Good spider plants dieing - leaves fouling in the middle

[Infraviored]

Since i moved to another place, my spider plants are dieing.

The leaves foul and turn dark brown. Some start to do so at the bottom, others at the tip. Both of my plants already have lost almost half of their leaves.

The big one was hanging in south sun always, so I moved it away. The oder one is in partial sun. I am watering them regularly, i thought maybe I was overdoing it and stopped for 1 week, the fouling still continues.

Even thick 25cm long lush green leaves foul somewhere in the middle. The rest looks perfect, except for one place (which cuts off the good area). I have thrown many away today and therefore can't make a picture, but there are probably more to come

Maybe it is because water here is so hard? Or what else could it be?

 

[Marck]

Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

Firstly, what is the drainage like for the soil and the container. Both must drain well.

Secondly, cutting back on irrigation is a very good idea. You should water only when the soil is partly dry. At least wait until the soil looks dry on the surface. You used the phrase, "I was overdoing it and stopped for 1 week". This suggests that there is chronic overwatering taking place. In all likelihood, you should always be watering only once a week or less. Don't stick to any strict schedule. Always observe the plant and soil, and then irrigate accordingly.

At this point, consider repotting the plants and also propagating new plants from healthy cuttings or plantlets.

 

[Infraviored]

Thank you really much for that response.
How to check if the soil is dry enough? How much from the surface should be dry until I water again?

Is it necessary to report now? Won't they recover when I cut back on watering?

 

[Infraviored]

This is only what additionally rot off from yesterday until today. If it continues at this speed it will be dead within two weeks.

I watered it 5d ago with only a mouth full of distilled water. The soil today is dry for the top 2cm. So why can it rot so bad from yesterday to today?

Maybe the soil really is bad. It seems compressed and not light at all, so it will dry really badly.
Is it also okay to repot the plant now, into fresh perlite containing soil, and to cut off all of the bad/rotten roots? I think i will not make it until spring.

In case you wondered: no, it is just in a regular inner plastic pot with holes contained in a larger one of ceramic pot, completely dry at the bottom.

 

[davidinsydney]

Hi there!

Just a disclaimer, I’m not a seasoned gardener but I do have some spider plants myself. I have them in my outdoor garden bed - it’s spring where I am at the moment and they have taken off like crazy with their baby pups, which they send out on runners. I think I dug up and put it up about 20 or so plants majority of which they gave to friends as gifts.
from your pictures I think the first plant and your first photo needs a good prune, cut off all the dead leaves and big excess leaves (unless that’s the look you’re going for), so that the plant looks clean cut and tidy. I think the first pot looks a little crowded too, so may benefit from a repot. when you repot it, you may notice some tubers growing alongside the roots - this is normal. I left the tubers on when i repotted mine.

The plant in the second photo doesn’t look too bad actually. I would just prune off some of the dead leaves. I wouldn’t bother repotting it.

In terms of soil, they’re not fussy at all, as long as it has good drainage (like most plants).

When it comes to watering - less is more. Like Marck mentioned in his post, I wouldn’t water any more than once a week. I would make sure the pot isn’t sitting in excess water when you have watered. Remove the excess water from the bottom pot once your plants have had a drink.

Good luck, hope the repotting goes well!

 

[Infraviored]

upon closer inspection I just noticed that the place where all leaves are attached is somehow brown-redish. This is only the case of one of the 3 main plants, but this looks extremely bad.

 

[Infraviored]

This is of the first plant. And yes, i really liked the way it looked. There also is this chain of miniplants hanging from it which I really enjoy. So if cutting back, i only would do it out Hof health reasons, not optical ones will cutting help the plant?

 

[Marck]

The discoloration at the base is a symptom of overwatering and may be the beginning of rot. Do what you can to imporve the situation for the mother plant but the situation might get worse. It is good to know you have plantlets ('spiders') growing. These can easily be used to propagate a new genetically identical plant. I recommend that you do this. With what you are learning about proper irrigation and soil moisture, they should grow well.

Cutting dead leaf tips off is mostly for visual appearance but it is also sanitary should be done from time to time.
It will not injure he plant.

 

[Infraviored]

I repotted the plant. Actually not a single root was rotten, but there was almost no soil inside anymore - just roots.
I had to repot outdoors with about 5°C, I hope the cold shock did not kill the plant. I will update you in a few weeks if the little thing made it

Many thanks for every little piece of advice I got!

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