i wouldn't worry about giving too much light indoors. it sounds like it could benefit from more

if you are using tap water maybe you could switch to distilled

i wonder if what ever %$#@ it came planted in is compacted around the roots. it will likely benefit from your planned repot as well

Sorry it is sick! It is possible the roots are compacted like sradleye said. Spiders are usually pretty resilient to repotting. Can we get a pic?

Ok, so I've now repotted the spider plant.

The pot I bought didn't have the greatest drainage, but the bottom was flat with drainage at the lowest point. In order to rectify the situation I used a hammer and chisel to punch in a larger hole and covered it with some plastic mesh I had so that water would still drain well, but I shouldn't loose any soil.

I was quite surprised to find no root rot, but the lower 2/3 of the pot were quite root bound with the roots at the bottom of the pot wrapping around each other leaving very little room for soil. I only found fine root structures in the top 2/3 of the pot.

I gently shook out as much loose soil as would release by itself and then gently 'tickled' the roots to loosen the rest of the soil without damaging too many roots (I did loose one large root and a small amount of fine root structures). Finally, since the very interior ball of soil was quite hard I rinsed it out in the tub. (I really didn't want to leave any of the unknown soil with the plant as I didn't know if that was causing some of my problems). I then repotted the plant using some generic potting soil which I used the last time I repotted my older spider plant (which is thriving).

Even though I tried to be as gentle as possible I did loose some leaves and one of the shoots with baby plants did break at the end.

As per your request, a1pha_fema1e, I am going to try and attach some photos. Even though it doesn't live there I took the plant out to the balcony just to make sure I had good light for the photos. Also, while you will see some brown spots on the leaves, I have cut most of it away already.

probably prune off the yellow stalks and whatever else you feel like, give more energy to the good bits and new growth. will come back in no time. and will be root bound again in about five minutes. with those big chunky roots

Ah yes no doubt the rootboundness was the issue. If the babies on the stalks are too far gone to save or if any are ready for planting I would do that and cut off the stalks so the mama can focus on recovering. Or if there are some good stalks just cut off the bad ones. Shouldn't take long for it to be happy again and shoot more babies out :)

Firstly, thank you all for your help! I can't believe how quickly you rushed to my aid! I (and probably my plant) am really grateful.

Ok, so I've pruned off the yellow stalks, but I have one last question:

sradleye, you mentioned not to worry about it getting too much light. Should I hang it back up across from the window? Or maybe even put it out on the balcony with the other spider plant? Or should I leave it where it is for a while until it has a chance to recover from being repotted and pruned?

I dont know if this is already said but this plant loves to summer outdoors

I said don't worry about too much light if it is indoors. especially since you said something about 20 feet away from a window. I have yet to have a single instance of a plant getting too much light while inside my apartment. outside I would be much less certain, but sounds like you have an existing spider out there, doing well, so should be fine.

the brightest spot in your house is still darker than a shady spot outdoors. its taken me like three years to understand this. no substitute for being outside in the sun.

Removing the attached drain saucer (I think I see that) should help a lot.

The attached drain saucer is on the new pot. The old pot had a larger drain hole in the bottom without a saucer. I plan on watering the plant in the sink and removing the drain saucer until all excess water has drained through. I've had to do this once before with another plant. It's a little extra work, but it seemed to work (the other plant was a dracaena and and eventually was repotted into a larger pot but was later killed by my dh's cat).

Sorry about your Drac! If it's the kind that snaps on/off, (and pot isn't hanging,) it's usually possible to leave it off and just sit the pot on it. Sorry if it sounded like I was saying you should try to have a plant with no saucer to sit on. Most furniture can't handle that (if the dripping wasn't truly finished.)

Ok,

So I may still be doing something wrong. Since re-potting the plant and moving it outside it has continued to decline. While I did moisten the soil when I re-potted it I have left it alone ever since. I have checked the moisture of the soil daily (it is not drying as fast as I would expect) and checked that it stays partially shaded even mid-day (like my other spider it's behind some larger pots), but otherwise nothing.

I am concerned by it's level of decline. I will attach some pictures to show the extent of decline, but basically it's getting increasingly brown and all but one or two of the leaves are completely flaccid and 'wilty'.

Any suggestions? Do I just have to be patient?

Another angle.

Oh, and if anyone's wondering what the grey fur is encroaching on both photos: it's my bouvierX enjoying the sun.

Pull black ends off and maybe fertilize I would bring it inside because it looks like it has been burnt by the sun.

The spider was only in the sun for the photo. But thanks for your suggestion. As it turns out it was a soil problem. The plant has since all but died and is recovering. It is now inside as our temperatures have been too cold at night ever since Labour Day.

I created an update post here:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg0921530131221.html?7