Growing Plant From Roots Only

Question

Can you grow a spider plant from roots only? Our cats ate all of the leaves on our spider plant, and we only have roots left. We put them in water and placed them on the window sill. Will the roots sprout new leaves, so that we can re-pot them? Or should we just pot the roots without leaves and wait for them to sprout?

Answer 1

If the cats left any of the “crown”, it should grow again. If they left only roots that are not connected at the top, I’m afraid it’s probably a lost cause. I would suggest that instead of placing them in water, just leave them in the soil. I would also suggest that you try to grow some wheat or rye grass for the cats. They love, love, love gnawing on grassy leaves, but your spider plant doesn’t.

Answer 2

Spider plants are pretty resilient. They should resprout their leaves in short order. Keeping them in water until new leaves appear is a good idea.

Answer 3

I agree, spider plants are pretty tough. I’m not so sure about keeping the roots in water, though. My understanding is that water roots and soil roots are not the same. So you’re asking the plant to first grow one set of new roots – the water roots – then grow another set of new roots – the soil roots – when it’s planted. That’s asking alot from a plant that has lost it’s nutrition factories. I would just leave the roots in the soil, keep the soil no more than slightly damp, and keep it where the cats can’t get it, for goodness sake.