Flip the script on nature! Check out these ways you can challenge Mother Nature and grow a spilling snake plant!
The Snake plant is a common sight in homes all across the globe. They are characterized by their upward-growing, stiff, linear leaves, but did you know you can train them to spill? Learn more about the tricks and hacks you can use to completely change your snake plant to make it almost unrecognizable yet attractive!
How to Grow a Spilling Snake Plant
Note: Even with these tricks, you can’t completely change the natural physiognomy of the plant. The leaves will arch and spill somewhat, but they won’t cascade like true vining plants.
1. Choosing the Right Variety
Did you know there are over 70 species of snake plants, each of which exhibits a different growth habit. So it’s obvious that while some grow stiff and upright, certain varieties have a more lanky structure.
The best variety for this is Sansevieria ballyi, which naturally grows with a spreading and arching habit, making it perfect for achieving that spilling look.
Bonus Tip: You can also try dwarf snake plant varieties, like Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’, which naturally spread wider rather than taller. They’re easier to encourage into a spilling or arching shape compared to the standard stiff-leafed kinds.
2. Let Gravity Do Its Magic
This is one of the simplest ways to get a cascading snake plant. Sometimes doing nothing is doing enough! Place your snake plant on a pedestal and allow it to grow freely. It will reach a point where the foliage grows too large to support itself and hence will begin to droop. This arching will give your plant a cascading look.
Try using hanging baskets for smaller snake plant varieties. Gravity works faster this way, and you’ll also get an instant decorative touch.
Smart Hack: Tilt your snake plant slightly—around a 45° angle—in its pot. Over time, this encourages the foliage to lean and fall outward, which will give it a natural spilling look.
3. Attract Leaves using Light
A very cool trait of most plants is that they manipulate their standard form to try and reach the source of light. In scientific terms, this phenomenon is known as phototropism. Capitalize on this characteristic to your advantage. Instead of placing your snake plant in front of a window, try hanging it high above where direct sunlight doesn’t reach it.
Now you can use reflective surfaces to aim the sunrays from below. This will force the leaves to bend downwards towards the source of light, giving the waterfall-like look.
Pro Hack: If you don’t have enough natural light, you can mimic this trick with grow lights positioned below or at an angle. Plants can’t tell the difference, and they’ll bend just the same!
4. Replace Stiff Foliage
Some leaves of the snake plant won’t budge. Hence, you will have to get rid of the stubborn foliage completely. This allows newer, tender growth to emerge, which can easily be manoeuvred to obtain the spilling look. Try keeping the leaves that grow outwards instead of directly up.
5. Slightly Overcrowd Your Pot
If your snake plant produces pups, do not remove or propagate them elsewhere. Arrange them in the same pot slightly in a way that, due to the lack of space, certain leaves bend or lean outward.
You need to be very careful while doing this because if too many plants grow in the same vicinity, they can begin to compete for survival and therefore lose charm or perish.
Smart Tip: Instead of letting the soil run dry quickly in overcrowded pots, mix in a little extra perlite or pumice. This will keep roots healthy while still encouraging that outward lean you want.
6. Train your Plant
This trick is foolproof as it is the most common one used to shape almost every plant. Here, using plant ties, arched trellises, and gentle weights, you can force your plant to transform its appearance. Tie small pebbles or marbles to the tip of long leaves, and due to the weight, they will begin to droop downwards.
Note: Ensure that the plant is not overly stressed and also that the trellises or weights do not physically harm it.
7. Pair with Cascading Plants
When you can’t get your snake plant to spill entirely, you can create the illusion using other naturally cascading plants. By growing companion vines such as pothos or spider plants, it can be challenging to distinguish between the two plants. Many will be fooled into thinking that the snake plant alone is also displaying a cascading growth habit!
You can use contrasting leaf colors when pairing. A golden pothos against the upright green snake plant looks like an intentional waterfall effect
Now that you have the power to transform the look of your snake plant from straight and upright to arching and spilling, tell us in the comment section what other plants would look cool if they had a waterfall-like appearance!
