Snake plant help – House Plant Journal

Snake plant help

Plant: Snake Plant

How long have you had the plant? 1 to 2 years.

Concerns:

Edges are drying up and plant does not grow. I’ve never re-potted it (no idea how plants work)

Light Situation:

Several large windows but the plant is set a few feet away, receiving about 1 hour of direct sun and indirect light the rest of the day.

How do you determine WHEN to water? I follow the schedule I was told/researched for this plant: once every 3 weeks to 1 month (rarely)

Describe HOW you water: I pour a small amount of water onto the soil.

Fertilizer? I’ve never used fertilizer

Soil:

Looks like coconut coir topped with sphaghum moss.

Darryl’s Analysis

Environment:
The current location where you have it is suitable in terms of light. Snake plants will stay generally nice looking even if far from windows (but you have large windows, which makes the indirect light good even farther into the room).

Effort:
You’ve got the WHEN to water correct (when completely dry) but the HOW is problematic for the long run.  When you pour a small amount of water, there will be dry pockets where the soil is not saturated.  On occasion, it’s good to fully soak the soil so all parts are saturated while letting excess drain away.  This is harder to do in a pot without drainage as you have but maybe it’s time to repot it anyway since it has been in that soil for over a year.

If you want your plant to grow well in the long run, you must use fertilizer – more info on fertilizers here.

Expectations:
This snake plant looks exactly as it should in terms of growth. The leaves it currently has won’t get much bigger but in a year or so, the plant may put up a pup (a small version of itself) – but only if watered thoroughly whenever the soil reaches total dryness.

If you want to better understand how plants work (developing both better care skills and realistic expectations), check out my online course or my book.


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