Potting up a spider plant

I recently ordered a solid-green spider plant (impossible to find in garden centers here). The seller said it would fit nicely in a 12 inch basket. When I received it, the plant fit perfectly in a 6 inch pot. So I planted it in an 8 inch pot with fresh potting soil. Is this the right way to handle this plant? They like to be a bit root bound, right? Or should I go ahead and repot it in the larger basket? Thanks for your advice!

No plant likes to be root bound. The grower might prefer to use the negative effects being rood bound has on a plant to bend the plant to his will; the plant might look better to the grower, but the plant won't like it. Tight roots cause stress. Stress from the plant's perspective is never a positive.

Often, it might be suggested that a particular plant appreciates rootbound conditions, when what the suggestion really means is, the plant doesn't tolerate wet feet well. Plants that are root bound tend to use the water in soils faster than plants with plenty of room for roots to run, so the grower trades the negative effects of tight roots for the hope there will be less chance of root function impairment or root rot setting in. Neither is actually desirable.

Something to read: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1050729/#postreply

Appropriate container size isn't determined by what the next larger pot size is, or even how large your plant or root mass is. If your soil is appropriate, you can plant a seedling in a 55 gallon drum with no ill effects. If you're using a water-retentive soil based on fine materials, you need to be very careful about how large the next pot is. The idea should be to use a soil that allows you to be unconcerned about pot size.

More about pot size:

How large a container ‘can’ or ‘should’ be, depends on the relationship between the mass of the plant material you are working with and your choice of soil. We often concern ourselves with "over-potting" (using a container that is too large), but "over-potting" is a term that arises from a lack of a basic understanding about the relationship we will look at, which logically determines appropriate container size.

It's often parroted that you should only move up one container size when "potting-up". The reasoning is, that when potting up to a container more than one size larger, the soil will remain wet too long and cause root rot issues, but it is the size/mass of the plant material you are working with, and the physical properties of the soil you choose that determines both the upper & lower limits of appropriate container size - not a formulaic upward progression of container sizes. In many cases, after root pruning a plant, it may even be appropriate to step down a container size or two, but as you will see, that also depends on the physical properties of the soil you choose. It's not uncommon for me, after a repot/root-pruning to pot in containers as small as 1/5 the size as that which the plant had been growing in prior to the work.

Plants grown in ‘slow’ (slow-draining/water-retentive) soils need to be grown in containers with smaller soil volumes so that the plant can use water quickly, allowing air to return to the soil before root issues beyond impaired root function/metabolism become a limiting factor. We know that the anaerobic (airless) conditions that accompany soggy soils quickly kill fine roots and impair root function/metabolism. We also know smaller soil volumes and the root constriction that accompany them cause plants to both extend branches and gain o/a mass much more slowly - a bane if rapid growth is the goal - a boon if growth restriction and a compact plant are what you have your sights set on.
Conversely, rampant growth can be had by growing in very large containers and in very fast soils where frequent watering and fertilizing is required - so it's not that plants rebel at being potted into very large containers per se, but rather, they rebel at being potted into very large containers with a soil that is too slow and water-retentive. This is a key point.

We know that there is an inverse relationship between soil particle size and the height of the perched water table (PWT) in containers. As particle size increases, the height of the PWT decreases, until at about a particle size of just under 1/8 inch, soils will no longer hold perched water. If there is no perched water, the soil is ALWAYS well aerated, even when the soil is at container capacity (fully saturated).

So, if you aim for a soil (like the gritty mix) composed primarily of particles larger than 1/16", there is no upper limit to container size, other than what you can practically manage. The lower size limit will be determined by the soil volume's ability to allow room for roots to ’run’ and to furnish water enough to sustain the plant between irrigations. Bearing heavily on this ability is the ratio of fine roots to coarse roots. It takes a minimum amount of fine rootage to support the canopy under high water demand. If the container is full of large roots, there may not be room for a sufficient volume of the fine roots that do all the water/nutrient delivery work and the coarse roots, too. You can grow a very large plant in a very small container if the roots have been well managed and the lion's share of the rootage is fine. You can also grow very small plants, even seedlings, in very large containers if the soil is fast (free-draining and well-aerated) enough that the soil holds no, or very little perched water.

I have just offered clear illustration why the oft repeated advice to ‘resist pottting up more than one pot size at a time’, only applies when using heavy, water-retentive soils. Those using well-aerated soils are not bound by the same restrictions. As the ht and volume of the perched water table are reduced, the potential for negative effects associated with over-potting are diminished in a direct relationship with the reduction - up to the point at which the soil holds no (or an insignificant amount) of perched water and over-potting pretty much becomes a non-issue.



Repotting vs Potting Up

I often explain the effects of repotting vs potting up like this:
Let's rate growth/vitality potential on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best. We're going to say that trees in containers can only achieve a 9. Lets also imagine that for every year a tree goes w/o repotting or potting up, its measure of growth/vitality slips by 1 number, That is to say you pot a tree and the first year it grows at a level of 9, the next year, an 8, the next year a 7. Lets also imagine we're going to go 3 years between repotting or potting up.
Here's what happens to the tree you repot/root prune:
year 1: 9
year 2: 8
year 3: 7
repot
year 1: 9
year 2: 8
year 3: 7
repot
year 1: 9
year 2: 8
year 3: 7
You can see that a full repotting and root pruning returns the plant to its full potential within the limits of other cultural influences for as long as you care to repot/root prune.
Looking now at how plants respond to only potting up:
year 1: 9
year 2: 8
year 3: 7
pot up
year 1: 8
year 2: 7
year 3: 6
pot up
year 1: 7
year 2: 6
year 3: 5
pot up
year 1: 6
year 2: 5
year 3: 4
pot up
year 1: 5
year 2: 4
year 3: 3
pot up
year 1: 4
year 2: 3
year 3: 2
pot up
year 1: 3
year 2: 2
year 3: 1
This is a fairly accurate illustration of the influence tight roots have on a plant's growth/vitality. You might think of it for a moment in the context of the longevity of bonsai trees vs the life expectancy of most trees grown as houseplants, the difference between 4 years and 400 years lying primarily in how the roots are treated.

Shamingo, I would leave it in the 8" pot for a while. Let it get growing and used to your area.
When you see it is growing well you can think about the larger container.
Spider plants do not mind being rootbound, but will also grow in open soil (They are used as a ground cover here with just a little protection).

Please don't put it in the ground in FL! Not fun to dig these back up, after realizing it's taking over your property. The babies take root, still connected to the mama, creating a solid and ever-expanding patch that will trip anyone trying to walk through them, excellent haven for inviting snakes. The big roots (like white carrots) these plants make are at least a foot deep in the ground, going straight down. I kept them in pots for almost 40 years and they always decline after the roots fill the pot, getting brown tips on the leaves, then I saw why after digging up a patch of them at my Mom's house (that started as 5 cute little babies put there a few years before.) Unless a pot is quite deep, spider plants never get a chance to make mature roots in pots.

These are gone though seedlings are still sprouting occasionally in that spot.

I guess we get just enough frost to kill them off once in a while, so they are not the rampant nuisance they could be.
There are other plants, though...

Looking to see if anyone has plant cuttings that they want to get rid of. Ill take them. I only have two plants. I just got them less than a month ago. Dont have much money to go buy expensive plants. So if anyone is thinking about tossing them in the garbage please message me. ty