... That, and air layering anything I can think of. I have discovered my own use for glad press and seal (evil laugh), lol

It may not be an over-watering issue but possibly a soil issue, where the soil is not retaining water. If the water is draining straight through, the roots may not be taking up sufficient moisture. I have had a few plants get so root bound in their containers that there ends up being very little soil left, and the water just drains right out. By taking a look at the plant's roots hopefully you will be able to narrow it down as to what may be going on.

The plant is still in the same pot as when I bought it. It was one of the ones I bought from the botanical gardens. I will check it out for both possibilities. I will re-pot it into some good draining soil (with some perlite) either way...

I was examining the soil it is in and its kinda dark and dense. Its moist but doesn't seem overly wet. I usually water and then let drain for a couple hours. half way thru I tip the pot sideways so it can drain completely. I learned that if I don't tip, there is quite a bit of water that stays in the pot. Lost a couple from root rot because early on I didn't know I needed to tip and drain.

The roots are visible at the drainage holes but doesn't look horrible, won't really know until I take it out and look at it.

I'm glad I have gained such good "internet friends". Trina who would drive all the way from IL to AL to help me save my plant. : ) 3jsmom, who would risk her freedom with a "stick up" to save my plant and teach me the proper way to care for it.... : )

Lin who gives me the possibilities and then sticks up for me in the fact that I may not really be a "plant torturer", which I sometimes feel like ; )...

I really do appreciate you all and the help that you offer. Goodness knows it would take me alot longer to figure all this out if I didn't have good people, and more experienced gardeners to guide me. So glad I found DavesGarden..

I will let you know what I find when I take the plant from the pot..

Tracey

Tracey: Isn't this a wonderful site? I am so thankful I came across DG a few years ago when I was googling about a plant! This is really a sharing garden with some very knowledgeable folks who have been a great help to me. I love that we can all share our experiences with each other.

Regarding your Spider plant: I think if the soil is heavy and dense it is retaining too much moisture, causing stress on the roots. Even if it feels barely moist when you stick your finger down into the soil, it can still be very wet at the root level. I've been growing house plants for 42 years and I still have my moments when it comes to plants, I've unfortunately killed more than my share. Early on I had problems keeping plants alive for any length of time because of the soil I used and thinking they always needed watering. I used bagged potting soil for many years and finally learned that the soil was just too dense, not allowing enough (if any) oxygen to get to the roots and I was killing the plants with the combination of the heavy soil and too much water.

We all live in different areas of the world with different climates and different ways of growing but I think the soil/water problem is one many of us encounter. In my opinion soil is the number one element of importance for plants to do well. Light is of course important too, but if the roots aren't happy and healthy, light isn't going to make much of a difference.

About fifteen years ago I began mixing potting soil with lots of orchid bark and additional perlite, and my plants have done extremely well, much better than in the past with the plain soil. With this potting mixture it does require me to water more often because it drains extremely fast, but I think because the mix is chunky and allows more air flow to the roots, they stay healthier.

I have no education in botany but through trial and error have found what seems to work for me. It can get very confusing with all kinds of different information coming at you from all directions, just take some time to learn what works best for your plants and stick to it. I'm sure there are many thousands of people who grow plants using only bagged potting soil without problems, they've figured out a watering/feeding regimen that keeps their plants happy.

Just don't get discouraged! If your Spider plant doesn't make it I will gladly send you a couple of babies from one of mine in the spring when the weather has warmed up!

Lin

Thanks Lin. That is very encouraging.. Where do I find orchid bark?

Because she did such a great job, I won't step on Lin's toes at all, other than to agree with what she said. In the end, your soil won't be the deciding factor in whether or not your plants WILL grow well, but it will be THE major deciding factor in whether or not they CAN grow well. This is a very important concept to grasp. A good soil guarantees that your plants will have a chance to grow at near the growth potential they are genetically endowed with, while a poor soil guarantees they will not.

Al

I am in the same boat, trying to find the right bark. What kind of bark are you using, Lin? And what size bits?

I use the Better- Grow Orchid Bark sold at Home Depot or Lowes, mainly because it's convenient. Both HD & Lowes are within two miles of my house.

The Better-Gro is a mix of bark, charcoal and perlite but I add more perlite and potting soil to it. This is what it looks like right out of the bag.

Miracle-Gro also makes an Orchid Potting Mix. I sometimes use this one too, but I always add the Better-Gro Bark Mix and perlite to make it chunkier.

Lowe's has the same up here. I didn't know if you were able to get fir bark by the truckload, lol.

As I stated earlier, I don't mean for anyone to take my methods as being the right way or the only way for growing house plants. I'm just sharing what works for me.

Better-Gro also packages Orchid Bark Mix labeled specifically for Phalaeonopsis Orchids, and they have one that is Bark only, no charcoal or perlite mixed in. I use them all, sometimes buying bags of each and mixing them all together and adding my extra perlite and soil. The main thing for me is keeping it a light, airy, chunky fast draining mix.

I don't even know what type of bark they use in the mixes. I didn't think it would be Fir or Pine because those trees have sticky sap but there's no stickiness in the mixes ... I will have to read the bags to see if it says what type of bark is used!

Lin, That is quite the compliment that Tapla typed above...

Am I understanding that sometimes use the Better-Gro Orchid potting mix for others plants as well? I'm just learning so much!!

It's fir bark, Lin, like the bark at 12:00 in the pic below.

Al

I have been adding to potting mixes for years, so I am always interested in what other people do to enjoy their plants more :).

I am committed to becoming an "adder" too.. You all are just full of new and informative info.. Well, new to me.

Sometimes, adding ingredients to a soil that is poor to begin with won't solve the problem, which is almost always too much water retention. If you have a water retentive soil and add something chunky to it, you end up with a water retentive soil with chunks in it. (That was sort of a joke) ;o)

Let me give you an example. Pudding is just a whole bunch of very fine particles that hold lots of water - just like a water-retentive soil, only to the extreme. If I ask you, "How much perlite do I need to add to this pudding to make it drain well?", you might look at me askance. You'd assuredly need to add more perlite than you have pudding - right? Wouldn't you, in the end, then have been adding pudding to perlite? Soggy soils are the same. You really can't improve a soil comprised of fine particles by adding larger particles to it. Another example would be sand and marbles. Does adding a pint of marbles to a quart of sand change the drainage characteristics of the sand? Nope.

Maybe it's time to start a thread on this forum so we can spread the word about how important your choice of soil is to the well-being of your plantings. What say you?

Al

Yes. I can't access the other Dave's forums, so I have read some of your work at other places. Sometimes finding the ingreediments is the hard part :).

Thank you for your kind words Al, it means a lot coming from someone with your talent for growing beautiful plants! So, it is Fir bark, huh? I had no idea what type of bark they used in those bagged mixes.

I was in a hurry earlier and rushing to head out to do errands so must have missed Al's post.

Daisy: I use the same mix for all of my container plants. As soon as a plant comes into my house I remove it from it's pot, rinse every bit of the soil from the roots and re-pot in my own mixture. I never add anything to the existing soil in the pot ... I want to get rid of that stuff. I've heard that a lot of the commercial greenhouse's are now adding some kind of water crystals/gel thingies to the soil to supposedly hold in water! I don't mean to sound negative to anyone who may use those things but to me it would be like adding jello to the soil ... I don't want my potting medium to retain water.

For years I felt that all of my houseplants had to be planted in that dark, heavy stuff labeled
"potting soil" that is sold in bags at the garden centers and I used it for many years, with plants doing seemingly well for a period of time and then suddenly succumbing to what I thought was a natural death. Maybe some folks have luck with plain potting soil but for me, after playing around with trying to come up with a looser/lighter mix I've had much better luck with plants living and thriving for a long, long time. I have a couple of plants I received more than 30 years ago and others that are 15-20 years old.

Don't get me wrong ... I still kill a plant occasionally, but at least I know it's not from the medium it's planted in, rather it's because it gets hidden in a corner someplace and I forget about it! ^_^

Gee, I'm so slow! I see there have been more posts since I started typing!

I tend to agree that it is not good to add things to a soil when you don't know what that soil consists of. A friend of mine who isn't into plants once thought it was okay to re-pot a little houseplant by going out in the yard and getting a shovel of dirt and plopping the plant into it. Her soil was mostly sand and the plant didn't live very long. I gave her an orchid for her birthday one November and then one of her kids gave her a beautiful orchid for Mothers Day the next year. The orchid her daughter gave her was planted in a glass container in heavy soil. I told her she really needed to repot it into an orchid bark mix and explained that orchids are epiphytic and need air circulation around their roots. She didn't want to repot it because it was blooming so pretty. Well, it lived for a couple of months and then died and she couldn't understand why the one I gave her was still thriving a year later.

I think of the roots of a plant as their lifeline, they need air circulation or they will drown and rot. Most people realize that the foliage needs light and air circulation but they don't stop and think of the roots needing air.

I thought I was the only one that lost plants. I'll bet you have interesting corners, lol. Another thing I am guilty of is not having time to make enough room for something so I set it down inside a bigger pot. But the good thing... I have thought I had lost a certain plant, and then suddenly it was growing from a hibiscus pot, lol. I am thinking about growing episcia as a ground cover in a pot, just to see how it does. Oh well, I have to go look at my plants for a sec, I might have left a potting job half done :). And just so you don't think I'm goofy... I only just realized that glad press and seal might work to air layer, so I am testing it out thoroughly before I try it on berries outside....

Update:

I found that the soil was holding way too much moisture at the roots. I remedied that by repotting into the medium that I am now using. A witches brew of what I believe to be all the right things... The roots look good.

I removed the yellowing leaves. Their weren't too many. I did notice that a few others have a little browning at the tips. Is it okay to cut off the problematic tips?

Most growers concentrate on the top of the plant, wringing their hands when it doesn't look good because it's so visible & what we like to look at, but don't give enough thought to the roots. Good plant health starts with the roots, the heart of the plant. If you cannot maintain good root vitality, you cannot expect good vitality in the rest of the plant.

Al