How to replant a snake plant? This exotic-looking houseplant, Sansevieria trifasciata or Snake Plants are perfect for home gardeners with low light levels and novice indoor gardeners. With Sansevieria trifasciata’s wide array of varieties ranging from Black Coral to Laurentii to Cyclindrica, they can complement any type of interior style, making them the perfect houseplant. Sansevieria trifasciata has many common names, including Snake Plant and Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, and can be found at most garden centers.
An important characteristic of Sansevieria is its upright growth of spear-like leaves. Due to this growth pattern, they are ideal for narrow spaces like hallways and corners. Leaves color of snake plants can differ greatly depending on the variety, from black/green, to yellow/green, to green/silver, and can be variegated vertically or horizontally.
Several other varieties of this plant exist, including a dwarf variety with a more squat growth pattern commonly called Bird’s Nest Snake Plants or Sansevieria Trifasciata Hahnii. Short varieties of these plants are ideal for offices and desks where little natural light is available.
There is no lighting condition this species cannot handle, ranging from dim indirect light to bright direct sunlight. Moreover, they prefer a dry environment and less watering than most houseplants. They do so because their rhizomes store a large amount of nutrients and moisture between waterings. Root rot can also occur in these fleshy roots from overwatering.
Why Replant Your Snake Plants?
One distinctive feature of Sansevieria is the tendency to produce ‘pups’ from the primary plant. The plant’s main root ball will sprout a fleshy rhizome that grows leaves at the base. Eventually, these pups will root themselves and separate from the main plant.
This can be problematic if you have specific ceramic pots like myself and overcrowd your main plant. However, there is a solution! It is possible to divide these baby Sansevieria plants away from the main plants while keeping them in the same pot. Additionally, it’s a great way to provide new soil to your main plant, which has likely been suffering from root bound conditions.
It’s generally recommended not to repot Snake Plants into larger pots if you do not have to. Snake Plants prefer to be root bound. You may unnecessarily stress your plant by doing this. Identify whether or not you need to repotter your Snake Plant by first inspecting it. A good indicator is when the plastic pot begins to show some deformation. When the pups’ rhizome pushes against the plastic, the plastic may bulge.
Dividing Or Replanting?
You have two choices, either choose a larger pot and replant the Snake Plant into a new container about 1″-2″ larger than the existing one. As the pups grow, you can see the pot of the Sansevieria deformed under the pressure. Replanting your potted plant shouldn’t be necessary if the plant isn’t crowded in its pot, since it might be detrimental to the plant if you do. Just replace your plastic pot with a ceramic one or something else decorative if you want to switch up the look. I recommend that you buy a pot that’s a bit larger than your existing one and just drop it in.
How To Divide Or Replant Your Snake Plant
In this section, we’ll talk specifically about how to replant a snake plant or divide it if necessary. Relax, since the steps are easy to follow and the items needed are not difficult to find.
The Items You’ll Need
These are the supplies you’ll need:
- ProMix cactus potting soil.
- If you decide to divide, a new pot that is 1″-2″ larger than your existing container.
- Gloves
- Sterile knife or box cutter
- Newspaper or plastic to protect your work surface
The ProMix Cactus soil has the proper amount of sand/aggregate to promote good drainage, so I recommend that you use it. You may also want to use a container that has a drainage system. Ensure your surface is protected by laying down a plastic sheet or newspaper. It’s hard to pause once you get started with this.
What To Do
How to replant a snake plant? Grab the plastic or ceramic pot with one hand while gently tugging the leaves of your to-be-repotted Snake Plant. Pull the pot off gently if it does not slide off with a gentle squeeze all around. The plastic pot should be carefully cut if it is well and truly stuck. Using a chopstick or pencil, try not to damage the roots when repotting from a ceramic container. Then pull it free.
You can use your fingers to loosen and scrape most of the soil off of the root ball to reveal the root system. You need to do this if you plan on dividing the plant to see the pups. This gives you the opportunity to remove any mushy roots if you are just replanting. In order to locate the protrusion, you will need to clear away the soil around the plant. What we call the pup is the fleshy white rhizome, and we will cut it off from the main plant.
Pick a pup whose root system has already started to emerge on the white rhizome. Puppies from this litter are most likely to succeed. With your sterile knife (I personally prefer pairing knives with curves) or box cutter, slice the rhizome, preserving the small roots on the pups half as much as you can. You can continue thinning out pups as you work your way around the plant. In order to avoid overstimulation, I would recommend doing only about 1/3 of the plants’ total mass.
Prepare the soil in your new pots by mixing it with the ProMix Cactus soil, leaving a quarter of an inch at the top. Depending on where you want it to go, you can either pot the main plant in its old container or in the new container. To prevent rot, try not to mound the soil too high and keep the level of the old soil.
Plants should be secured in the soil by gently pressing the soil down. A bamboo stake can be used to support the plant until the roots reestablish.Repot your pups either individually or in clumps for a fuller appearance. Just press the pups firmly into the soil after planting, not too deeply. Plant these pups below the main plant.
Last but not least, you should lightly water the plants to just moisten their soils and situate them in a medium light location such as a north facing window, a few feet away from indirect sunlight and away from direct sunlight. This is because the roots need time to grow, and high light may stress them out as they recover.
There you go! Your very first Snake Plant has been divided or replanted! When we’re stuck inside, these projects give us the sense of accomplishment. You should never underestimate how soothing getting your hands dirty can be. Gardening is therapy for many of us. I hope this article help you learn how to replant a snake plant.