Hi, Lamora. Along with the wilting, are you getting burned leaf tips and margins, too? I'm assuming you're not under-watering, which leaves the likely cause of wilting as over-watering. If there are burned leaf tips and margins, it's possible that a high level of salts in the soil are part of the problem, too.

Would you characterize your soil as usually wet or usually dry?

Your babies come with preformed root primordia that you can often see. The plant roots very easily in soil, and the roots that are produced in soil or other well-aerated media are structurally different than roots formed in water. If you can, it's better to root in soil because roots formed in water transition to soil poorly. This is because they are brittle and inefficient at taking up water and nutrients (compared to roots formed in soil) due to their structure.

Al

Hi Lamora. Most plants should be rooted in spring/summer, but Spider Plants can be rooted year round.

How long have offshoots been attached to mom?

As babies mature and tiny roots form, (below the offshoot foliage)if they're no removed they grow weak, look unhealthy. It's a natural process..

Your curly spider is called Bonnie.

Add Superthrive, 'couple drops per gallon of water,' with your cuttings. Superthrive is a hormone and 50 vitamins. You'll notice a huge difference..

I normally root offshoots/babies in water, but they can be rooted in soil, too.
Fill a pot with soil, set beside the baby you want to root. Place the shoot with stem on top of second pot of soil. Pin baby so it doesn't fall. Before you know it, the babies will root.

Before you know it, you'll have a house filled w/Spiders, lol, Toni

PS. Place in a little more light..

Hi Lamora. Most plants should be rooted in spring/summer, but Spider Plants can be rooted year round.

How long have offshoots been attached to mom?

As babies mature and tiny roots form, (below the offshoot foliage)if they're no removed they grow weak, look unhealthy. It's a natural process..

Your curly spider is called Bonnie.

Add Superthrive, 'couple drops per gallon of water,' with your cuttings. Superthrive is a hormone and 50 vitamins. You'll notice a huge difference..

I normally root offshoots/babies in water, but they can be rooted in soil, too.
Fill a pot with soil, set beside the baby you want to root. Place the shoot with stem on top of second pot of soil. Pin baby so it doesn't fall. Before you know it, the babies will root.

Before you know it, you'll have a house filled w/Spiders, lol, Toni

PS. Place in a little more light..

Hi- the browning isn't there, the old tips that were brown earlier are not any more than what they were, no browning tips on the babies, no yellowing either. Just wilting. :(

I try to keep the soil fairly dry (from what I understand that is how it should be?) I have one of those glass watering "globe" things that I put in it, seems to be doing well with it. When I stick my finger in the soil, it is usually fairly dry.

Light-- hummm sun isn't out this morning. It got a lot of sunlight yesterday tho. (yesterday was pretty-- cold-- but pretty-- lol) I am thinking of getting a sun lamp, would that help? Like I said, it is just the babies, the whole of the plant looks real good.

DH and I are going out today, will look for the Superthrive, (yea-- should have gotten that way earlier)

Can it get too cold for them? It sits by the window and atm it isn't the warmest place in the apt. If the sun is out it is warm, but a day like today? you can actually feel the cold coming in from the window when we open the curtains. Humidity is high, so that isn't a prob.

Thanks again for the ideas of what I may do with it. I dont know what I would do w/o all of you to help me. Still need to order a book too, I think that would help a lot!! :P

The wilting is just in the new plantlets at the ends of stolons that are wilting?

Light wouldn't have anything to do with turgidity (the water pressure that keeps plants from wilting) other than the fact that less light + lower water demand for photosynthesis and a little more turgidity, but if your plant is losing turgidity as a function of the light it's getting, you have some seriously compromised roots.

Superthrive can't help with the turgidity issue, so please don't get your hopes up in that regard. I'll link you to a short article I wrote that was published in a (very) slightly different form in the online magazine "Stemma", a couple of years ago. You can decide for yourself what value it holds.

Chilling wouldn't make them wilt, either.

There must be an abscission layer between the stolon and the plantlet to allow them to abscise (drop off). What is happening, I believe, is the abscission layer is becoming complete. This cuts off water & nutrients from the parent to the plantlet immediately before the plant drops off, causing the plantlet to wilt. I'd bet on it being this natural physiologic process if it's only the plantlets wilting.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Superthrive or Superjive?

Yes, just at the end of the shoots are wilting. So what should I do? Will it get better on its own? Or should I cut them and plant them? Wanted to get them a bit bigger before I did that, but I will do it now if it is best for them.

Wish I had read about the Superthrive b4 we left-- oh well, doesn't matter much, couldnt find it anyway. We bought some Schults Plant Food-- 10-15-10. I got some starter pots and potted all the babies that were in water. Didnt realize they had the roots like they did, would have gotten a reg pot and put them all in it. Oh well.

Oh and we also got the big plant hung high now,(finally) kitty can't reach it-- hopefully. That will help a lot!! If the shoots break?? My bad,,not kitty's fault. ;)

So let me know what I should do for them--please?? Those are the ones I wanted to start another plant with. Thanks for the info. (learn something new every day :))

I have a large curly spider and when the soil becomes dry for too long the babies will wilt more then the mother.The mother wilts slightly too, but you can't really tell unless you feel the leaves which feel a little soft but don't nessasarily look it. If you have good draining soil without peat (Peat can dries like concrete) a good soaking/watering should perk the plantlet's back up.

Billy Rae

I would just get about the business of getting them rooted. You can root them in seed starting mix or potting soil if you want to. Spiders do best in soils that drain very freely because they are sensitive to salt levels and you can flush the soil without worry for root rot when it drains well. They also appreciate the added aeration. Just be careful to keep the soil damp but not wet. Mist only the soil if possible. The little plantlets are very easy to root.

Good luck!

Al

Lamora. If you can't find ST locally, it can be found on Ebay, Amazon and most online nurseries/supplies.
Ebay has the best prices...

If your interested, I can post several link disccusions about ST...how much people love it...how well their plants AND cuttings are doing since they've started using ST..

Also, if a room is cool/cold enough, leaves curl. Believe me...Toni

Toni - can't we PLEASE just agree to disagree?

The discussion is about WILTING, not curling. Plants GAIN in turgidity when it's cool, which means that foliage and succulent stems have more water in them under greater pressure (yes, water pressure inside the plant varies according to cultural conditions and the plant's physiologic responses to its own internal rhythms) which makes foliage and stems MORE rigid. More rigid = no wilting.

Superthrive - Did you know that some states ban the sale of Superthrive as an unregistered pesticide based on contents? (Remember please, its intended use has nothing to do with its classification.)

If anyone is still interested in the product's efficacy, you can see what DR. Linda Chalker-Scott, PhD, has to say by following the link below. Notice please, (near the end of her comments) that Dr. Scott also states that there is no scientific evidence that supports the use of this product. IOW - the scientific community considers it a hoax, based on the outlandish claims made in advertising, I'm sure. Dr. Scott is very widely known for the effort she puts forth to dispel horticultural myths. An individual or members of a group of individuals may think that Superthrive is all it claims and more, and it's perfectly fine to voice that opinion; but it really should be noted that the scientific community takes quite a different view.

If anyone read the first link I provided (Superthrive or Superjive), it will be easy to see I was much kinder to the product than Dr. Scott. In consideration of her findings, that is if you trust a scientist with a PhD over anecdote, the logical conclusion is: if someone is seeing a benefit from the use of Superthrive, they are seeing what they want to see, rather than being an objective observer.

I'm sorry, Lamora. No matter how gently I try to break the news about Superthrive ......

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Superthrive?