All About Sansevieria

The Sansevieria group makes up some of my favorite houseplants. Scientists recently placed them in the genus Dracaena, but its former scientific name seems to also be one of its common names. I will continue to refer to it as Sansevieria in this article to avoid confusion. In the future, you will most likely see the plant tags that come with plants offered for sale finally catch up with this change in the scientific community. This plant has many common names including “snake plant” and my personal favorite “mother-in-law’s tongue”.  Like many varieties of houseplant, there are some staples that have been around for decades, some newer species that have come to market, and some really interesting cultivars or hybrids of all of them. 

A tall variety of Sansevieria trifasciata with gold edges. Photo by mrl2024.

These plants have a rhizome, and the leaves grow from the base of your pot. They are very prolific when they like their environment. In fact, they tend to break the pots they are in, so I would recommend using plastic pots, which their growth will eventually deform. If you want to use a clay or ceramic pot, I suggest putting them in a slightly smaller plastic pot, then putting that in the clay pot. You can hide the gap between the two pots with Spanish moss. Being native to Africa, they cannot tolerate cold temperatures. Typical household temperatures work well, but avoid anything below 55 degrees F. If kept too cold, they will die and rot from the base up. By the time you notice there is a problem, it is too late to do anything about it. Another thing that is nice for the plant collector is that their upright growth habit allows the grower to have many varieties in a small space.

Overwatering is the quickest way to kill any houseplant, but especially so with these. In the winter, you probably only want to water once a month, and sparingly at that. Do not let them get soggy or this otherwise hardy plant will rot. In the warmer months when the plant is actively growing, allow the soil to dry between waterings, but then water more liberally. Some growers will add extra perlite to the mix to aid in drainage. I have not had trouble keeping them in a standard mix, but you certainly need to be careful with watering. Choose the mix that will work best for your plant hydration habits. These plants have the reputation of being a low light plant, which they certainly can handle. Sometimes, however, people place them in the darkest corner of a room where they hang on for a few months, but then eventually run out of stored resources and die. Remember they do need some light to photosynthesize so bright indirect light is best. The other problem I have seen is their unique, flat leaves can become covered in dust. Either dust them manually, use a blower, or take them outside in warm weather and hose them off. A damp cloth run gently over the leaves is probably the easiest method, but becomes more difficult and time consuming with a rather large collection.    

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Golden Hahnii’ before (top) and after (bottom) division and repotting. Here, each baby plant got its own pot. Photo by mrl2024.

All varieties of Sansevieria are fairly easy to propagate. If you want more plants quicker, you can take leaf cuttings. You either dip in rooting hormone and replant, or you can place the cuttings in water to take root (change the water daily for best results). You must be careful with the orientation, as you want to plant the bottom side of the cutting into the soil, not the top, which will fail to root. It is easy to get confused and forget which end is up. Some people put a mark on the top or bottom, others cut in such a way as to indicate the bottom. It really doesn’t matter which method you choose, if any, as long as the cuttings are oriented properly at planting time.  There is one big problem with using cuttings – the babies will look like the standard green variety, and not have any of the nice golden edges, so be careful with this method. I also don’t like doing this as it, in my opinion, just looks unsightly. The remaining stub on the parent plant looks awful. If I was to do this, I would recommend cutting near the base of the plant by the soil surface. The cut leaf will not regrow, and instead just will look damaged. In the new pot where the cutting was placed, you still have to look at the cutting as it does not grow. It is not until the baby plants growing from the base are big enough that you can separate it from this actual cutting piece. 

My favorite way to propagate these plants is to let them grow, and then divide them during repotting. You simply pull the plant out of the pot and divide the rhizomes up so that each plant is separate, or in small clumps. This does require the cutting or breaking of the rhizomes, but this will not hurt the plant in the long run. This method produces the best-looking plants in my opinion. Even if you just have one plant per pot, they still look nice afterwards with no short, cut, damaged leaves. In favorable conditions, they will send up some new shoots quickly and look fairly nice. The main adult plant still looks nice and uniform after repotting as it has not been cut.  The best part of this propagation method is that you get exactly what you wanted. The plants have the same color and pattern as that of the parent.         

Some short varieties of Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’. On left is the wild type coloration, the middle front has an all dark variety, and on the right is ‘Golden Hahnii.’ Photo by mrl2024.

The Sansevieria group can be divided into two types, those with flat leaves and those with cylindrical leaves. Of those two groups, there are species/varieties that grow tall and some that grow short. The tall ones make great floor plants while the shorter ones do well when placed on a table. Most of us are familiar with the tall green snake plant with horizontal dark green stripes.  There is also a very similar one that has gold edges to each leaf. These have been around for many decades. There are some absolutely stunning new varieties on the market today that have selected for any of the colors found in these older varieties. For example, there is one called ‘Moonshine’, which has no pattern in the leaf at all, instead being pale green. Another interesting one is called ‘Hi Color’, which has more yellow than green in the leaves. The yellow is not simply along the margin, but found in the main area of the leaf as well. There are others that are selected for such a dark green that it almost approaches black in color. One of my new favorites is a different species called Sansevieria masoniana, commonly referred to as “whale tail,” “shark fin,” or some combination thereof. These can get up to 4 feet tall with proper growing conditions in a greenhouse, but generally smaller in a home setting. No matter which one you choose, you really cannot go wrong with these plants. They are readily available at most nurseries, garden centers, and home stores, so why not pick one or two up and brighten up your home?       

Matthew Lisy PhD

UConn Adjunct Professor

 

Green Thumb Secrets: Repotting Houseplants Respectfully

Have you ever gone to someone’s house and there were beautiful plants everywhere? When I was young, I always wondered how people did that. Others would comment that they must “have a green thumb.” I thought, “surely there had to be some science behind this,” and thus began my passion for plants!

Four newly acquired plants. The left front will be fine for a long time, the right front is perfect, and the back two need to be moved to larger pots. Photo by mrl2023.

The time of year can have a huge impact on the success or failure of a plant. Now is the perfect time to repot your houseplants as they are still in active growth. Wintertime is the worst as our plants are not growing as much, and the cold can do horrible things to freshly disturbed plant roots. There is also a temptation to repot into a much larger pot in order to save future repotting, and/or allow plants to grow bigger. The problem is that plants don’t respond well to this. The excess soil tends to stay wet longer and is the perfect breeding ground for root fungus that can quickly kill your plant. Even if you let the soil dry between waterings, it still can stay wet for too long.  If you increase the pot size, you only should go one size bigger. 

Sometimes you don’t need to put the plant into a bigger pot. Plants quickly use up nutrients in the soil in the pot, and salts tend to accumulate. It is very beneficial for plants to swap the old soil for new. There are several plants that prefer to be pot bound. African violets, Cape primroses and spider plants are three common examples that bloom profusely when pot bound. 

Another big secret is that different plants need different potting media. Fortunately, there are companies that manufacture different soilless media mixes based on the needs of specific groups of plants. If you have a lot of houseplants, it can be easier to buy an all-purpose plant mix that will work for most plants and modify it with additives for others. African violets, Cape primroses, and other Gesneriads prefer a faster draining mix, so I add extra perlite. This allows the water to flow through the medium more quickly and simultaneously aerates the soil. Cacti and succulents prefer super-fast draining mixes with very little organic matter. I generally will buy a specifically prepared mix for them. 

This pothos, Epipremnum aureum, is just fine in this pot. I will change out some soil to add nutrients, trim the vine, and plant the cuttings into the same pot for a bushier appearance. Photo by mrl2023.

Overwatering probably kills more houseplants than anything else. Root rot can easily set in, and many times when you notice you have a problem it is too late to do anything about it. Each plant has its own watering requirements so you will need to research your specific plant. Some like to be kept moist, most like to dry between waterings, and a few like to rarely be watered. In general, it is best to dump out any water that accumulates in the tray underneath your plants a short time after watering. I prefer a dilute fertilizer with each watering. The worst combination is cold and wet soil in the wintertime. Plants tend to dry more quickly in the winter as we heat our homes. The humidity of the summer tends to let our plant’s soil hang on to the moisture longer. 

Somewhat related to watering is humidity. Humid air can cause some plants to thrive, and others to rot. A humid basement is perfect for African violets, but terrible for desert cacti. A tray filled with pebbles and water under your potted plants can help raise the humidity in the air. Be sure the soil is not touching that water, however. 

Another point to consider is what type of pot to use. The two basic types are clay and plastic.  Either type can work for most plants, and I have grown what feels like just about every kind of plant in both types of pots. Plastic is much, much cheaper, and most plants we purchase will come from the nurseries this way. While some people will say it does not matter, I beg to differ.  The clay pots, as long as they are not coated, allow the soil to breathe. Air can move through the pot, as well as water. I find these pots are better for cacti and succulents, as well as any epiphytic plants. While these pots are more forgiving about overwatering, the plants will dry out more quickly. Plastic pots are great for water-loving plants. They are impermeable, and therefore hold moisture better. You need to be careful with watering as they do not have the ability to pull water away from the soil. The plastic barrier is more favorable to pathogenic fungi. Heavy-water-using plants, like flowering maples (Abutilon), do much better in plastic pots. There are also ceramic or cement-type pots that are coated on the outside with paint and clear coat. These will behave much like our plastic pots as water cannot pass through the waterproof clear coat.

When to repot is a delicate decision. If you try and repot too early, what little roots the plant had may not be able to hold the soil, and the whole root ball may fall apart. This is extremely stressful to the plant! If a plant is left in a pot too long, the roots tend to circle around the pot and get very, very compacted and intertwined. Occasionally, I have seen situations where the roots end up replacing almost all of the soil. The best tell-tale sign of a need to repot is when roots are shooting out the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. I also find that plants in need of a repot generally look way too big for the pot they are in and may regularly fall over.  On the other hand, plants that seem small or just right for their pot probably should be left alone.

This Swiss Cheese plant, Monstera adansonii, needs repotting. The roots have been circling the pot, and many were poking out of the drainage holes in the bottom. Photo by mrl2023.

The last thing to consider is stress on the plant. If you buy your plant at a nursery, it was probably grown in optimal conditions of light, humidity, and watering. When we bring the plants home, they have to adapt to their new environment – which is often many times much different than where they were! On the other hand, at certain big-box stores, our plants may not have been in optimal conditions. I find the plants are either shaded by larger plants or left on transport shelving and getting minimal light. In this case, our homes may be a lot better than where they were. Either way, our plants need time to adapt to their new locations. If we repot them right away, we will be adding additional stress to our plants. I generally try and let the plant acclimate for a few weeks to a month before repotting. If the reason you want to repot is to put the plant into a fancier pot, you could always simply place the plant, pot and all, into a bigger, nicer pot and cover the gap with Spanish moss. This is also useful for plants, like Sansevieria, that have a tendency to bust the ceramic/clay pots as they grow. 

A Sansevieria plant left in its original pot and placed inside a nice ceramic pot. The Spanish moss, available at most garden centers, covers the gap. Photo by mrl2023.

Dr. Matt Lisy, UConn Adjunct Faculty