SANSEVIERIA TRIFASCIATA (AKA SNAKE PLANT or MOTHER-IN-LAW’S TONGUE)
Ever wonder why you never see artificial snake plants? It’s because you don’t need artificial versions. The real thing is pretty much unkillable and survives in almost any growing condition. Like many houseplants, it thrives on neglect and suffers from too loving a hand.
Yep, that’s right. Snake plants don’t need a tender hand to prune their foliage, and they don’t want much to drink. They can tolerate deep shade and full sun, and they’ll even put up with a few nights of freezing temperatures.
It doesn’t need to be repotted often, either. Never repot them until their root-bound rhizomes crack their clay pots or just become extremely crowded all the way to the edge of the pot.
However, it’s worth nothing that you can easily break the plant up and divide it into multiples, each ready for a new home as an individual potted plant.
This species thrives in poor conditions because they evolved in the jungles of the Congo. Despite being cradles of life and biodiversity, jungles tend to have very poor soil quality. That’s because those minerals and nutrients are locked up inside the overwhelming amount of greenery. Snake plant wants a cramped, poor quality home to mimic the soil conditions of its native habitat.
Sansevieria is very easily overwatered during the winter. Give it a little splash of water every few weeks during the winter, just enough to keep the soil from cracking too much, but that’s it. Snake plants thrive on ounces of watering during the entire winter, and too much will easily waterlog and rot them.
During the warmer months you can still get away with watering the plant every few weeks, sometimes stretching out over a period of a month between drinks.
The exact timing between watering depends on the conditions of where you’ve got your container situated. Sunnier locations during very warm periods of the summer will dictate more regular watering, but a snake plant tucked into a shady corner can go for weeks without needing a drink even during the summer.
Never fertilize them in the winter, or they’ll really suffer from it.
Many homeowners have a few really great windows for plant growth, but an abundance of locations in the home without adequate light to grow most houseplants. While a good number of houseplants enjoy the shade and many enjoy bright light, few thrive under any light condition at all the way Sansevieria does.
You can throw these guys in full sun or deep shade conditions and they’ll keep on truckin’ all the way.
The only pests that occasionally bother snake plants are mealybugs and spider mites, both annoying pests but not terribly hard to control. A spray bottle with rubbing alcohol inside for spritzing on plants with pest problems can be effective, but chemical solutions work too. Check our "Garden Pharmacy" collection for Neem Oil.