In the ground, spider plants bloom in the spring. The stalks usually have one or more babies at the tip, which may be single, double, or more, and flowers along the stalk. Without sufficient light inside, it may take a long time to see flowers, or stalks with just babies may appear. In a pot/inside, there doesn't seem to be any seasonal pattern to their behavior. Being pot/root-bound has nothing to do with it, though a convincing case could be made for some plants (that they will bloom more or better,) no plant would experience this condition in nature, and this is not the reputation for spider plant. When people say that, they are usually overwatering their plants to death, or the plants are simply in a very bad 'soil,' and if/when the poor things finally run out of room in the pot to harbor so much excess water, they can finally try to do what they would have done a long time ago anyway. But back to spiders, they bloom profusely when loose in the ground, letting them 'get there' this far south is a mistake, they are perennial, and will not stop taking over an area by 'walking' into a bigger circle via babies every year. The next year the babies make their own flowers and babies, and trying to walk through a patch of this stuff is tricky, the stolons stick up in an upside-down U-shape and trip people, just like a patch of that nasty Vinca garbage. (Ooops, turned into a rant, sorry. I'm sick of digging up my Mom's novelties! She can plant 'em, but she can't dig stuff up later when it does what I warned her about... And - LOL! I still have one in a pot, old habits die hard!)

Thank you. I'll wait until spring then because I have a lot on my plate now and will until frost. I don't have to do it all at once or disturb all the plants, will see how it goes. It should be a little easier to tell where to split in the spring.

Yep, avoid that seller. You are likely to get better plants if you shop at a site that actually specializes in selling Tillandsias (there are quite a few, from some with a fairly good selection to others with many different plants). Sometimes they, too, will offer blooming plants, which means the plants are mature probably, but they won't lie to you about lack of oxygen. Hmm, maybe we should start a thread talking about Internet-based Tillandsia sellers? Plants that have bloomed and the blooms have faded usually begin pupping quickly, sometimes even before blooming (or maybe we missed the bloom if we were away a few days?), but some plants bloom and then don't pup, which I think is the exception to the rule (I'm thinking it was a Concolor that failed to pup after blooming for me), but most do pup and some also offer seeds. The mother plant will hang on for as long as she needs to, to make sure the pup(s) have a chance on their own, then she'll fade and it's obvious she's ready for the compost pile. This process takes most often months, but maybe years, too. Ionanthas are usually fine puppers, as are soft gray strictas, caput medusa, aeranthos, bergeri, and many others. Several Internet-based vendors have good descriptions of their plants and can help you decide. Do a web search for "Tillandsias" and you'll not only get sellers, but sites that simply like to tell you about the plants.

Blimey - it has been dry, dry, dry, here in the driest part of the UK - semi-arid east anglia. The hose has been out on the potatoes already. Unlike the ferociously warm March/April a few years ago (2 measly weeks of tulips and all over), it has been cool enough to produce enough blossom for a good fruit year though. The last time it was so dry this early in the year, the jet-stream went awol for months and we had an endless summer of perpetual rain (2012?) Flora, who lives in the wet and sometimes flooded south, may have clearer memories of our summer of drowning...but it was truly grim.