I think plantmasterm is trying to clarify that the babies need to have visible root formations. I don't think anybody made that basic point above. For either method, I would agree. Tina, no, and no... unless they are in the ground and you trip over the "umbilical cord." They make it as outdoor perennials here. Where are you? Also wanted to say if you have enough babies, why not give each teacher one of each - water and soil. And I loved hopeful/Toni's clear pot idea. Al, loved your scientific-yet-understandable info above. Thanks for taking the time to share it!! What happens to the water roots when the plants are put in soil? Do they die off and new roots are formed, or do those water roots change/adapt? Is there a small amount of time that would be beneficial in water to soften or swell the roots first?

Hello Ines_99. Im alittle late in jumping in here, so please forgive me. Im sorry you got stiffed on postage on here. It does happen. Some people just cant uphold thier end of a deal, and/ or are just plain dishonest. That said, Id like to ask you if you have any solid GREEN babies that are a decent size w/ roots. If you do, ill be more than happy to send you postage before hand for a couple of them! Please email me and let me know. Post here too so ill know to look in my email. I would really appreciate it. I miss my solid green spider. As for rooting babies with no roots, its fairly simple. A small cup or budvase that the plant can sit its "bottom" in water, and usually in a couple weeks or so, youll have roots. However, when possible, I wait until the "babies" already have ariel roots. Below is my spider plant history I posted on another thread. ********************************** I am alittle late in coming in here, but Ill share none the less. Ive usually had a spider plant. I think ive had a total of 3. They have usually been very long lived and the only one that never produced seeds or babies was my solid green one. You dont see too many solid green ones, and I kind of am partial to them. I currently have a small verigated one. I work in Downtown Washington DC, and the Smithsonian Castle's gardnes in the summer usually have many, very large hanging basket spider plants outdoors on light posts. They are ENORMOUS, and usually have hundreds of babies on each plant, if not more. They are all verigated. There are usually 40 or 50 of these giant plants around, and most of them are in direct sun, and do great. My last spider died a few years ago, it never even produced a bloom spike, let alone a baby. It was solid green. So, summer 2004 when I was on my luch break, I took a small baby from one of the gigantic outdoor spiders at Smithsonian. It lived in my office, in water for about a year, and did OK. It did almost die a few times. I took it home and repotted it in winter 05/06 in a small ceramic pot. At one point, it only had 3 leaves. 1 leaf on one, and 2 leaves on the other. Slowly, it put out a couple of new leaves. I placed it outdoors in full sun for the summer, and in less than two months it is 10 times the size it was, it now has about 30 leaves, and has a nice bloom spike that has been blooming for a month, and even has a seed pod. Im hoping I can get a "GREEN" one out of the seeds as id like to keep a verigated one, and a solid green one. So they definately can take full summer sun, at least here in Washington.

I understand, Seil. More than 25 years ago, I would leave an overhead, oscillating sprinkler going over large areas of my Newhall garden, requesting the community gardening staff to turn them off when they left for the day, on triple digit days. The horse manure mulch disappeared quickly. The foliage was huge, plants even more so, and they flowered amazingly. Water was cheap and plentiful, so not an issue there and then. There were no disease or insect issues. The plants were fully clothed in very dense, durable foliage and there was no such thing as sun scald nor Flat Headed Apple Borers which became great issues once that type of watering had to be discontinued due to availability and cost. Black spot and mites were frequent issues with the own root plants we propagated as volunteers at The Huntington. I learned early when bringing home any new plant such as those to pull off all of the foliage before bringing it into the garden. I had an area in filtered sun under a tree where I kept a pile of horse manure. I'd clump the newly arrived own roots in their pots together, surround and fill between them with the manure, often inside them as mulch, then overhead water until new foliage began developing. No mites, no diseases and the plants exploded into growth quickly. A bit of hardening them off in larger cans and higher levels of heat and light and they were ready for planting once they'd filled the five gallon cans. Growing them up in larger cans also permitted me to move them around to see what position was best to their liking. It often made quite a difference. At the beach, I had a number of customers who regularly used my "proprietary blend" of Ultra Fine and Miracle Grow sprayed every two weeks except between the middle of July through the middle of October. In the Perma Fog, it prevented disease, eliminated the constant aphids and saw flies and kept really terrible things there, like one lady's beloved and hated Paul Neyron, viable. He caught her heart in books and she was determined to grow him. He languished until I suggested the Ultra Fine and MG foliar application. She had severe bronchitis, but made sure she brought me a bouquet of beautiful Paul Neyron from her bush! Used during the heat, that mixture did burn, but when there weren't heat and light intensities to contend with, it worked wonders. NO way I could have ever used it in any garden at home! I tried it once, learned my lesson the hard way right there and then! Anything presented as being even slightly phytotoxic WILL burn here. I am in total agreement with your walking the roses daily. I can't imagine having them unless I wanted to walk them every chance I got. Each has its own personality, likes, dislikes, needs and will quickly let you know if you don't provide them. It's the best way not only to head off problems early, but also to detect sports. They can happen so quickly right in front of you and seemingly behind your back. A big part of the serendipity for me! Kim

That's too bad =( Was it the true perennial geranium or the annual that is commonly known as geranium? And yeah, it was cool in the way of "Wow, these babies can grow anywhere" but not so much when it came time to try to pull the roots out of the carpet without hurting them ....... I had a bunch of hanging baskets, but only one spot where I could rig up a hook, so most of them where sitting on the carpet ...... ALL of my trailing plants rooted themselves into the carpet -- My two Wandering Jews, Bolivian Jew, Philodendron 'Brazil', Marble Queen Pothos, Purple Variegated Sweet Potato Vine, and Vinca Vine ...... That was A LOT of tedious work to get them all detached, and there was some damage =( Next year if we're still in this apartment, I'm taking someone's suggestion and getting a portable clothes rack to hang them on!!