Why I love my spider plants
My Nan always had spider plants in her kitchen, and would always say that they were known to remove harmful toxins from air. Kitchen was one of those places that gathered fumes, odours and various gases so spider plants were a perfect solution to keep the atmosphere in her house clean and fresh.
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Fast forward to now and I have my own kitchen to take care of - and what better way to do that than to follow in the footsteps of my Nan! This is why in spring of 2017, a month or so after we moved into our new home in Orkney, I ordered 5 baby spider plants on eBay.
I planted them and largely forgot about them (I tend to shift my focus from one project to another quickly) but they have thrived on neglect and with little watering at least quadrupled in size in just a year! They also started giving off shoots with baby plants on them which we snipped off and planted into new pots and within weeks we had new large spider plants!
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Here is a simple and quick list of reasons why I love my spider plants (and a video at the end):
1) Spider plants are beautiful.
Beautiful young spider plants
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The light green leaves with white stripe in the middle really do look like spiders as they flare off elegantly in different directions. Spider plants bring a lovely shade of green into my rooms and create an environment that is living, natural and real.
2) Spider plants are low maintenance.
Low maintenance and easy to care for indoor plant
Spider plants are super easy to care for and are great for first time homemakers or beginner indoor gardeners. I planted them, left them be and they did really well with just occasional watering.
3) Spider plants are simple to multiply.
Spider plant baby on a stem
Snip the baby plant of the stem and put it into a new pot. Within a few weeks you will have another established plant which will grow nice and large in no time at all. Each of my parent plants seem to have at least two offspring stems coming out with four or six little plants growing on them. We’ve cut these off for the second time and I could still see more coming through! How exciting!
4) Spider plants remove harmful toxins from air.
Spider plants remove harmful toxins from the air around them
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You can never argue with the wisdom of your Nan, can you? She told me that spider plants remove odours and toxic gases from her kitchen - and she was right. A little research says that even NASA like these plants, and that they truly are air-filtering plants that remove a significant amount “volatile organic compounds” (harmful gases and fumes, like formaldehyde and carbon dioxide) from the air. It turns out my Nan was correct which I am not at all surprised at!
5) Spider plants help regulate humidity.
A jungle of spider plants
I believe all plants regulate humidity, so it’s not necessarily a special attribute to spider plants - but it’s one that applies nonetheless. Spider plants absorb excess moisture from the air creating a lovely atmosphere and pleasant micro-climate around them.
6) Indoor plants make me feel good.
My indoor garden
Indoor plants make me feel awesome - isn’t that all the reason one would need to have a houseplant? It brings a touch of nature into my home, are lovely to look at, make the home look very homely and make me feel more relaxed and healthier.
James and I decided it was time to re-pot some of our indoor greenery so here is a video of us blabbering away about how much we like and appreciate our lovely spider plants.
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As you can see, it was definitely a good time to take a second cutting from the baby stems and we yet again had enough cuttings to fill three pots. But - there were signs that more little spider plants are yet to come so I am hoping for a third harvest. This will definitely make me inundated! I can really see it now: a jungle of spider plants. . . and I really can’t wait!
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