Spider Plant Flowers (What to Do with Them)

Sun-loving spider plants (Chlorophytum Comosum) are well-known for their elegant foliage, but do they also produce flowers?

And how do you identify a single blossom on a plant known more for its leaves? What is the secret to getting Spider Plants to bloom?

Spider Plants have small, star-shaped flowers at the tips of long, sturdy offshoots. These offshoots eventually produce the smaller Spider Plant ‘babies’ for which the plant is famous. They have a short lifespan and cause no harm to the Spider Plant.

Do Spider Plants Flower?

Spider plants do flower, but they are small and delicate. As a result, they are frequently overlooked by inexperienced growers, but they are an essential part of the plant’s life cycle.

Spider Plants are native to southern Africa, particularly in warm and moist areas all year. They use flowers on long, wiry stems called peduncles to disperse their seeds along embankments and in the forest understory.

Flowers are only one component of their strategy. They also produce small plantlets known as propagules by botanists.

Most indoor growers will be more familiar with these tiny spider babies, which are more durable and appealing than flowers.

Both forms of reproduction are critical to the Spider Plant’s survival and have contributed to it becoming a well-established and popular plant for indoor and outdoor plants.

What Do Spider Plant Flowers Look Like?

Spider Plant flowers are small and white. Buds can appear at any point along the stem’s length in loose groups of four to six buds.

Not all flowers in a group will open, and it is common for a branch to have more closed buds than blooms.

Each flower is tiny, measuring no more than 2-4 inches long. They are star-shaped and have six petals. The flowers are usually bright, shining white, but they can also be pale cream or light green.

The stamen, delicate fibers that hold bright orange pollen is located in the center of the flower. These protrude some distance from the flower and may drop a small amount of pollen.

Flowers have a short lifespan before withering. If the flowers were pollinated, they would disappear and be replaced by a small oval capsule the same shade of green as the peduncle.

This seed pod will dry out to a papery texture and release many tiny oval seeds over time.

Flowers that are not pollinated develop into plantlets, and it is not uncommon for a Spider to have both flowers and plantlets on the same peduncle.

When Do Spider Plants flower?

When grown indoors, spider plants will flower at any time of year, but you are more likely to see blossoms as the days begin to shorten in late summer. To produce their blooms, they require a gradual temperature and light level decrease.

However, their growing conditions are more critical. They will not flower if not given enough light or water. Therefore, it is also crucial to ensure adequate humidity levels.

Spider Plants that are slightly root-bound bloom more readily as if they detect a lack of room to spread in their pot and instead choose to reach out to new ground entirely.

Only fully mature Spider Plants will flower. Depending on your growing conditions, this could take anywhere from 18 months to two or three years.

They spend their early years developing leaves and strong, tuberous roots. They will only flower once they have established themselves completely.

Does The Spider Plant Flower Have A fragrance?

Spider Plant flowers are tiny and produce very little fragrance. So unless your Spider Plant is massive and covered in peduncles, you’re unlikely to detect any scent.

They are said to have a mild and sweet scent. However, it takes a lot of plants blooming simultaneously to notice it, so there’s nothing wrong with your flowering Spider if you can’t smell anything.

What Does it Mean When a Spider Plants Flowers?

Spider plant flowers indicate that your plant is healthy and happy. It demonstrates that their care regime is excellent, meeting all their needs and providing all the necessary resources to flower and produce seeds. It is unquestionably something to be proud of!

Should You Cut the Flowers Off a Spider Plant?

The flowers of spider plants do not harm them. They are small and consume little energy; leaving them on the plant causes no harm to the Spider.

Many people grow as many long, wiry peduncles as they can. When grown in hanging baskets, the peduncles elegantly drape from the basket, displaying elegant clusters of miniature Spider Plant babies.

When left attached to the parent plant, these tiny babies quickly develop their luxurious spreading leaves. It can be an enthralling spectacle!

If you prefer to keep your Spider Plant’s growth to a simple array of soaring leaves, you can trim away any peduncles as they develop. Then, use a clean pair of scissors or shears to clip them away neatly at the base.

Can you Propagate Spider Plant Flowers?

If you leave the flowers on a Spider Plant, they will eventually turn into either seeds or tiny baby Spider Plants!

If you have pollinating insects in your growing environment, they may fertilize the Spider Plant flowers. Then, the flower will wither and die, leaving behind a tiny papery capsule.

Inside are seeds, which can be propagated as new Spider Plants with patience. They don’t need special care and can be raised in a standard seed-raising mix (Amazon link) without difficulty.

However, no one wants bugs in their house, so most flowers go unfertilized. This is a better situation because a flower that does not get pollinated turns into a plantlet, a smaller version of the parent plant only a half inch or so across.

These’spider babies’ are even easier to propagate than seeds because all you have to do is plant them.

Then, when their tiny roots reach about a quarter inch in length, you can remove them from the parent plant and either plant them directly in the soil or propagate them in a small vessel of clean water.

You can also plant the spider baby while it is still attached to the parent plant. Place the spider baby in a small pot of seed-raising mix next to the parent plant, with its roots resting on the soil.

You can secure it with a bobby pin or a propagation pin. After a week or two, it will have enough of its roots to cut the connecting stem.

How to Make Spider Plant Flower

To bloom, spider plants require adequate lighting, water, and precise fertilization. If you get any of these things wrong, you’ll have a lot of leaves but no flowers or plantlets.

Likewise, you probably won’t be able to get flowers from a plant that is too young or not fully grown.

Step One

First, provide adequate lighting for the Spider Plant. They get about eight to ten hours of bright, indirect light daily.

An eastern-facing window is ideal for a hanging basket or planter because it receives an hour or two of early morning sunlight. Keep them away from the sun as the day goes on, or you risk scalding those lovely soaring leaves.

Read this article to learn more about the light requirements of spider plants. 

Step Two

You must also keep your Spider Plant adequately watered. They thrive when allowed to dry out slightly, so water them once a week or so.

This depends on various factors, including the time of year, the weather, and the size of your plant, and I’ve written a comprehensive guide on keeping Spider Plants well-watered here.

Step Three

Reduce your use of fertilizer. Spider Plants will convert excess fertilizer directly into leaves, so if you want to see flowers, cut back.

During the summer, it’s best to fertilize a Spider once a month with a good quality balanced liquid fertilizer. To provoke flowers, dilute the usual dose to half or even quarter strength.

Step Four

Finally, avoid repotting or otherwise stressing the Spider Plant while it blooms. It won’t be long before you notice those long wiring peduncles.

Spider Plants are quick to reproduce, and with the proper care and a little luck, you’ll enjoy their delicate blooms in no time.

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