Why does my spider plant have limp, drooping leaves?

On a spider plant the arching leaves go slack and lose their spring, flopping over the rim of the pot instead of curving up and out. They may look pale and dull.

The most likely cause, as the entry says, is waterlogged compost and the beginning of root rot. The thick white roots store water, so a spider plant forgives a missed week far better than a wet one, and the leaves go limp when the roots are not working. At an interval of about 7 days in the growing season and 14 in winter, a plant on the summer rhythm in a dark winter keeps its roots in wet compost.

To confirm it in a minute, push a finger into the compost to 2 or 3 cm and lift the pot. If it is damp or wet, and the pot is heavy, rot is the likely cause, and there may be a sour smell. If you can slide the plant out, firm white roots are healthy and soft brown ones that slide away are rotten.

Two other causes are worth ruling out. Thirst is the opposite: the Royal Horticultural Society says that when the leaves turn pale and dull the plant usually needs more water, and it bounces back quickly after a thorough drink, so dry compost and a light pot settle it. And cold or a draught gives sudden drooping overnight on a plant near a door or window, with the compost neither dry nor sodden. The entry puts its minimum at 7 degrees.

If it was thirst, the leaves recover quickly once the compost has taken water. If it was cold, most plants recover when the chill was brief. If it was rot, give the plant a week after the compost has dried, and then judge by new leaves rising from the centre of the rosette.

What this plant wants

The fix

Tip the plant out, cut away any brown mushy roots, repot in fresh compost and water only when the surface is dry.

Read on

Limp, drooping leaves

The same sign on any plant, with the causes in the order they are likely.

Spider plant care

Light, water, feeding, repotting and the rest of the entry.

Check it in the diagnoser

Opens with the plant, the part and the sign already chosen.