Sansevieria trifasciata, often known as the snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue, is renowned as one of the most resilient indoor plants, enduring poor light, watering, and feeding. This is fantastic news because it usually means an easy remedy if you notice your snake plant drooping.
What’s causing your snake plant to droop? The most frequent causes include excessive watering, poor soil drainage, a lack of heat, pests or disease, inadequate lighting, or becoming rootbound. Your plant can recover if the underlying issue is found and fixed.
As you read, you’ll learn how to set up your snake plant’s environment so that its drooping leaves may be reversed and won’t happen again.
Why Is My Snake Plant Drooping?
Since they are sensitive to root rot if given excessive moisture, they can be simple to overwater. Let the soil of your snake plant dry up before restoring it to its previous splendor. Make sure the dirt isn’t only dry on the surface by sticking your finger deep into the ground. From that point forward, ensure the plant dries completely between every watering and that the top inches of soil is entirely dry.
Water for roughly three months with only 3 per cent hydrogen peroxide to eradicate any potential root fungus. Remove any soggy or dead roots from the plant before repotting it if the root rot is severe (see below advice).
The typical watering schedule for snake plants is once every two to four weeks, with more frequent watering required for plants that receive more sun or heat. They only need water when the leaves appear a little wilted throughout the winter, so they can be watered far less during that time.
A critical, challenging aspect of caring for houseplants is knowing how to water them. You can learn how to water indoor plants at the appropriate time by reading an article I wrote.
Bad Drainage And Soil
The soil may just be storing excess water and not having enough drainage if your watering schedule appears to be in order. Repotting your plant in potting soil made for cactus or succulents will help address this.
Alternatively, you may simply mix some compost for fertility into standard potting soil and add roughly half perlite to it. I have used this fantastic potting mixture numerous times for your snake plant with excellent results.
How To Recognize Good Drainage?
When you water a plant, water should come out of the drainage holes at the bottom. If it doesn’t, the ground may not be adequately drained enough. Be careful to pick a big enough pot while repotting and take off as much old soil as possible.
You usually need more significant drainage if the soil continues to absorb much water even after you’ve poured in a cup or two.
What’s The Remedy For Bad Root?
When houseplants go without periodic repotting or root cutting, one of the most prevalent issues is that the roots become entangled. While snake plants don’t need to be replanted as frequently as other plants and can tolerate some root boundness, they could become ill and droop if the situation persists for too long.
Even snake plants need soil to provide their roots with the required water and nutrients. Very tightly connected sources can also cause girdling, in which the origins choke themselves, rot, and other disease problems, and hinder the plant’s ability to properly “breathe” because plant roots also require air.
Repotting
Repotting snake plants is necessary every three to five years. Suppose you cannot give the plant a larger container for any reason. In that case, you will need to cut the roots to ensure they occupy no more than half to three-quarters of the pot’s surface area.
By removing soil from the sides of the pot with your fingers and feeling the plant’s roots to see if they extend all the way to the sides, you may determine whether a plant needs replanted or pruned. A larger container should be used if the roots appear to take up more space than the soil.
How To Repot Snake Plant
Before repotting, you might need to pull the roots apart if the root ball is excellent, so they make an attractive branching structure rather than a clump. Move the plant and carefully lay it on its side to cut the roots, whether for replanting in the same pot or to release a tight root ball before repotting. The seeds will need to be severed one at a time using a sharp pair of scissors or perhaps a knife.
Instead of simply splitting the bulk into more petite root balls, carefully peel the roots apart. The root clump must be broken up to make the root mass resemble a typical root mass. Where necessary, remove entire sections to give the root system space to expand. For information on the essential potting mix, see the preceding tip.
Temperature Issues
If your snake plant’s leaves are drooping, it’s doubtful that it’s getting too hot, even though it’s possible. The likelihood is that it isn’t getting hot enough. Keep the temperature higher than 50°F for a healthy plant.
Additionally, remember that even when it’s warm inside your home, a window may have a colder temperature if it’s cold outside. Find a location where you can position the plant in this situation that is a little farther away from the window or a little closer to a heat source.
Poor Lighting
Snake plants do well in the shade. But in partial sunlight, they thrive considerably more. Your plant may be ill and drooping if it receives little light, which is conceivable. A partial sun environment tends to improve the appearance of snake plants, with brighter leaves that make their distinctive pattern jump out more.
This is in addition to the health benefits of ensuring appropriate illumination. Although they can withstand up to 8 hours or more of light each day, snake plants may not be able to handle all-day direct sunlight from a south-facing window, which will also make their leaves droop.
How To Solve Poor Lighting Problem
Place the plant in a sunlit west or east-facing window, about 10 feet distant from a south window. A west-facing plant will also thrive better a few feet away from the window, given that the western sun might be more powerful.
How to Restore Drooped Snake Plant Leaves?
Using the advice mentioned earlier, you might be able to partially revive your snake plant’s drooping leaves, depending on how badly they are affected. You probably can’t do anything to restore the current leaves, though, if they are in poor condition. You can leave them alone until new, erect growth appears. At this point, you can chop them off or let them be until new development replaces them and they naturally die.
Cut off rotting or dead leaves to a point slightly below where they are already dead or decaying. The edges of these chopped leaves will never come back, so keep that in mind. Avoid removing too much leaf mass as this could kill the plant because there won’t be enough light available for a photosynthetic activity to support growth.
In order to guarantee that your plant recovers to total health as quickly as possible, it is preferable to wait until new, healthy growth appears before removing any unhealthy leaves. You shouldn’t experience issues with your snake plant if you use the above advice to revive it.
Methods for Making Snake Plant Bloom
Snake plants produce tubular, creamy-white flowers that resemble lilies. Every year, when its requirements for water, sun, and humidity are met, it blooms. However, these plants hardly ever flower when kept inside all year. The plant emerges from hibernation and accelerates its growth due to the change in seasons, specifically the arrival of spring. Like other dracaena species, it blooms at night and has aromatic flowers. These flowers don’t require deadheading because they fall off on their own.
How To Care For Potted Snake Plant?
Strong roots can quickly cause weak pots to split and break; therefore, pick a durable material when potting. Usually, a slow-growing plant that doesn’t require repotting, dracaena can proliferate and need repotting or division if given enough sunlight. The early spring is the perfect time to repot these plants. Always use new potting soil for repotting, cactus potting mix, or a combination of the two.
Care for Snake Plants
For novice gardeners, a snake plant is a great choice because it is tough to kill. It looks excellent in containers and thrives on the ground or in window boxes. In warm climates, snake plants flourish while they suffer in the cold. Although resistant to drought, this plant can become overwatered, which can cause root rot. A plant should only be watered if the soil feels dry. In the winter, these plants may endure two months without being watered. Water no more frequently than every two weeks during the summer.