Spider plant soft discolored leaves

Question

My spider plant first looked like this when I bought it, which is about a 5 weeks ago. (https://i.stack.imgur.com/siszj.jpg)

I put it in a the corner of a south facing room that has floor to ceiling window, approximately 9ft from the window. I repotted it after I brought it home to a pot 1inch bigger (7”) than the original one. The new pot is much deeper so I layer some activated charcoal before I put the plant and new potting soil in. I water it once every week or two, generally a few days after the soil feels dry 1 inch down. I’d water it thoroughly until the water comes out of the draining whole.

But now my spider plant looks like this: (https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZLHPL.jpg)

(https://i.stack.imgur.com/0ua1d.jpg) The leaves are not as curly. It’s soft and thin. The color is less saturated. I have to cut out quite a few dead leaves at the bottom. There are no gnats or bugs hanging out around the plant. No eggs or fungus in the soil. Please let me know what might have caused the problem. I’m really worried about it right now. Thank you all who have spend your time reading this post. I’d really appreciate if someone can give me some suggestions!

Answer 1

The reason it is lighter colored is because it has more light than where it was growing before. With brighter light, the plant doesn't need to produce so much green chlorophyll to grow.

It looks healthy enough to me. It's producing flowers and lots of baby plants. The stalks with the babies will bend down and touch the ground as they grow. If you let them touch some soil in a plant pot, they will grow roots and start a new plant.

There are two possible reasons why it looks a bit floppy. One is too much water, the other is too little. To find out which is the problem, get it out of the pot and look at the roots. If they are firm and white it can take more water than you are giving it. Watering "once every week or two" is not enough if it is growing fast. Try watering two or three times a week instead. If it is in full sun in summer, you may need to water it every day.

Some of the old leaves will go brown and die, and lack of water will make that happen faster.

On the other hand, if the roots look brown and soft, they are rotting because of over watering. In that case, the best thing to do is to get some of the baby plants growing on their own, and don't worry if the parent plant dies off. Learn from your mistake and don't water the babies so much.

Also, start feeding it. Often, commercially grown plants are given just enough nutrients to get them into "perfect condition" when they are sold, but no more. (Fertilizer costs money, and reduces the grower's profit!) After you buy them, they start "starving to death" unless you feed them. Use any general purpose potted plant fertilizer, and follow the instructions about how to use it.