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Spider plant

Chlorophytum comosum

The classic beginner's houseplant, producing runners hung with plantlets that root the moment they touch compost. It is genuinely non-toxic to cats, which is rarer among common houseplants than most people realise and is the main reason to choose it over a pothos.

Position
Bright, out of direct sun
Water
moderate demand
Drainage
Free-draining
Grows to
30–45 cm × 30–60 cm
Frost
Frost tender
Difficulty
Straightforward

August

Take cuttings

Spider plant’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

ActivityJFMAMJJASOND
Take cuttingsApril. May. June. July. August. September.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light
Partial shade, Dappled shade
Frost
Frost tender
Grows best at
15–24 °C
Soil
Peat-free compost
Soil pH
6–7.5
Drainage
Free-draining
Water needs
moderate
Drought
good tolerance
Waterlogging
poor tolerance
Heat
moderate tolerance
Wind and exposure
moderate tolerance
Where these figures come from
LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spider plant — position

Checked 2026-08-13

FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spider plant — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spider plant — temperature

Checked 2026-08-13

SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spider plant — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Chlorophytum comosum — culture

Checked 2026-08-13

DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spider plant — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

The thick roots act as water storage.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

SoilVerdictWhy
Heavy clayWorks, with one conditionSpider plant will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
SandyPrefers this soilSandy suits Spider plant as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Chalky and alkalineGrows well hereSpider plant grows perfectly well on chalky and alkaline without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
LoamPrefers this soilLoam suits Spider plant as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
SiltyPrefers this soilSilty suits Spider plant as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acidWorks, with one conditionSpider plant will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rockPrefers this soilShallow over rock suits Spider plant as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Made ground and urban soilWorks, with one conditionSpider plant will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height
30–45 cm
Mature spread
30–60 cm
Rooting depth
20 cm
Where these figures come from
Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

In a container

Minimum volume
3 litres or more
Minimum depth
15 cm
Where the container figures come from
Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

MethodSuitabilityWhat it needs
Indoor potWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

WindowsillWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

ContainerWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Indoors, or outdoors in summer only
HydroponicsWorkable
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Open groundNot suitable
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Tender: will not survive a British winter outdoors.

Growing it

  • WateringBrown leaf tips are the plant's signature complaint and usually mean fluoride or chlorine in tap water, dry air, or erratic watering — in that order of likelihood. Standing water overnight, or using rainwater, resolves most of it. It is cosmetic and does not threaten the plant.
  • PropagationPin a plantlet down onto a small pot of compost with a bent paperclip and leave it attached to the parent until it has rooted. It establishes far more reliably than a detached plantlet stood in water.
  • FeedingA half-strength feed once a month from spring until the autumn, and none after it. Spider plants are vigorous and will take feeding, but the brown leaf tips they are famous for are usually a symptom of too much rather than too little — fertiliser salts and fluoridated tap water both do it, and both build up in a pot that is never flushed. Water the compost right through with rainwater a few times a year. A plant that has stopped producing plantlets is generally short of light, or too young, rather than hungry.
  • TransplantingMost years, in spring — a spider plant is unusually vigorous and its thick white storage roots fill a pot fast, lifting the whole plant upwards and pushing the compost out of the top. That is the sign to move it. Go up one size, or divide the clump into two or three and start again in the same pot. A plant so pot-bound that it dries out daily produces plenty of runners and rather poor leaves, which is often mistaken for a feeding problem.
Where this guidance comes from
WateringSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spider plant — leaf tips

Checked 2026-08-13

PropagationSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spider plant — propagation

Checked 2026-08-13

FeedingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Chlorophytum comosum — cultivation

Checked 2026-08-13

TransplantingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Chlorophytum comosum — cultivation

Checked 2026-08-13

Four ways to make more plantsFour propagation operations compared, each showing where the separation is made and what must be present on both sides of it. Division: a clump cut between crowns, with roots and at least one growing point on every piece. Stem cutting: a shoot cut just below a leaf node, because the node is where roots form, with the lower leaves removed. Runner: a plantlet already rooting where it touches the ground, severed from the parent only after its own roots have taken. Offset: a young shoot at the base of the parent, separated with its own roots attached. In each case the cut is marked and the part that must be retained is labelled.Divisioncut between crownsroots on every piececut below a nodeStem cuttingroots form at the nodestrip the lower leavesRunnerlet it root firstthen sever the linkOffseta shoot at the basetake its roots with it
The rule is the same in all four: the new piece needs both a growing point and roots of its own. A cutting is the exception that has to make its roots afterwards, which is why the node matters so much.

What goes wrong

Start from what you can see

Safety and edibility

Cats and dogs

Listed as non-toxic to cats and dogs

Spider plant appears on published non-toxic lists for cats and dogs. That is a statement about the plant's chemistry, not a guarantee: any plant eaten in quantity can upset an animal, so it is still worth discouraging heavy chewing.
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — toxic and non-toxic plant list — American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Chlorophytum comosum — non-toxic plants list

Checked 2026-08-13

  • Pets and livestockpetsNot toxic to cats or dogs. Cats are nonetheless strongly attracted to the dangling plantlets and eating a quantity can cause vomiting simply from the volume of plant material.
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Chlorophytum comosum

    Checked 2026-08-13

    Safe to keep in a household with pets, which is the main reason to choose it. Hang it out of reach if a cat is stripping the plantlets.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.

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