I HAD to plant my spider babies yesterday, silly Butch (kitten) was playing "Jungle" with it and all the long limbs with the babies on it all broke!! They look good so far. (lol-- one day) I just put them in soil in a small pot (about7,was all I could save) and hope for the best. They didnt have any real roots yet, some, but not much. I am giving them sunshine, what little we have here, East window in the morning.
Is bottled drinking water the same effect as distilled? That was all I had yesterday, will get some distilled today sometime.
Have A Happy! and thanks again for the advice!

All you can do is wait and hope for the best.
Did he chew your plant or dangling offshoots?

Thankfully, Chlorophytum isn't toxic..some kittens/cats vomit though.

Why not try rooting one shoot in water? Too bad it's not spring; cuttings root much faster when days are longer.

BTW, do you use Superthrive? If so, add 10 drops to a gallon of water, 'don't use the entire gallon to water one plant, lol,' of tepid water.
I don't buy special water for my Spiders..as long as it sits over-night or better yet, a full 24-hours, regular tap won't cause leaf ends to brown.

Anyway, if you use Superthrive, and decide to root one offshoot in water, add a few drops of ST directly in the vase.

Don't be too upset with kitty...plants, and anything that moves are their entertainment, like we read, watch tv, chat online or play with plants..lol. Toni

I will look for Superthrive. The starters dont seem to be doing too good today. Like I said, hoping for the best. I never started a plant before like this, so this is new for me. Learning experiance, (I really wish i could spell)

but its all good. I have another plant, golden something or other,(wish i knew names of plants too) green and yellow leaves, vine. My daughter gave that to me and it has a few starters on it already.

Now THAT he will chew on!! is there anything i can use to keep him from chewing it? I tried citrus peel. Used the oil on it, but he just laughed at me!! Bitter apple spray? been thining of that. Heard that wont hurt the plant.

anyway~ thanks for the advice :)

FWIW - I don't think we can say, if you allow your water to rest for a day it won't cause any browning of foliage. In fact, I think a good argument can be mounted for the opposite effect to be true.

Spider plants react adversely to a high level of solutes in the soil solution, so distilled water (no solutes) would be helpful (snowmelt or water from dehumidifiers would be, too). Allowing your irrigation water to rest in a container for a day, or two or 10, won't help guard against spoiled foliage. Technically, it INCREASES the potential for water to cause burned leaf tips/margins.

Only in water purification systems that are throwbacks to the 50s & 60s will you find a volatile form or chlorination. This is because of it's short half life. Newer forms of chlorination use chloramine, which doesn't gas off like the previously used compounds of chlorine. Fluoridation of drinking water has always used a compound that is nonvolatile, so it too, remains in any water left out to rest for any length of time.

As mentioned, and since some evaporation will occur while water is resting (especially if it is in a container that has a lot of air exposure at its opening, as with a pan or bucket) The level of chlorine, fluorine, and other solutes becomes more concentrated as water rests and a fraction of its volume evaporates.

We just recently rescued a kitten from a litter a crippled feral cat had. It's at my feet now - inside a large, stiff plastic bag (no suffocation risk) - playing saber tooth cave kitten. Toss a bottle cap into the bag & he's good for at least 10 minutes - a remarkable attention span accomplishment - at least for this cat.

..... couldn't resist adding this one:

Some info on spider plants from one of my posts on another thread:

"While necrotic leaf tips or margins can occur in this plant from over/under-watering, in fact, it's much more common for the actual cause to be a high level of soluble salts in soils. It's also commonly reported that this plant is particularly intolerant or fluoride, but it's still more common for the cause of leaf burn to be a high level of solubles, to which fluoride can be a contributor, than it is to be fluoride itself. WHEN there is a high level of salts in the soil, low humidity can be a contributor, but low humidity alone rarely presents an issue, it must be in combination with a high level of soluble salts in the soil and either over/under-watering.

Of course, you cannot correct the already burned tips (they won't 'heal'), but you can take steps to keep it from happening:

A) Most important is to use a soil that drains very freely. This allows you to water copiously, flushing the accumulating salts from the soil each time you water.

B) Fertilize frequently when the plant is growing well, but at low doses - perhaps 1/4 the recommended strength. This, in combination with the favorable watering habit described above, will keep soluble salts levels low, and keep levels from rising due to the accumulative effect we always see when we are forced to water in sips when plants are in water-retentive soils.

C) When watering, using rainwater, snow melt, water from your dehumidifiers, or distilled water also eliminates the soluble salts in your tap water and will go a long way toward eliminating or minimizing leaf burn.

D) If you make your own soils and use perlite, be sure the perlite is rinsed thoroughly, which removes most of the fluorides associated with it's use.

E) Allowing water to rest overnight doesn't/won't do anything in the way of helping reduce the amount of fluoride (the compounds are not volatile), and it only helps with chlorine in a very few cases, depending on what method of chlorination was used to treat your tap water; but nearly all municipalities are currently using chlorination compounds that are entirely nonvolatile, which means they won't dissipate into the air."

Al

It also hasnt been furtilized since I got it, about 6 mths ago, the soil said that it will do that for about 6 mths. How often should I furtilize it? and is that the same as "feeding" it? (yes, I do get confused with things like that)
Thanks for any answers you can and will give me. :)

BTW~~your kitten is soooo cute!! we got ours from a homeless cat too, very friendly tho. Havent seen her for a while, I hope she is ok.

Summarized, the goal of trying to keep the level of solubles (which means everything dissolved in the soil solution - the water in the soil) as low as possible without it being so low it creates a deficiencies, is probably the best-reasoned approach to fertilizing your houseplants ...... and it's not as difficult or complicated as you might think. I'll link you to a thread that covers it. You can read it at your leisure, if you so wish.

The feral cat we've been helping for several years has a useless hind leg, probably from a run in with a vehicle, but possibly from a dog, coyote, horned owl, or even another cat. She disappeared early last winter & never showed herself until spring this year. She had a late summer batch of kittens, of which Pooch was a member, and has disappeared again, hopefully to resurface again next spring, none the worse for wear.

I never figured myself for a cat person. If someone would have told me a year ago that we'd one day have a resident cat, I'd have thought him daft; but here I am, thoroughly enjoying both the antics and company of this youngster. It's too bad our dog is so old that he prefers resting to romping. I'm sure the interaction between a very young cat a younger dog would improve almost any one's quality of life. ;-)

Al

Ah, the spray bottle trick. Maybe you should leave it near your Spiders, like one would a Scare Crow, lol.

Could your other plant your daughter bought be Golden Pothos? Or Golden Ivy? Another common name is Devil's Ivy.

The only non-chemical ingredient I know of that keeps kittens/cats away from plants is Cayenne Pepper. Some people are against it, but I used Cayenne on the rim of a plant pot. My cat stepped a few feet before the plant, sniffed the air, and walked away. He never went near that plant again. LOL.

Bitter Apple may or may not work. It depends on the cat since they all have different personalities. Some people swear it works, others tried it with no luck. It's worth a try though.

Lamara, it might be too late, but when I've rooted cuttings, 'not succulents,' I placed the container w/babies in plastic. Once estabished, one end of the bag was opened..Oh, and I cut slits for ventilation prior to opening the end of the bag.
It might be too late for your Spiders, but should work for future cuttings.

Despite what some believe, I've kept water containers over-night (or longer) for years.
I have several Spider types, one was purchased 1973/4. When I get lazy, watered straight from the tap, tips browned.
When watered with water that's had been sitting out, no brown tips.

Maybe it's coincidence, but that's how it goes. You can always experiment. Water a couple with water that's sat out, and the other way. See which Spiders are without brown tips.

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck, especially w/Butch the jungle cat..lol.

Don't know if this works or invites cats from nibbling our plants, but have you tried plants for cats sold at the pet store?
They say a cat will ignore our plants if they have their own, which I question.
Does a cat know the difference? They may be thinking, 'mom got me a green thing to chew on which means I can nibble on all these green things in the house,' lol.

Just a thought..Toni