Spider plant

Spider plants are very easy-going house plants and are known for their air cleaning properties.

They need to be protected from frost but do very well in a range of rooms from full sun, to half shade.

In the spring and summer when the plant is growing it will need to be watered fairly often to stop the compost from drying out. In the winter when the plant is resting you will need to water it much less often, aim to keep the soil just damp rather than wet. Over time your plant should fill out, producing young baby plantlets from the root and sometimes from long stems in the centre of the plant. These "suckers" can be replanted to create new plants if you wish and will grow on and establish themselves easily in just general purpose potting compost.

Spider plants can be kept small by restricting the pot size but if you want to encourage it to grow on you may choose to repot it into a larger pot later in the summer. Choose a 2L or larger pot and an ordinary potting compost.

Brown tips to the leaves are the result of a dry atmosphere, try giving you plant a good misting and water more regularly.