January 2020 – How to Care for Houseplants

Watering Your Snake Plant

Watering Snake Plant – Snake Plant has rhizomes that store water, so stay more to the dry side with this plant. In low to medium light, allow pot media to dry down 3/4 of the way or more. In higher lighting, allow to dry down 1/2 to 3/4 of the pot depth. You may need some type of soil probe or moisture meter in a really full plant to check for water needs.

When you do water your Snake Plant it is best that you do not pour the water in the leaf rosette as it may cause them to rot. Water the soil only and use room temperature water.

Other Snake Plant Care

Snake Plant is a durable plant and high light is best to keep the foliage full. It will survive in lower light provided it is allowed to dry but will become thin and leggy over time. Temperatures should be kept above 50°F.

Snake plant has upright growth and a shallow root system and is best kept somewhat pot bound. It has thick rhizomes that store water for a long time. While you may be able to keep a Snake Plant that is in high-light slightly moist, in low light the roots will rot and the leaves will turn mushy and smelly. Low light will also lead to a thin, weak plant. You should err on the side of less water with this house plant. In winter months, you can allow to dry completely.

Snake Plant can be found in different sizes and colors. Some are shorter, with a rosette type of growth such as the Sansevieria ‘Hahnii’. Sansevieria ‘Superba’ is somewhat larger but with wider leaves than the taller varieties. The Sansevieria ‘Laurentii’ is the most common coloration. Snake Plant can be found with pale silver-green foliage as with Sansevieria ‘Moonshine’. The ‘Black Gold’ has a dark leaf center, almost black, with a gold leaf edge. The Sansevieria ‘Zeylanica’ is more of a light silver-green with darker cross bands or mottling of the leaf.

With the different growth types and unusual and beautiful colors, the Snake Plant has something for everyone who enjoys indoor tropical plants. And they are easy care, too! Keep your Snake Plant pot bound, don’t over water and place them in adequate light and they should be relatively trouble free.

If your Snake Plant does become root bound you can remove it from the grow pot and divide the plant to make smaller individual plants. Make sure when you do divide your Snake Plant that you plant the smaller plants into pots that fit them. Remember, Snake Plant is better pot bound. You can often place a cut leaf into moist sand or rooting media and get it to root and start a new plant that way. Have fun with your Snake plant.

While Snake Plant is usually about 2 to 3 feet tall, I have seen them at a height of 5 feet or more. This was a Snake Plant potted in a 14″ diameter grow pot in a very good light situation. It is unusual to see them that size indoors but it is possible to grow them that large.

Houseplant Care Question?

If you have questions about your indoor plants, you can send an indoor house plant question.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon as indoor house plant care information, pictures and more are being added all of the time. I hope that your tropical indoor house plants and all of your plants and flowers are happy, green and growing because that is why I started this site PlantAndFlowerInfo.com.

Indoor House Plants Care

Amazon Ads May Earn Commission – Thanks!

A Few Notes About Light for Houseplants

Plants require light to produce food. Outdoors that is not a problem but for houseplants light can be quite limited.

I recently did a search for “houseplant care” and was surprised to see that the top, non-paid search result defined high light for an indoor plant as any light for more than six hours a day. Here is a quote from that result – “Houseplants typically require high light (six or more hours a day), medium light (four to six hours a day), or low light (less than three hours a day).” This is simply bad, and incorrect, information.

That gardener’s path is incorrect and I hope that if you find that website you will go on to other results as the person running that site is just making stuff up. He may have a few houseplants, or perhaps not, but…

First and most important, no houseplant should receive light for less than eight hours a day at the minimum. That is if you want your houseplant to be growing, not dying. Your houseplant requires light to produce food to keep itself alive.

Light is measured in intensity and foot candles and lumens are used to describe the light intensity. I have a light meter that measures light intensity but you may not need this type of tool for your plants at home. The meter is much the same as one that a photographer might use to make sure photographs look their best. You may not use a light meter but it is a good idea to know about light intensity, how it is measured, and how important it is for a healthy, growing houseplant.

Low light, medium light and high light fall between 25 foot candles to 250+ foot candles. Low light is at the lower end of that measurement and high light at the upper end. As an example, I have a sliding glass door that faces to the north. The light meter gives me a reading of about 185 foot candles just inside the door on an overcast day. A perfect spot for most houseplants (except my pets would eat them), bright light no direct sun.

When I step back from the glass door about 5 feet, I get a reading of about 40 foot candles, on the same overcast day. When I step outside the glass door onto the patio, same overcast day, I get a reading of 360 foot candles. That is a big difference. Just a note, this picture is not where I measured the light levels. Although, it does show houseplants in nice lighting.

While you may not be able to measure the light intensity in your home, suffice it to say that providing medium to bright indirect light is going to be best for just about any common houseplant. Pick the brightest spot with indirect light. For the most part, your houseplant will not need direct sunlight. Indirect sunlight will be fine.

Duration is the length of time your plant is exposed to light each day. This is called the day length or photoperiod. The amount or length of time that houseplants require light is 8 to 16 hours a day. Medium to high light is okay for just about any houseplant for a minimum of 8 hours. That is if you want to keep them growing and looking good.

Light quality is the next consideration. Sunlight is composed of different wave lengths or colors. It has all of the colors, or light wave lengths, that plants require to survive, thrive, and grow. These colors are the light spectrum. You can see many of those colors in a rainbow. Some are more essential to plant growth (blue and red) and may not be present with some types of artificial light. So indirect sunlight is easiest and best for assuring your plants do well. And it doesn’t cost you anything. Use either lights made for growing plants or cool white fluorescent lights if “real” light is not available.

There are many things that affect the natural light indoors, like the size of your windows, the time of year, cloudy, overcast days and even lots of trees growing outside of your windows. Keep these things in mind as you find a well-lit place for growing your indoor houseplants! If you have any houseplant care questions, you can send them my way. Thanks for visiting www.PlantAndFlowerInfo.com