Plants with sword-shaped leaves can bring visions of Medusa to mind, as well as a mother-in-law’s tongue. The plant features smooth, almost waxy leaves. The easy way snake plants can be cared for make them an excellent match for almost any interior situation as well as an extremely striking and hardy specimen. It would be ideal to give them as gifts to the garden challenged, since they thrive in neglect and withstand “abuse”. Snake plants can be grown freely if you know how to propagate them, making them an amazing and versatile houseplant.
Snake Plant
Hancock says it’s a snake plant you kinda want in your house. “A perfect plant for bedrooms, the snake plant can tolerate low light and a lack of water, as well as adding oxygen at night,” Hancock says.
Snake plants grow best in any light level, including those indoor areas that need some greenery but have low light. They thrive in any light level and are tolerant of low light levels. Knowing how often to water them, however, is the only tricky part of growing these classic houseplants. Generally, you should water when soil is almost completely dry, though you may not want to water after that, especially if plants usually get too wet.
A tropical snake plant’s beauty goes well beyond its leaves. It’s an ideal indoor air purifier. It removes stale air and carbon dioxide, as well as formaldehyde and nitrogen oxide. You can imagine them as the cleaners of your dreams except they clean the air as you sleep, so they would make a great choice for bedroom planting.
Basic Snake Plant Care
Snake plants aren’t fussy about lighting, but they are fussy about the amount of water they get. The only thing that will kill a mother-in-law tongue is overwatering. A few pests and diseases are rarely encountered by this plant. It flourishes in small pots with extremely dense rhizomes.
The plant does not have to receive fertilizer, but if you wish to pamper it in the growing season then use half dilutions of houseplant food. This important plant benefits the environment and enhances the home with tropical beauty. Propagate snake plants in your home and give a special treat to friends and neighbors.
How to Grow and Care for a Snake Plant
Difficulty: Beginner
The snake plant is not only one of the easiest houseplants to grow, but it is also extremely attractive. A snake plant adds architectural accent to almost any decor style, from farmhouse chic to modern sleek, with its sword-shaped leaves and coloration in varying shades of green and gray.
Many people are familiar with snake plant by other names like mother-in-law’s tongue. However, sansevieria is always sansevieria, no matter what the common name. There is an almost all-white sansevieria laurentii in the Garden Center, with a crisp yellow border on its leaves. Sansevierias are native to the tropical and sub-tropical areas of Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Get snake plant care tips: Snake plants are one of the most hard-to-kill houseplants, being highly resilient even in low light and with infrequent waterings. Snake plants are quite tough, so excessive watering can cause root rot. The toughness of this plant makes it a good choice for both offices and homes at the same time. If treated with bright indirect light and proper watering, this plant can thrive in long periods of neglect. It’s an excellent starter houseplant.
How to Propagate Snake Plants
Plant rooted in water is one of the most foolproof ways of propagating snake plants. It is true that too much water can kill your plant, but it is easy to do. You can also root snake plants from cuttings, but the fastest way to get a new snake plant is to divide it. Rhizomes grow out from the plant and multiply as the plant matures. The method is the exact same as that used by you to propagate your existing perennials in the garden. Choose a method for snake plant propagation and let’s get to making babies.
Rooting a Snake Plant in Water
The container should be tall enough to hold the leaf. Choose a leaf that is healthy and not too old, and cut it off with clean, sharp shears. Put the cut end of the leaf in a container covered with just enough water so that the bottom quarter of the leaf is well-watered. Keep the container in indirect lighting conditions, and water it every couple of days. If you plant a rooted leaf in sand or peat moss, you will see little roots soon. Follow the usual care and maintenance for snake plants.
Getting the cuttings into water is super easy, and you’ll enjoy watching roots and pups grow from the cuttings. If you like to grow plants in water, you’ll enjoy propagating Sansevierias. My favorite way to grow certain houseplants is to keep them in water, so you can just keep them in water.
The color margins on many showy variegated varieties such as Sansevieria “Moonshine” with dark margins or “Gold Flame” with yellow stripes will most likely revert back to green when propagated from leaf cuttings. A division method must be used if you wish to preserve the unique patterning of the original variety.
Propagating Snake Plants with Cuttings
These steps are pretty much the same as the water method, aside from omitting a step. After letting the cut leaf callus over for a couple days, insert the cut end into lightly moist sand in a container. Put the cuttings into a pot and wait a few weeks. The plant will root on its own. Following this method results in an instant plant especially if you place several cuttings into one pot at once. As with propagating leaf cuttings in water, cuttings in soil planted in patterned soil may not grow true to the original plant if they have striped or variegated margins.
Snake Plant Propagation from Division
The mother-in-law tongue plant rises from thick organs buried beneath the soil called rhizomes. These are where the energy to further grow the leaves and stem comes from. Cut the base in half if a plant isn’t very old and has a lot of rhizomes, then use sharp shears or a hand saw to separate the sections. One healthy leaf and at least three rhizomes per new plant constitutes a good rule of thumb. Plant each new section at a distance of at least 72″ from the parent plant. This is the method to use if you want the Sansevieria plant to be exactly like the parent plant, especially those varieties with colorful margins.