Do you know how to grow an immortal Snake plant that lives for decades? Here, this guide is all about embracing its impressive lifespan!
Snake plants (Sansevieria or Dracaena trifasciata) are a favorite among plant lovers, especially beginners because of their low-maintenance and resilient nature. Believe it or not, with the right care, these plants can outlive some of your furniture! But how to grow such an immortal Snake plant? Read along to find the answer.
How To Grow An Immortal Snake Plant That Lives For Decades
The motive is to keep your Snake plant thriving with all the good care and maintenance it needs. Here are some of the factors that their lifespan depends—Light, Watering, Soil, Temperature, and Humidity.
1. Provide Sufficient Light
Light is the key! While Snake plants have this reputation for being low-light tolerant, they flourish much better in moderate to bright, indirect sunlight. So, position your upright, green swords near a window with a sheer curtain or a filter.
Filtered light is important because, direct sunlight is the main cause of sunburns, yellowing, and brown leaves, especially during the peak hours of the afternoon. But filtered light encourages healthy growth and can even promote flowering.
2. Avoid Frequent Location Changes
You might think moving your plant around is no big deal, but it can actually cause major stress. Each new location means a shift in temperature, lighting, and humidity, and your Snake plant will struggle to adjust.
If you move it frequently, it will go through the same stress over and over again! This can lead to slow growth, damaged leaves, and hindered development. So once you find that sweet spot where your plant thrives—stick to it!
3. Upskill Watering Practices
Remember, overwatering is a big no-no! These plants prefer their soil to dry out completely between waterings because they are succulents and they store enough water in their stems or leaves.
You can do a simple trick—Always check the soil before watering your Snake plants. If the soil is moist below 1-2 inches deep, then it means that they aren’t thirsty enough for a drench! This way, you won’t ever overwater or underwater them. Good luck!
Fact: Overwatering or underwatering are the things that you need to avoid to keep them flourishing and healthy. These issues lead to pest infestations, diseases like root rot, soft foliage, browning, and so on.
4. Use A Cactus Potting Medium
While you try to improve your watering cycle, know that the growing medium and watering cycle go hand in hand! Moreover, Snake plants are succulents and hail from the arid regions of Africa so they have a history of growing in sandy, loamy, or porous soils. So, give them that environment in your garden as well.
For this, a cactus or succulent mix is perfect for them as it will also help in preventing waterlogged roots. Besides, you can make it yourself too- just add gritty sandy soil, tiny pebbles, perlite and cocopeat to the soil mix.
5. Maintain The Repotting Cycle
Have you noticed your Snake plant outgrowing the pot with many pups and some red or orange roots coming out of the drainage holes? That means it has formed a root-bound inside and it is time for a fresh new home with all the necessary growing medium.
Take a larger pot size for the big mama Snake plant, uproot it, and separate a few pups to propagate them separately. Fill it with all the good things—potting medium and added fertilizers to give it a better space to grow packed with all the nutrients for the upcoming years to stay healthy.
6. Let It Bloom And Produce New Pups!
Keep the legendary tale of your long-living Snake plants alive with this tip! Let your plant bloom and produce new pups (offsets) from the base so that there are more companions in your garden. Plus, this way you will have a never-ending generation of these succulents forever and ever.
Here, check out this interesting article on how to let your Snake plant produce more pups faster and more effectively!
7. Maintain Temperature and Humidity
As these plants are native to warm climates, the trick is to maintain an ideal temperature range of 70°F – 90 °F (21°C – 32 °C and a humidity level between 50% – 70% indoors. Along with this, avoid exposing the plant to sudden temperature changes or cold drafts as well.
Besides, keep your Snake plants with some other humidity-loving tropical plants to balance the level around them. This helps the plant thrive better and grow efficiently.
8. Don’t Expose Them To Extreme Cold
They’re not fans of extreme cold conditions, especially not frost! So, try not to let the temperature drop below 50°F (10°C), and if it does, bring them indoors to protect them from frost damage.
Keep your Snake plants in a protected, warm spot, away from windows that may let in cold air. Focus on keeping your snake plant in a comfortable range for its health, which will support healthy growth.
9. Benefits Of Air Circulation
Air circulation inside the home is necessary, not only for its healthy growth but also for preventing pest infestations or diseases. These issues arise more in low-ventilated spaces with high humidity, which works in favor of pests.
So, if you want your green buddy to have a long life then you need to keep it safe from all these invaders that will compromise its good health and development.
10. Introduce Organic Fertilizers
The catch here is that even though chemical and store-bought fertilizers are easy to use and available, they have their own side effects such as making the soil too acidic which again leads to root rot and browning of leaves.
Similarly, overuse of these fertilizers disrupts the proper functioning of the plant’s metabolism and immune system, leading to stunted growth or early decline. So, switch to more organic fertilizers like compost, homemade fertilizers such as banana peel tea, or diluted fish emulsion as a feed.
Organic fertilizers are non-toxic and never come with any negative side effects.
Signs Your Snake Plant Is Thriving
Here are some signs that your plant is healthy and happy:
- If it has a shine on its green leaves, then it is a good sign because healthy Snake plants have firm, upright leaves with a nice and bright green color.
- Regular new leaf growth is a good indicator. The more your plant grows, the happier it is.
- A healthy snake plant will have a healthy root system, often visible above the soil. This shows it’s well-established and thriving.
If your snake plant shows these signs, you’re doing a great job! Keep up the good work, and your plant will reward you with many years of companionship. Don’t forget to let us know how it’s going!
