Do Spider Plants Have Seeds: How To Grow A Spider Plant From Seed

Indoor Potted Spider Plant
(Image credit: KrimKate)

Spider plants are very popular and easy to grow houseplants. They’re known best for their spiderettes, little miniature versions of themselves that sprout from long stalks and hang down just like spiders on silk. The interesting spiderettes often overshadow the fact that spider plants bloom, producing delicate white flowers along these stalks. When pollinated, these flowers make seeds that can be harvested and grown into new plants. Keep reading to learn more about how to grow a spider plant from seed.

Harvesting Spider Plant Seeds

Do spider plants have seeds? Yes. Your spider plant should bloom naturally, but it will need to be pollinated in order to produce seeds. You can do this yourself by gently brushing a cotton swab against one flower after the other, or you can simply put your plant outside to allow insects to pollinate it naturally. After the flowers have faded, you should see bumpy green seed pods appear in their place. Harvesting spider plant seeds is easy, and mostly involves waiting. Allow the seed pods to dry on the stalk. Once they’re dry, they should split open naturally and drop their seeds. You can place a piece of paper under the plant to collect the seeds when they fall, or you can break the dry pods off by hand and put them in a paper bag, where they should split open.

How to Grow a Spider Plant from Seed

When growing a spider plant from seed, you should plant the seeds right away, as they don’t store well. Sow the seeds about ½ inch (1.25 cm.) deep in good potting mix and keep them warm and moist. Spider plant seed germination usually takes a couple of weeks, so be patient. Allow your seedlings to grow many true leaves before transplanting them - growing spider plants from seed produces delicate seedlings that don’t like to be moved too soon.

Liz Baessler
Senior Editor

The only child of a horticulturist and an English teacher, Liz Baessler was destined to become a gardening editor. She has been with Gardening Know how since 2015, and a Senior Editor since 2020. She holds a BA in English from Brandeis University and an MA in English from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After years of gardening in containers and community garden plots, she finally has a backyard of her own, which she is systematically filling with vegetables and flowers.