I’ve just spent a chilly half hour in the garden, tidying up my lovely Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) which has spent the summer happily residing outside, but with night temperatures dropping, the time has come to bring it back into the house for the winter.
I had to rehome a couple of worms before brushing up the outside and underneath of the pot and pick out some dead leaves from the centre, but other than that it is in fine shape, in fact, the growth on it is quite amazing.
To avoid completely shocking it in the move from a cold garden to a warm house, it is currently acclimatising in the porch until I can find somewhere to put it.
My aim is it to find space in the bedroom as Spider plants are excellent air purifiers, they are so good at absorbing toxins that they are in NASA’s top three of air purifying plants. In an experiment, they found that a Spider plant removed 95% of formaldehyde, found mainly in paint and polish in the home, over a 24-hour period. Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons have no fears for them either, which for me, puts this 70s classic into a completely different light!
If you have one of these wonderful plants in your home, this how to care for it:
Temperature: Warm, 10-18°C.
Watering: Liberally in summer, less so in winter.
Feeding: Every two weeks, spring to autumn.
Propagate the spidery offsets by potting them up whilst still attached to the mother plant, once they have rooted you can cut them free and donate them to friends and neighbours.
And, if you put your Spider plant outside for the summer – don’t forget to bring it back in!
Enjoy your flowers!
Sunflower Su
Images provided by Su Whale
