Hi. I have a large spider plant with tons of plantlets. I've tried to propagate two different plantlets at two different times by putting them in water, but the roots don't grow. They have these little nubs already that I was assuming are the beginnings of roots, but if I cut the plantlets off the mother plant and put them in water nothing happens. They just get really limp after a week. It doesn't look like they die completely, but they get really limp and no root grows. I left one in a cup of water for over a month and nothing happened. Why is this? The mother plant was propagated from another spider plant, so it's weird that its own baby plants won't propagate. Also, I've read that spider plants don't usually produce plantlets until they're at least 2 years old, but mine was only a few months old when it started sprouting the stems and the flowers for the plantlets to grow on, and some of the plantlets start growing their own plantlets before their leaves are even a few inches long and are still attached to the mother plant! I'm just curious why. Maybe is it because it's a different variety? It's an all-green one, not a variegated one. So maybe there are some differences? Either way, I think it's really cool. Thanks!
Krista, try poking a hole in dirt at the edge of the pot Mom's in, tuck the baby into the hole and see what happens. Otherwise your plant seems very happy.
Thanks! I decided to see what happened when I left them attached to the plant while putting them in water- the roots are growing like crazy! I think I'll be able to plant soon.
