These plants have fat carrot-like roots that are water-storage organs. Soil that stays moist, soil devoid of air (all tiny particles like peat or sand,) and/or having tons of these 'carrots' filling the pot, smushing each other are conditions spider plant doesn't like. I've had an experimental plant that I kept when I dug up an infestation of this plant from my ground at my Mom's house last November. It had been there for a few years and some of the roots were a foot under the surface. One especially nice-looking plant got literally dropped in a pot and placed under some shrubs, where it still sits 9 months later. Oak leaves have fallen in there, but nobody has ever added 'dirt' or watered this plant. It gets a drink when it rains. I put it on the driveway to take a (pretty crappy) pic with my phone a few weeks ago. The babies have tons of roots (they were under the leaves/mulch in the under-the-shrubs area) but there's no brown tips or issues besides a few nibbles on leaves. These plants would rather have no soil at all if it's not chunky, porous, airy, no standing water in the bottom of a hanging basket that doesn't have a hole at the bottom surface (just a recessed hole in the middle, about 1/2 inch above the bottom) although also it's really humid here, so this "don't try this at home" without taking that into account. A pot big needs to be big enough for the carrots. The classic plastic hanging basket pot really isn't deep enough for one of these to be happy/look good for long at all, though the less water-retentive the mix, the better the results would be. If not using tap water, or there is rain used during summer, a bigger/deeper pot, one could spider looking great as long as possible. A wire thing with coir liner might work a lot better. This is interesting to hear also, I think. I kept all of the material I dug up in a plastic storage tub and brought it here to compost. It stayed in there for 7 months until I dumped the contents into compost area since it took that long for it to look dead. Last weekend I was pitchforking around in there, and encountered the roots, not at all yet decomposing, just storing water. I'm not (too) worried they'll grow because I've buried and done everything I could think of before with the 'carrots' to see if they could grow new plants but have never gotten one to do it. Not convinced it's impossible though. Has anybody? If/when repotting, the carrots can be cut to make room to put it back in the same pot with new soil. The more you cut the roots, the more effects you'll see after in the foliage, but it will be offset with new growth once new roots start growing. Whatever roots/carrots are left on should be spread/fanned out when put back in the pot, so each has as much room as possible to spread, and starts as high up in the pot as possible, using the space most effectively. After repotting, many times I've just sheared everything off just above the...

so, what's the answer? cause i bought my spider plant, already growing, about 3 years ago (give or take) and ive never seen a baby . h**l ive never even had a full bushy plant despite; the south facing window, soaking and drying completely for water (twice a month ill say), i feed liquid fish fertilizer (2-3-0) and replace the potassium with bimonthly banana peels (i prefer organics for plants) . its hanging in a basket .. i changed the soil this summer so i know the tube roots are thriving (actually wasnt prepared for them and scared the begeebys out myself hahaha) . my only thought upon reading above posts ; could i have repotted too soon and didn't let the roots get hugged? cause i assumed like most other plants if you give more space for roots, the more intricate the roots become, the stronger the plant .. is that wrong? helpp !! i want plant babies !

I have heard of people wrapping cuttings in newspaper for the winter and starting them in the spring with no problems. It is hard to kill a brug cutting if it is from the woody part of the plant. Just put it in a pot of slightly damp soil and store it in a cool dark place and give it a small amount of water each month. In the spring, with a little light and regular water, it will take off like a champ Bill

Spider plants are particularly sensitive to the chemicals in tap water, such as chlorine and fluoride. It's best to use either rainwater, distilled water, reverse osmosis-filtered water, or even the water collected from using a dehumidifier. As for the pups that begin to look unsightly, just trim them completely off and the spider plant will happily send out new ones. I do it all the time to mine. It won't phase your plant one bit. Neither will trimming away any brown leaves. Spider plants are very resilient. I had one that got neglected over Winter and all the leaves completely died back. When Spring arrived, it started growing again as if nothing happened.