Sitting on your patio is one of your favorite plants: the spider plant. It is one of your favorite plants because it requires very little attention from you.
You just have to make sure that it gets enough water, and plenty of indirect sunlight, and the plant kind of just takes care of itself.
However, one day when you go to water your plant, you notice that there are small white flowers growing on it. Confused you ask yourself: Do spider plants grow flowers? Should I let my spider plant flower?
And sure enough, those questions led you to this post. In this post, we are going to address those questions as well as other questions about flowering spider plants.
So, let’s get started…
Do Spider Plants Grow Flowers?
The answer: Yes, spider plants do in fact grow flowers. At the end of their long arching stems, you may at times find small flowers. Oftentimes they are white, but some species produce greenish-white or even yellow flowers. Each star-shaped flower is very small containing anywhere from 3 to 6 petals. They can grow in small groups or sometimes there maybe just be one or two.
In addition, they have no scent. In comparison with other flowers, they don’t last long, and they aren’t very big. For that reason, they are oftentimes easily overlooked.
After flowering, more leaves are produced on the long stem forming small baby plants with roots that much resemble a spider, hence the name spider plants.
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What does it mean when my spider plant flowers?
If your plant is producing flowers there is no cause for concern. Depending on the species most spider plants will grow flowers at some point in the life. For example, some species will grow flowers when they are young, but then stop growing flowers when they are in a mature state.
On the other hand, other species will only grow flowers when they are mature and they are root-bound. Learn more about the term root-bound and how it affects your spider plants in a previous post found here.
Should I let my spider plant flower?
Because spider plants are pretty low maintenance, many gardeners won’t even notice that their plants have flowered. With that being said, there is no harm in allowing your plants to flower. In fact, it is just the natural process taking its course.
How do I get my spider plant to grow flowers?
In order for a spider plant to grow flowers much depends on the species. As we mentioned some will produce flowers early on in life and others will wait until later on in life.
So the first step is to determine if your plant is an early bloomer or a later bloomer. Once that is established you will want to provide the best circumstances for your plant so that it will flower and continue to producing spider plant babies.
For that reason, let’s now talk about 3 different things that you can do to ensure that your plants are healthy and give them the little push they need to grow flowers.
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In order to produce flowers, they need to be root bound. When a spider plant is root bound or when it feels cramped it knows that in order to survive it needs to produce baby offshoots. With that being said, if your plant is not producing flowers it could be because the pot is too big.
For example, if you were to put a spider plant into a large container you will have a single large mother spider plant, but it would be very difficult for it to grow flowers and to grow offshoots.
On the other hand, if you were to keep that spider plant in a somewhat cramped container it will grow flowers that eventually grow into offshoots.
Choose the right fertilizer. Overfertilizing your plants will result in a bushy, healthy mother spider plant, but you will have very few or no flowers at all. For that reason, it is important not to overfertilize your plants.
In addition, you need to choose the right fertilizer for the job. I would recommend a low-dose fertilizer such as a 4-4-4 fertilizer or 2-4-4.
Another proven way to get your spider plants to flower is to feed them with a boom-boosting fertilizer much as you would use for other flowers such as orchids or roses.
Choose the right lighting. Many gardeners grow spider plants indoors. Because these plants are protected from the elements they can produce flowers at just about any time of the year.
However, in order to encourage them to flower, you need to create an environment similar to one they would experience if they were grown outdoors.
For example, our outdoor plants receive a lot of sunlight during the spring and summer months, but in fall and winter, they receive less sunlight. When growing plants indoors, we want to recreate that environment, with more light in the summer and less light in the winter.
This change in light might be all that they need to produce flowers.
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How often does a spider plant bloom?
Generally speaking, most spider plants will bloom once a year in the springtime. This is a result of the change in sunlight. So, if you grow spider plants in the house and you want them to bloom, be sure to recreate that spring-like environment in the house.
Final Thoughts…
As we can see, even though spider plants aren’t known for big beautiful flowers like roses, when they do bloom it is a good sign that you have a healthy plant in your garden.
If your plant is not flowering don’t worry. By following the steps mentioned above you can give your plants the knudge they need to start growing flowers.
What is your experience with spider plants and flowers? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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