Sansevieria Trifasciata (Snake Plant)

Today I'm going to share with you my thoughts and experience on taking care of a Sansevieria aka the Snake Plant or even Mother's in law tongue. I personally call it a snake plant it just suits the plant better to me because of its unique but beautiful foliage. It actually reminds me of snake skin with it's dark green marked wavy cross stripes. One of the biggest mistakes I made was over potting my plant and let me tell you if this wasn't a "plant of steel" I would have been one of the rare people who killed a snake plant lol. So needless to say I took the time to realize the mistake and corrected it ASAP!. I said all that to say PLEASE don't over pot this plant. Much like a spider plant it like to be root bound just a little bit. Of course you want to check the roots from time to time and if things starting to get crowed and it's more roots then soil then you would want to repot your plant. Another important tip to remember is always use a good potting soil with great drainage. NEVER EVER use garden soil on a potted plant that's a  huge mistake. Garden soil is a lot heavier then potting soil so that means it will stay wet longer and can cause root rot to your plant which can kill it and you don't want that to happen. Two soils that I use are Miracle Gro and Baccto honestly I think Baccto is a little lighter then the Miracle Gro which means better drainage. With that said I'm only speaking on the Miracle Gro soil for cactus,palms, and citrus plants. I'm going to test out the Miracle Gro potting soil to see what's that like and I'll compare all three in a future blog post. Now the snake plant is consider a low light plant which is perfect for those spaces that don't get a lot of light. Remember LOW light don't mean NO light so make sure your plant getting some type of light or it may die slowly from lack of light. I honestly give my plant both direct and indirect sunlight of course it gets more indirect because I don't want to use harm to my plant with to much direct sunlight. Every other day I'll sit it in my windowsill which is facing south I believe and let it soak up some direct sun no more then 4 hours at a time and I'm seeing great results. The more light you give it I believe it will grow just a little faster so try to keep that in mind even though its a low light plant. If you don't have a space with a lot of indirect sunlight try to give it as much fluorescent light as possible and that should be enough for this plant to continue to grow. Another thing I like to do is rotate my plant weekly so it's getting even exposure of light. Snake seems to thrive in temperatures between 40-85f it's said they will take lower and higher temps for a short period of time but you don't want to stress the plant so try to keep it between those temperatures. Snake plants are also known for their low water requirements which is great for the forgetful gardener or if you travel a lot. When you water (ALWAYS USE A POT WITH DRAINAGE HOLES) make sure the water runs out the drainage holes. You don't want you plant having "wet feet" root rot can set in and cause major problems. Like I do with every plant I own I always check the soil with a light colored stick or stick my finger down to the first knuckle. If my snake plant have any moisture at all I will not water it until it's almost bone dry to be honest. The first time I water my snake plant it took two weeks before it needed to be water again so please keep that in mind. However if the plant goes to long without water it will start to droop so of course use room temperature water to water it. I personally use distilled water OR I will use tap water that's been sitting in a jug for about a week. I never use water straight from the sink because of the chlorine and fluorides in the water which can cause salt buildups in the soil. Try to water the plant from the sides to keep water out of the leaf clumps which can hold water which you don't want at all. If you have a pot with cache try at the bottom dump the excess water out promptly. You never want this plant sitting in water because once again root rot can set in. So far as fertilizer go 99% of the time the soil I use have some type of slow release fertilizer so I really don't give it anything but Miracle Gro foam or liquid plant food maybe once a month but never in the winter months because the plants grow slower or taking a rest however you want to look at it. Another wonderful thing about this plant is it's a wonder air cleaner and it made NASA list of top air cleaners. With that being said as it cleans the air the foliage will get very dusty so you will have to clean it. What I like to do is when I see my plant getting dusty I will spray it down with water and use a soft damp cloth to wipe its tuff waxy feeling leaves. WARNING WARNING WARNING! please be VERY careful with the tips of this plant as tuff as this plant is it do have a weakness. If a tip break off a leaf that leaf WILL NOT grow any longer sad but true. So you really have to be extra careful with that now if you want the plant to stay a certain length then that's the way to go it's all up to you. As these plants get taller since they do grow up right they will get a little top heavy so always take measures to keep your plant from falling over. One thing I almost forgot to mention is snake plants do come in several color variations. Some have gold colored edges or cream stripes. I haven't seen it yet but I may see it in the future but these plants can flower! They can flower tiny white flowers who some say have a very powerful fragrant smell to them. Of course to see this happen the snake plant must be well taking care of and getting enough light and proper watering. My guess is much like the spider plant it will flower when it's root bound so I'm going to test this out and keep my snake plant in a smaller pot. If you do need to repot your plant make sure you do it before winter set in. Most people will say late winter early spring but I'm still seeing growth and I repot mine the first week of fall. I have yet to try to propagation on this plant but I've seen videos of leaf cuttings and plant dividing. If you take leaf cuttings make sure you remember which side goes in the soil or it will not root at all. I plan on taking leaf cuttings on mine and I will personally cut a leaf on which a tip as broken off since it won't grow any more anyway. As always of you have any questions about this plant please leave a comment or send me a message on Google+ and remember always do your part to keep this world green!