It's not unusual for the roots of plants started in water to make the transition to soil poorly. The cellular make-up of water roots is quite different from roots produced in a well-aerated medium, like perlite (though perlite isn't the best choice for spider plants because of its fluoride content and spider plant's aversion to fluoride) or screened Turface or DE. Try potting in a fresh, well-aerated medium and keeping the medium barely moist. If water roots have already formed on your plantlets, they will have difficulty extracting water from the medium, so a loose tenting arrangement will help to keep humidity up and transpirational water loss down. Some questions - I think I see fertilizer prills on the soil of the struggling plant. Did you fertilize and what with? Did you use old soil to pot the plants in? Spider plants are among the easiest plants to root because they come complete with preformed adventitious roots; so all you need is a well-aerated soil, light, and a little moisture to get them started. Best luck. Al

Hi Krolik, How's your plant doing? Here are a couple of thoughts. 1, Travel can be stressful for plants, they can pick up exposure to who knows what. 2, Bathroom humidity, It may not dry out enough, in there, to kill unwanted organisms, or let the plant cells move water. Consider moving the plant out of there for a few days, or a couple of weeks. Just give it a light morning spritz in it's new home. A flor. plant light -10$ and timer -8$ if the light needs adjusting+ a little, somewhere else. 3, Light anti-fungals/microbials, Neem oil from Logee's, that stuff is good! Meanwhile, have you tried watering with a little green tea, or black tea or coffee that's been thinned, or a spray of water and white vinegar, say from 1/10th to 1/3rd vinegar? And there's lysol spray, or other similar cheap substitute [saw that in gardenweb, just don't remember if it was on begonias]. My begonias perk up with the vinegar spray. One liked half cup of old coffee in its quart+ watering pot too. 4, Soil changes/repot.I had an ailing Sophie Cecile, one I had growing on from cuttings. I took a chance with it, because I didn't want to throw it out. I repotted it, down a little, because of fewer roots, with a little good soil from the yard. The soil had a little clay, a tiny bit of wood ash, some peaty compost, and maybe a little dog residue. They are supposed to like a little clay, and potash is good for fighting ills, and the texture was open from the plant material. It turns out that there's something in dung preferably cow, that helps fight off some virus or fungus or other. It was happy at the end of the summer,when it came out from under a shrub. I'm hoping that you can hold out till spring when you can set it in a protected spot.

The reason I told you to read that is because it gives a lot of information about container gardening that you don't come across everyday. Seriously, the name-calling is a little out of line I think. If your goal is to keep a pepper plant alive for a few years the soil and feeding program is going to be the most important parts to get right from the beginning. There are some ways you can improve whatever soil you are trying to grow in if you can't make a mix of your own. Screening regular potting mix with a bug screen makes a world of difference. Then you can add some supplemental things to approach the 5:1:1 mix. It doesn't have to be perfect, but some little things make a world of difference. Something people talk a lot about is a perched water table, meaning, in regular potting soil water will actually pool and not drain out. Roots grown in this environment tend to rot, especially plants that prefer well drained soil. Decreasing the amount of fines in the soil decreases this level. The fertilizer you use is important too because you're basically trying to supply all the nutrients the plant will need without the natural minerals and microorganisms that are in the soil. If you can't find something that you know the ratios for at least, is it possible to order online?

A very simple solution that never crossed my building fatigued/rubberhead mind.... I called today & they are sending me 2 sets in the mail. Thank you! Katie