I would say yes it's normal and no need to re-pot. Soil that is dry in pots can bubble when watered, sometimes they can even make a high pitched whine as well like some of mine do.
You should see my cats look at when that happenes!!!
It's just air like you said being pushed out by the water. As long as your plants seem otherwise healthy, I say, enjoy the bubbles with your whine!

Billy Rae

You should not let your plant get to the stage where it is bubbling, this is a good way of killing the feeder roots.

Tracy,
it's good that you're asking all these questions, it shows that you care for your plant. Spider plants seem to like a bit more water than others, Is it possible that it is rootbound? If it is, it will lift itself out of or break it's pot completely eventually. They really like pebble trays, this helps prevent brown tips on the leaves. They are very hardy plants, even though they are spider mite magnets.

OH God....lol, I have only dealt with fungas gnats, and those are a bugger to get rid of.......I cant see it being potbound yet, it is still pretty small, I am wondering if the bubbles come from maybe using peat moss in the mix?? As for the pebble trays, there has got to be enought moisture already around these plants....lol, there is about 40 of them in one window, with humidity trays for the AV's as well as water trays to keep humidity levels up as well I read keeping plants grouped together haelps humidity, thats why I have a "plant corner".....lol

Tracy

I don't see a problem with bubbly water at all if your plants appear healthy and green. I have many plants and the ones that I let dry out before the next watering will do that (bubble) and I have had many for years and they are all healthy.

For instance, my spiderplants along with other plants (dry between waterings, will get watered usually once a week, or when they dry (not much peat, if any in soil) and they bubble some when watered. I just never worried about a few bubbles since the plants are all doing fine.

Billy Rae

Bubbles?? LOLOL..I've never seen bubbles on my soil..
Billy Rae, I can imagine your cats ogling bubbles popping..LOL..You should buy them that soapy water and blow bubbles in the air..LOL j/k
As long as the soil isn't too heavy, drains well, it should be fine..if it settles on top after watering then it needs repotting..Toni

Water in the soil is not the same thing as water in the air - a plant can be drowning in the soil,but still die of dryness in the air - lack of humidity, and vice versa.

I think most pets would be facinated w/bubbles..especially cats since they're curious by nature..the problem is they'd probably want to pop them, and soap isn't the healthiest drink..LOL..
No bubbles..not even small ones..LOL. Though a few times I watered w/a little dish soap and they did bubble then.. as long as your soil is well-draining there's no problem..Toni

Maybe it is becasue this pot is not a draining pot, The woman that gave it to me has it in a realy nice 4 inch pot, but no drainage, so I am trying to be very careful about watering it, could that be the reason for the bubbles? All of my other plants have drainage holes, so maybe this is the reason??

Tracy

Tracy, it's possible..what type of soil did she use to repot? What type of pot? Since it doesn't have drainage, make sure the soil drys a bit between waterings. Is the cutting small? Do u have a pic? Toni

I am not sure about the soil she used, like I said it goes kind of muddy when I watered it, but I also dont know what peat looks like when it gets wet. It was not a cutting, i got it like this, and it is firmly rooted.I might get dh to drill holes in the bottom with the dremel, if it cracks, it will just get repotted. Heres a pic..Tracy

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Tracy, what a cute little spider, and the pot is really nice..I wouldn't want it to crack. Your plants all look good..Toni

Well thanks, they all absolutely love my North window, especially the AV's, one of mine has near 30 blooms right now......everything is almost growing right before my eyes, except of course the slower growing plants.

I am going to keep an eye on my spider guy....lol....if he shows signs of stress, damage, any at all, I will repot.....For now, it is growing good.....I give the lady credit, I bought a bunch of plants off her, and they were small but beautiful, very well maintained and very nicely potted plants, she said she only keeps a few house plants so when they have "babie" she sells them for a couple bucks, with a pot, so the pots are a deal too....lol....God I am cheap. So she was doing something right, they are healthy plants.

Tracy

Tracy,

One of my spiders is in a square glass container with no drainage. I put a big layer rocks at the bottom, which I'm sure does absolutely nothing except make the plant look cooler! But it does at least help me see when the water starts to get to the bottom.

Anyway, with this pot, I do get bubbles sometimes. I guess it's the air trying to get out or something. I'm sure it's not good long term because there just isn't enough air circulation, but I have enough spiders where I can "experiment" with this one. I've had this spider in there since it was a tiny baby, and it's a very nice size now and is very healthy with lots of new growth lately. So, if you have to keep it in your pot without draining holes (what a shame it would be to ruin that gorgeous pot!), it might do ok. Just make sure you're very careful with watering. I'm sure you're experienced enough with all those plants you have to know "about" how much to water it, and when to water it.

Good luck with it,
Gabi

That is a nice pot, plant looks lovely, I too would hate to break the pot in the drilling. That said, why not repot the plant into another pot (plastic) w/ drainage holes in it & then simply sit it inside this pretty pot. This is sometimes called a cachepot, the outer, glazed ceramic pot w/ no drainage holes. I do this w/ some of my plants, so that they can always drain & I never plant anything directly into a pot w/ no drainage hole.

I do the cache pot thing too, didnt know there was a name for it though, I have my azalea in one, since it likes so much water....I think I will just leave him be, and see how he does in this pot......its my only spider plants right now, so it NEEDS to have babies....lol

Tracy

Cachepots force the roots to sit in water and rot, so I'd be careful about using them unless you let the pots drain in the sink first.

Well yes, the whole idea of a cache pot is so that you can lift up the interior plastic pot with drainage holes and take it to be watered, then put it back in the cache pot. If one watered directly into the "interior" pot, it would be the same as using a pot with no drainage!

I also love to use cache pots. Unfortanetly, you can't use one with glass pots. I did, however, find one of those candleholders (a glass holder in a wrought iron stand), and I found a plastic cup that fits right in it...so I guess you could say the outer glass is the cache pot, because it keeps the look of glass. Very cool looking. I simply poked some holes in the bottom of the cup for drainage, filled the bottom of the glass with pebbles to hold the cup up, and I lift the cup out to water it. I love the idea...I may go look for some more of these. It's great for my smaller hoyas.

Here's a picture from my phone (sorry for the bad quality):

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On the (sort of off-) topic of bubbles for kitties...did you know they actually make catnip bubbles? They go nuts for them! I think my sister got them at Petco!
Ellen

Gabro, what an interesting idea..and it would work great for Hoyas..Geesh, you ppl are giving me ideas..LOL

Ellen, you're kidding? How do catnip bubbles work? Do they really look like bubbles? LOL..how cute..Toni

Thanks Toni. I'll put better pics up tonight on the hoya forum, when I can use my real camera.

OK, so here are some pics of my spider in a glass vase. I'm sure there is a way to drill holes into glass, but I'm not handy like that! So far, it's doing really well. I don't remember when I potted the spider babies up, but they (2 of them) were tiny when I did...it was probably around 6 months ago if I had to guess.

I will also post some better pics of my candle-holder vase in the hoya forum if anyone is interested.

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Gabi, your spiders look great..are they getting sun? Also, do you soil in the center surrounded by water? I can't see exactly how you have them planted..Really nice setup though..

Hi Toni. Yes, they are surrounded by sun (my whole apartment is wall to wall windows, so anywhere I put plants gets tons of sun). I'm not quite sure what you mean by "soil in the center surrounded by water", but the pot is filled completely with soil, as you'll see in the pic below of the top view, and the bottom of the pot is layered with big river stones, as you'll see in the second picture. There is no inside pot, if that's what you mean...it's just the vase. I just love the glass look :-)

I have 2 other spiders that are more full grown (one is an adult, the other an adolescent), and the leaves on those are more "spread out", unlike the one above, which has "spikey", more upright leaves (that's why his name is Spike :)).

TOP VIEW:

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CORNER VIEW OF THE BOTTOM STONES:

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