If you have just noticed that you’re growing a leggy spider plant then you’re going to want to take action as this isn’t all that great for aesthetics.
It’s also not all that great for the health of the plant as this means that either it’s not receiving enough light or it’s actually growing faster than it should and thus producing weaker growth.
So here are the signs that you have a leggy spider plant, the causes for this and what you can do to correct this issue as soon as you notice it.
Signs you have a leggy Spider plant
Overall there are really 2 signs that you have a leggy spider plant.
The first and most obvious sign is that the leaves on your Spider plant have become stretched out also known as etiolation.
This means that the leaves are growing longer, but thinner than usual and at the same time.
Often the leaves will stretch towards the nearest light source they can find when caused by growing in low light conditions.
They can also stretch or grow long and thin when receiving too much nutrients resulting in rapid but unhealthy growth.
Another sign of legginess is when the leaves just keep growing so long that they become top heavy and start to fall over by not being able to support themselves from the weight.
These signs often appear at the same time as they go hand in hand.
Causes for the leggy growth
There are actually a few different causes for leggy growth in spider plants which can include the following.
Lack of light
Spider plants thrive in bright indirect light and require 6+ hours a day to grow and look their best and by not receiving the minimum amount, you can expect the leaves to start getting stretched out.
Often times, especially in low light conditions you will see the leaves stretching towards one side where it last found a light source.
If there isn’t enough light to go around you can also expect the leaves to turn pale or yellow due to chlorosis which is a loss of chlorophyll needed for photosynthesis to keep it’s natural leaf color.
Overall if you notice your spider plant has become leggy and is stretching towards one side then this is most likely the cause.
Overfertilizing
The other main cause for a leggy Spider plant is due to overfertilizing, specifically providing too much nitrogen.
If your Spider plant gets too much nitrogen, this can produce rapid growth which may be too much for the plant to handle, resulting in long and unhealthy growth.
This is similar to someone hitting a massive growth spurt and getting taller too fast.
Sure they may have become taller, but it may not be the healthiest thing to happen if it happens too fast.
That is basically what you can expect if you provide too much nitrogen for your Spider plant.
Overall you want your fertilizer to be well balanced to prevent leggy and unhealthy growth so something like 10-10-10 fertilizer or as close to fully balanced as possible.
How to fix a leggy Spider plant
Generally when it comes to trying to fix a leggy Spider plant, the best option is to prune the leaves back as much as you can.
You don’t want to keep too much leggy growth not only for aesthetic reasons, but it’s best to prune so your Spider plant can use more energy on producing fresh and healthy growth.
Your plant only has so much energy to use.
Wouldn’t it be better to allocate the resources for healthy growth instead of using it on leggy growth?
You know the answer.
So make sure you have some sterile pruners at the ready and go ahead and prune back the leggy growth as close to the soil as you can.
You want to remove as much leggy growth per leaf for best results so you will end up removing almost the entire leaf each time.
Don’t worry too much about how your Spider plant will look in the meantime, because you know healthy growth is soon to follow.
Just be sure to not prune too many of the leaves at once as this can stress your plant out.
Prevention
In the case of preventing leggy growth from occurring in the first place, or after you have pruned, there are a few things you will need to do depending on what was the original cause.
In the case of low light
If you suspect your leggy Spider plant was caused by low light you simply need to provide more light.
If you’re growing indoors, try growing right by an east or west facing window as these will provide adequate amounts of bright indirect light daily.
You can also use a south facing window, but due to the nature of it giving a good amount of full sun, you should keep your Spider plant further away from that kind of window direction.
Avoid using north facing windows as these don’t provide all that much light.
If you’re growing outdoors, you can grow really anywhere that gets lots of bright indirect light daily while being protected from full sun during the hot afternoon sun.
Pro tip: Rotate your Spider plant a quarter turn once a week to ensure even amounts of light are being provided to all sides of the plant to prevent stretching to one side.
In the case of overfertilizing
To prevent your Spider plant from receiving too much nitrogen, opt for a well balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 which would be equal parts nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous.
Also you don’t need to be fertilizing all that much.
Once a month during the spring and summer will do just fine.
You may have to dilute the fertilizer to 1/4-1/2 strength as most fertilizers are actually quite strong for houseplants in general.
Otherwise if you fertilize too much or too often you run the risk of fertilizer burn from excess salt buildup in the soil which can cause things like brown leaf tips among other issues.
Final thoughts
As of now you know how to identify if your Spider plant is leggy, what has caused this and what you can actually do about it.
As always I hope this information has been of help so you can get back to growing a happy and healthy Spider plant!