I have no advice for you on the spider plant specifically, though I'm thinking you'd be better off waiting a few months. If I understand houseplants correctly, the transfer from water to soil can be disadvantageous to the plant cutting rooting, but I could be all wrong there. I just wanted to comment on the cat aspect, because I have trouble with them and the plants. The four always insist on helping me when I make the rounds, and sometimes when I'm not.

I used to grow spiderplants with entire classes of children. I used plantlets with root nubs and, very unusually for me, we started them in water for a couple of weeks so the children could see the roots growing. Then the kids simply pushed them into pots full of multi purpose mix. No plastic wrap. They all took. When I root them at home I skip the water and just plant straight into the mix.

Hello! I have a baby in a cup of water as we speak! She has so many little roots and looks like she’s ready for soil any day.. seems to be the easiest way to propagate these baby spiders

Thanks everyone! If in water, aren't the leaves at least partly submerged? It's not like a regular cutting where you can trim off lower leaves.

Umm, not to be arrogant and boastful, but these are basically weeds we're talking about. It's certainly not rocket science to let them grow on the runners till they form vestigal roots, snip them off, and plant them in soil and watch them grow...well like weeds.

I will have to concur, these plants are practically designed to naturally spread out and grow new plantlets. Back when I pruned my Hawaiian spiders back, I had to take all of the old plantlets and pile them up on my porch, where they couldn't make contact with the ground or get rained on, just so that they couldn't take root and begin to grow in my backyard. Once I was certain that they had completely died, only then did I toss them out.

As long as they have those root nubs, they don't really need any help from us. Just prepare a pot with soil and stick the plantlets on top. I like to use those small plant stakes that look like giant staples to hold the plantlets in place. The root nubs almost immediately begin to grow down into the soil and anchor themselves. They don't care what time of year it is, they'll begin to grow right away. Just place their pot in a brightly shaded location and keep them well watered. No need to root them in water first.

Year's ago, I had a roommate bring home some plantlets that someone gave him. They just wrapped the root nubs in wet paper towel and then wrapped the whole plants in newspaper. He just stuck this rolled up newspaper on a shelf in our kitchen and forgot about them. I'm not sure how long they sat there until I found them and finally planted them, but they took off growing as if nothing phased them.

However, you mentioned that yours is variegated? For this type, I would only use distilled or rain water to water them. The fluoride and chlorine in ordinary tap water can drastically affect the variegated parts of this plant's leaves. Back before I got the two Hawaiian spiders that I have now, I started one from a small plantlet. It rooted just fine, but it never seemed to really take off growing. It wasn't until I realized that the tap water I was using was hindering their performance. That's when I started collecting rainwater and began using it instead, that my plant finally recovered and finally began to grow like it should.

I, too, have a cat that would go bonkers if I even dared trying to bring my spider plants indoors. She would have the leaves chewed up in no time, HaHa! Needless to say that my Hawaiian spiders have to spend all fall & winter in my garage, or else my plants wouldn't stand a chance.

Wow yes, thank goodness I'm in a temperate climate. Once when I was a teenager, I planted spider plants in the border. I can see how in a tropical climate, it would take over the world...my are they robust outside!

Hey linnea, I don't think it really matters if their leaves touch the water. But that is why the instructions I saw had plastic wrap or even wax paper over the top of the water vessel, then secured with rubber band. Then they poked a small hole just big enough to let the nubby part touch the water and not the leaves. I wish I could find a picture of what I am thinking. If I do, i'll come back and post again.

dbarron, I had thought they were easy too. But I had always rooted babies into soil of their own or another pot while they were still attached. This past winter I said I would root some things to be ready for my garden club's May plant sale fundraiser. I cut the babies and put them into fresh potting mix in 4 packs. Not a single one made it. That's why I figure there may be some subtlety I was missing. That's partly why I wrote "quirks" in my title. I was not finding it that straightforward.

Photosynthesis, yes, mine are variegated. I normally let tap water sit out a day before watering plants. But if that runs out - in winter I have a lot more plants inside - I use freshly drawn water. I've never known which plants were picky about that. Now that I know, I will make sure to save some for the spider plants

Not aware of any subtlties. The water thing is only an appearance issue, it can cause brown tips, but the plants don't really care. And it's dissolved solids more than gases, I think (not sure on that).

My variegated spiders have been always been watered with tap water and don't show any problems. Maybe our water treatment is different?

The fluoride in tap water doesn't dissipate, no matter how long you let it sit out. It certainly does help to check with your local water municipality to see how they treat the tap water. They usually have this info available on their website. My local water is already fairly clean, so they only provide the bare minimum treatment. But still, whenever it rains, I'll usually collect some of it in a bucket, or just stick them outside so that they can get rained on.

I definitely got brown tips from my tap water. Changed to rain water and havnt had any issues since

I've just realised why I don't have a problem. Our water is not fluoridated.

It's too cold to collect rainwater for most of the year here. I will have to look into distilled.

I had blamed brown tips on my being haphazard with watering and letting the plant get too dry. Or the cat getting to one (despite barricades of other plants) and chewing on the tips.

Are any other plants affected? I get brown tips all the time on my spathiphyllums.

Peace lilies aren't sensitive to these chemicals. I water mine with tap water all of the time. If you're having leaf problems with those, your plant may be having soil issues. When I water mine, I always flush out their entire pot with plenty of fresh water. During the hot summer months, I'll even let my peace lily's whole pot soak in a bucket of water for an hour or so before letting that water drain away, and then flushing it with fresh water until the murky brown water begins to run clear out of the bottom drain holes. This flushes away any dissolved solids that may have accumulated over time. After that, just let the excess water drain away and then move your plant back to where you keep it. If you don't flush their soil out, then those dissolved solids in the water will begin to accumulate in the soil and cause the leaf issues that your plant is having. These plants always need their whole pots flushed out when they get watered.

If you have Dracaenas, some of them can be sensitive to tap water. Usually, it's the variegated varieties, or those with pale, light green foliage. I'm sure some other houseplants are also sensitive to tap water, but I can't really think of them at the moment.

As for collecting rainwater, I still collect it during the cold winter months, but then I'll fill up one gallon bottles to store it in my garage. If/When you need it later on, just bring a bottle of it inside and let it warm up to room temperature the night before.

I'm actually doing an experiment on this right now. I water propagated two of my baby spiders and the one with longer Roots I just put in a small plastic container with very muddy water. More water than dirt. I also used succulent soil rather than the very dense regular soil for plants. I am a succulent person but my mom happens to have a spider with a lot of babies so I asked her if I could start experimenting on them a little bit to take that water to soil shock away from them. I also water propagate my succulents and then transfer them to dirt propagation. Water propagation on plants seems to just make thinner more sensitive root systems. so I find by establishing roots and then transferring them to soil, they do have the opportunity to toughen up, so to speak,a little bit