Growing Snake Plants: Watering, Lighting, Propagation, and Pests
The Almanac Garden Planner - Use It Free for 7 Days!
Plan your 2025 garden with our award-winning Garden Planner.
Planting
How to Plant Snake Plants
- Choose a pot with a drainage hole in the bottom. Terracotta pots work well for snake plants since they allow the soil to dry out more quickly than plastic pots.
- Use a well-draining potting mix. A potting mix designed for cacti and succulents is ideal, as it will be more resistant to becoming oversaturated with water.
- When repotting snake plants, don’t bury them too deep. The plant should be planted as deep as it had been in its prior container.
Choosing a Location in the Home
- Snake plants prefer bright, indirect light and can even tolerate some direct sunlight. However, they also grow well (albeit more slowly) in shady corners and other low-light areas of the home.
- Tip: Avoid moving your plant from a low-light area to direct sunlight too quickly, as this can shock the plant. Whenever you move plants from a darker to a lighter spot, gradually expose them to brighter and brighter light over a week or so. Also, be sure to adjust watering habits accordingly; plants will use more water in warmer, brighter areas.
- Keep the plant in a warm spot with temperatures above 50°F (10°C). In the winter, protect it from drafty windows.
- Dracaena trifasciata (a.k.a. Sansevieria trifasciata) is the most common species of snake plant. It has tall, dark-green leaves with light grayish-green horizontal stripes.
- ‘Bantel’s Sensation’ — Narrow leaves have white vertical stripes and grow to about 3 feet long. This variety can be hard to find.
- D. hahnii:
- ‘Bird’s Nest’ — Short, wide leaves of dark and light green form a tight nest shape like a bromeliad. Leaves only grow 6 to 8 inches long. This variety does need much light to grow well.
- ‘Golden Hahnii’ — Like the standard ‘Bird’s Nest’ but with leaves variegated along the edge in yellow.
- D. cylindrica:
- ‘Cylindrical Snake Plant’ — As its name suggests, this species of snake plant has cylindrical leaves that end in a fierce point.
- ‘Starfish Snake Plant’ — The starfish snake plant has cylindrical leaves that fan out from its base, giving it a starfish-like shape.
- D. masoniana:
- ‘Whale Fin’ — These interesting snake plants have large, wide leaves that resemble the fin of a whale breaching the water’s surface.
Catherine Boeckmann
ADVERTISEMENT
It will help the beginers to understand more easily as a result of this guide.But i have an issue with planting a German seeds , i plants more than 5 times the seeds will spoiled instead of germination .pls i need your guide.
I recently shifted to my new house I was adjusting my plants from one place to other but somehow my snake plant start getting dull, then I found out I was messing its diurnal cycle. I also own many Calathea and they have the same issue but I was aware of Snake plant. You haven't shared any reason or scientific value why it happens please add it when you get time. Be a part of green revolution and do your best.
I was given my first snake plant in a dish of tiny houseplants when my daughter was born. It survived but never grew no matter what I did and then one day the dish broke, I put it in it's own pot and you could almost hear the huge sigh of relief and "Thank you!" It grew huge, and i still have the great-grandchildren of that original plant. I've given away many shoots to friends and colleagues. I water mine weekly and it does fine. It blooms in the summer heat and sends up stalks of tiny whiteish flowers which smell (yo me at least!) like crayons. I love this plant best out of all I have.
The first one I watered from the top and I killed it. The second it was ok as I watered it from the bottom but now the leafs are droopy and some are drying out at the bottom and drying out and cutting off the water supply to the leaf can some one help. I water it approximately every 3 weeks ( when there is no water in the bottom of the container )
Mine has been growing outside my North-Central Florida home for years. In a pot under filtered light for years. It bloomed last year (2021) and I've maybe watered it 2 or 3 times over the year but it gets some misting from the rains. This plant originally came from the inside front windows of my Grandma's bar in Michigan! It was easily 3 to 3 1/2 feet tall. The "stories" it could tell!
Snake plants are one of the easiest to grow in zone 7b...put it outdoors (in a pot) on the north side during the summer when the weather stays above 60 degrees. Place in a wide, sturdy clay pot cause it will get huge and top heavy. Water until you see it come out the bottom then don't water until it is bone dry. Ignore it most of the time. I have never fertilized. Re-pot when the plant has no more room to grow or when you see the plantlings start to hang off the sides. Bring it in when the temp gets around 50 and place in a corner of a room. Don't water too much in winter cause the roots will rot. It will continue to grow where ever you put it, regardless of sunlight. I have a 20 year old plant that I have had to re-pot and give lots of plantlings away several times in the last two years. Right now I have plantlings from the summer that grew about 3 feet high during this winter. They are one of the least problematic plants as pets, kids and pests don't bother them, they can handle being knocked over, abused, and ignored most of the time.
Have you ever seen a snake plant flower. I had a snake plant 20 years ago and it blossomed. It grew a stalk in the middle of the blades and at the end grew a bulb and bulb opened up and tiny white flowers bloomed. A co-worker grew up in Trinidad and snake plants were by the rivers and he never saw one bloom. I brought a flower for him to see; was astonished. Gave a part of plant to friend and 20 years later she gave it back to me. Son or daughter of the original plant, still have it today but hasn't bloomed yet.
Does "snake plants" repels snake?
Goodness, no. It's called that due to it's long, tapering shape.
I used Miracle Gro All Purpose fertilizer on my snake plants, and now they are all turning very light in color. How do I correct this? Thank you
