Spider Plant Light: Where to Put It and Why the Stripes Fade

Bright, but out of the midday sun

A spider plant grows under trees and on shaded banks in the wild, so it wants plenty of light without the sun falling directly on the leaves for hours. A practical test is that the spot should be bright enough to read comfortably without a lamp, and a hand held above the plant should cast a shadow with a soft but definite edge.

It survives in far less light than that, which is why it has a reputation for being indestructible. Surviving and doing well are different things: in poor light the stripes fade, the leaves flop rather than arch, and it stops throwing out plantlets altogether.

Light falls away far faster than it looks, because your eyes adjust as you walk into a room. A spot that feels bright three feet from the glass may have a small fraction of the light at the window.

What direct sun does to the leaves

Several hours of unfiltered sun through glass bleaches the leaves to a pale straw color and then leaves dry papery patches, usually within two or three days of the move that caused it. The white stripes burn first because they have no chlorophyll to protect them.

1. Move it back rather than shading the window Three feet back from a south facing window in summer is usually enough, and it keeps the room light. A single layer of sheer curtain does the same job at the glass.
2. Watch the afternoon in particular A west window in summer puts the strongest light and the highest heat together, which is the combination that scorches. Move the plant for the afternoon or shade the glass.
3. Deal with a scorched leaf If only the tip or an edge is marked, leave the leaf on and it goes on working. If more than half of it is dry and pale, cut it off at the base and let the plant put the energy into new growth.

Faded stripes mean too little light

A variegated spider plant holds its stripes only when it has enough light. In a dim corner the new leaves come through greener and greener until the plant is effectively plain, and the change starts with the newest growth rather than the old.

Confusingly, too much light bleaches the leaves as well, but it looks different. Low light gives you leaves that are more green than they should be; strong sun gives you leaves that are paler and washed out overall, often with dry patches. Check where the plant sits before assuming which one you have.

Light and plantlets go together

The long stems of plantlets that give the plant its name are produced by a mature, well fed plant in good light. A plant that has never thrown one is usually either too young, too dark, or being fed so much nitrogen that it makes leaves instead.

Being slightly pot bound helps as well, which is why an established plant left in the same pot for a couple of years often produces far more than a freshly repotted one. Note in your records the season a plant first produced runners and where it was standing at the time, because that combination is what you will want to reproduce.

Runners appear most readily after the longest days of the year, so a plant moved into good light in spring often does nothing until late summer. Give it a full season before you judge the position.

Moving it through the year and outdoors

The angle and strength of the sun change enough that one position is rarely right all year. Two moves, one in late spring and one in early autumn, cover it for most homes.

A spider plant does well outside in summer shade once nights stay above 50F (10C), but move it out over two weeks starting in full shade. Going straight from a windowsill to an open porch scorches every leaf in a day.