I know right! I'm feeling like a plant idiot over here!

There isn't a drip tray, which is why I watered it in the shower at first. I also waited about a week and a half to water it after bringing it home from the store, and about the same amount of time to water it again. The soil felt dry when I stuck my finger in it, and it was pretty light so I'm not 100% sure that I over-watered it, but after reading up about it, I'm starting to think these guys hardly need water at all lol. Also, do you know if the roots on the babies are supposed to look like that or are they shriveling up?

Any time you feel bad, just look at the number of threads in the forum list from people with three same kind of problem, many of which involve plants that have been sick for a lot longer than your spider!

A few questions: where did the plant come from, and if you know what kind of conditions it was in, what were they like? What is the soil like--fine grained, sandy, peaty (a picture of the soil would be nice)? How much light does it get?

There are a lot of things that can go wrong with a plant, but this does sound to me like overwatering, which kills roots by depriving them off oxygen by drowning them. At the very least, don't give it any more water until you're sure it needs it. The soil at the bottom can easily be saturated even if the top few inches feel dry. I'd be willing to bet that the soil is dense and peaty and highly water retentive.

An easy way to check soil moisture is to saw or break a 3/8" dowel in half and sharpen all four ends with a pencil sharpener (I sharpen with a utility knife). Stick the dowel all the way to the bottom of the pot, and don't water until the dowel isn't soil-stained or the least bit damp. At that point, water until something like 10-15% of the water you gave it has drained from the bottom. Use a bucket to catch the water if there's no sink or tub nearby. Once it stops draining, prop it up so it's tilted at 45 degrees to get more water to drain out, then hang it again.

Read the thread by tapla (Al) called Dealing with water retentive soils so you'll understand how all this works and what you can do about it.

That's as far as I can go for now, but I'm sure others will stop by to give you more specific advice. All I can say is you've come to the right place for help!

Interesting, I will certainly read that thread for help. And the plant came from Lowe's, where it was hung in their outside-ish greenhouse, (where they keep all the houseplants), and watered daily.

When I brought it home, I initially placed it in the sunny corner I described above, and then moved it to the bathroom next to a west-facing window. The bathroom window gets lots of afternoon light, and the whole thing is white tile so the light bounces around and stays very bright. Actually, the bathroom might be the brightest spot in my entire house.

I can post a picture of the soil in a minute, but I'd assume it's just regular potting soil since it's still in the same pot I bought it in.

Oh, also, it's difficult to water this thing or check the soil because I can hardly see any soil... it's all covered up by plant. Even when I stick my finger in, I just feel roots. I'm nervous to re-pot it though, because I don't want to stress it out more

I hear that places like Lowe's, Home Depot, and many commercial garden centers water everything they have at the same time, and in at least some places they get away with it by using chemicals or growth hormones or something to keep their plants looking okay until they're sold.

I think I can picture what's probably going on in there, but it should be easier to check the soil's moisture with a dowel (disposable chopsticks also work) because it's thin and rigid, so you can just find a spot where it will go through the root mass. There plant does look like it's in pretty good shape, and repotting of most houseplants worked best in early summer, so you might want to hold off until then and learn as much as you can in the meantime.

BTW, "repotting" has a specific meaning around here. Most people will just put their plant in a bigger pot with more soil around the old stuff when it has filled out the old pot, which is called "potting up." Repotting, on the other hand, includes removing all of the old soil from the plant, pruning wayward or non-functional roots, and replacing the old soil with new soil. For most of us newbies (I'm certainly one) the plant will go from a water retentive soil to one that's fast draining and highly aerated, which usually means watering more often, but also makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, to overwater because the roots never have 'wet feet.' The whole process creates an environment that makes most plants extremely happy.

Hmm... I have orchid soil. Should I put it in that? Or would that be too fast draining? (If there is even such a thing)

Variegated spider plants are sensitive to fluoride and/or chlorine in tap water. That's what's causing problems with your plant. It's best to use rainwater or distilled water instead.

Fluoride is accumulative in plant tissues, so it's highly unlikely that damage so severe would occur so quickly.

SM - is the damage primarily limited to the leaf surfaces that were exposed to the high light conditions when you first brought it home? If so, suspect sunburn (photo-oxidation). Have you fertilized since you bought it? If yes, with what?, NPK %s?, and how much/often?

Al

I have quite a few spider plants. I think the golden rule with them is the same as with succulents: when in doubt, don't water. Actually i treat them as i would succulents for the most part. Their roots store quite a lot of water, so they can be okay even when the soil seems dry.

ive seen spider plants dry out and come back alive with no problem. But once they get waterlogged, it is hard to bring them back from the edge.

I have some Hawaiian spider plants that sometimes have variegated leaves. They were always suffering from brown tips like this. But then I switched over to using rainwater that I've collected, and this problem went away. The white sections of the leaves were also more prone to getting sunburned than the green sections. I forgot about this happening until Al pointed it out.

Tapla- Yes, it's almost exclusively on the side of the plant that was closest to the window. The part of the plant that was facing the wall is fine. However, the part of the plant closest to the window is also the easiest part to water- so if I overwatered, that's probably where you'd see the most damage. But, I'd imagine it would take longer than a day to see the effects of overwatering, yes?

And I have not fertilized at all since I brought it home.

My spiders are crabby. They were just beautiful and easy, until winter hit. I have adjusted my watering for winter. The other day I was home from work, (Mold fond in my building). I did some chores. and then sat down to enjoy a free vacation, I realized I was freezing. Thermostate said 65 or 64. I am feeling maybe my plant got too cold for too long.

Good Luck. I will be watching to see what you decided caused your leaf issues. It sure looks just like mine.

Good luck.

=

Laurie, it's funny that your spiders look like mine! I live in Florida, and it regularly gets past 80 degrees, even in November! I doubt my plant is feeling chilly, but it goes to show that lots of things can cause brown tips!

Sounds like it's a case of sunburn (photo-oxidation).

Al

I don't think you over-watered your Spiderplant, Spiderman. There was no saucer, you watered it overhead in the shower, the pot felt light etc etc AND there's the evidence of the brown patches being on the sunnier side when the plant was in its earlier position.

I suggest you leave well enough alone and see how it takes to its new position now, and water overhead in the shower, as you have been. (I had put, 'when the pot feels light' but decided that that might be too frequently.)

tete_a_tete, thank you for getting my nickname!! And yes I think you are right. I just left the plant where it was the day after I posted this, and it got much worse. Like, I don't think overwatering would make a plant get this brown in a day. I ended up putting it back to the living room and it didn't get any more dark spots so, I'd say the sun was the culprit.

Very strange since the bathroom only has one window and the living room has three, but there you go!

Oh, I also put it in a new pot today, and it didn't have any brown roots. But, it turns out that the old pot actually did have a tray inside of it. The roots had grown right out of the tray's drainage holes and started swirling around the bottom of the pot! And you'd never know without removing the whole plant!

Anyways, I mixed up some orchid mix & regular potting mix for my spider's new home. The orchid mix is just bark, charcoal, and pearlite. Should this be ok? Or would this be harmful somehow?

I also read the link litterbuggy posted, which recommended using a wick, so I did that too.

I thought I saw a saucer attached to that pot. They are so attached to some pots that they have to be ripped off with a screw driver or great force. They are so tight to the pot that we hardly know they are there. Good for you!