It is depending the climat.
In our climat with not to high max temp but with many hours sun there is a high radiation factor.
This means that the outside of small pots, if the plants are separated a little bit, are exposed to high radiation levels.
This means that the temperatures raises to high levels and the roots (and plants) suffer and finally could die.
In bigger pots this temp. stress is less.
This year I lost some Sansevieria trifasciata 'Moonshine' due to this reason the 'Laurentii' suffered less.
So it would be an idea to avoid BLACK small pots and try WHITE small pots which a higher reflection.
Surely a smaller pot has a lower waterstoragecapacity than a bigger one.
But I would choose for a bigger pot, with good draining soil, with high oxygen levels (to avoid anaerobic rotting processes), and a regular soil climat.

I'm far from a Sans expert, but I do have a plant that's been around here for more than 20 years (S.t. 'Laurentii'--it's two plants now, because it has been divided) and a Hahnii type that I've had over 15 years, so I'll pretend that makes me qualified to offer my opinion. (I have half a doz or so that I've had for 2-3 years, and I guess if I was doing things completely wrong I'd kill them sooner than that.)
I'm always in the camp of "whatever works for YOU is the right way." I'm quite sure the guru in question does very well with his plants, but that doesn't mean his was is the only way, or even the best way for everyone. Besides our growing conditions, our care-taking style comes into play here. I personally like low maintenance - large pots with well-aerated, quick-draining mix. I have only had crowded Sans plants bloom, but probably because by the time they're well-established and mature, they've managed to get themselves crowded in whatever pot I initially provided. I water at my convenience (I hardly do anything on a schedule!) but of course that's taking into account what I think each plant needs. After it has been dry a little while, it gets more water- no particular day or time.
I start new plants in 4"-6" pots, and put tall mature ones in 10" to 14" (6-8" for small plants/Hahniis.) The largest I've had has been around 18"-20", but that just got a little bulky for me & I split it up when it split that pot.
I'll be interested to hear what the boys say.
Jover- In how much sun/shade do you grow your Sans?

Oh that poor guru, who shall remain anonymous. When he joined GW he knew nothing about sans. But, he asked questions--I got many emails, which I happily answered and he was very polite and thankful. I think he had some sort of problem that led to irrational outbursts of temper. Yet, he was mostly very positive and gracious. I don't know what was going on though. He learned very quickly and within a year was giving out good and thoughtful information.

I always "pot for the next growth'--as I have said any number of times. Sometimes that means using a wide bulb pan so the rhizome can send its new shoot up in the pot rather than through the drain hole or through the side of the now broken pot. But, when the plant isn't offsetting or5 making long fat annoying rhizomes, then it can be potted fairly tight (if space is an issue) or in larger pots to accomodate growth.

The key to their culture is: they rot when they are cool and wet. Indoors in a typical home or office, they will grow all winter. Said guru noticed that many of his sans were sending up new shoots in January, when other gurus were recommending total dryness. I agreed with him, that in his warm office, they should be watered, as they were still quite active. This is another of my reasons why I think sans like it indoors better than in other situations.

But, I once had space in a well heated greenhouse (60 min.) and the sans loved it. Boy did they grow well and fast. I propagated them and they were sold for the club and the arboretum. I had 45' of bench space of just sansevierias. Then the college decided they wanted the space back and our group had to move to unheated space behind the conservatory, where they still are. The sans had to be sold or given to the Bancroft Garden for their sales.

Norma, in Los Angeles had her sans outside, and they would rot if watered in winter--plus we Californians get our rain in our coolest months. So minimum and day temperature are key to how they should be potted. If they dry out quickly then they are using their water, so you can continue to water. If they stay moist for an extended period of time then watering should be much less often. Now, how they grow if Florida is a complete mystery to me--their version of the sub-tropical climate is so different from our California experience.

That sandy FL soil means lots of people there can grow Sans in ground. It'd be interesting!

Hi, I just grow my biggest plants in the soil f.e. Robusta and Stuckyi are doing perfect.
They stand the whole day in the full sun.
Then I have some in 35 cm pots and 25 cm pots also in the full sun.
The smaller plants I obtained last year I have them in 17 cm pots in a greenhouse under plastic which I painted a little bit white to reflect the sun.
I use 50% volcanic stone and 50% soil from the mountain mix with some bark and needles from trees.
But if they are a little bit bigger I will plant them all in the garden and keep some spare plants in pots.
I saw that in our climat the sansevierias are growing much better in the soil in the full sun than in a pot.
Last year I planted 3 halfsized stuckyi plants:
first one in a 35 cm pot with regular watering (at least ones a week)which has now 2 nice shoots.
second one in my garden left to the nature with an ocasional watering. This one also divided but the plant is much thinner and shorter.
And the third in the soil together with my strelitzia and I put 2 drippers next to the plant, which receives 3 times a week an irrigationgift. It is increidible how this one is growing. The stem has already 6 or 7 cm diameter, it made an other shoot and it seems to divide him self again. It is just a beauty.

I really not 'stirring' anything up. Since we are here, and have a limited topic to talk about, and new posts seem to lag some weeks, well, hey. It's a question that has been on my mind!

I am going to post some pictures of my main plant. I haven't whipped out the tape measure, but I am pretty sure it is in a 16 inch pot. It has been there going on four years (after looking at the pics, I can track back to when my front room looked like that...) You can see that the pot has filled in, as time passes, by the pictures.

S. trifaciata, 16 inch pot
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The first year, after being in the 16 inch pot. You can see it grew a lot, compare to first picture.
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The first year it was in the 16 inch pot
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Wow, when you imbedd pics you can't go back and edit! So. Pic one, four years in pot. Pic two, two years in pot. Pic three, first year in pot. Don't mind what I said in the captions, I was mistaken!

Guess I should take this years photo, since they all seem to be done around the same time.

My disclaimer is that I am NO expert! That being said, here is what I have found:
I tend to keep my sans trifaciata's in low light situations. This is mostly becuase I can, and have a lack of other plants that will put up with that sort of situation. I have lost a couple over time, and think I have discovered myproblem.
I wait for them to go completely dry when they are in low-low light, as opposed to almost dry in low light. I also pot in terra cotta for the sans in lower light (well all my sans are now in terra cotta).
In plastic, I think there is not enough air circulation and the plastic retains water too long. I have found that my sans that have lived in low light situations in plastic didnt live too long at all, they all ended up rotting. In terra cotta, they live fine in low light, for many years. I have been growing sans for maybe 3 years now? I had 3 rot in plastic before I switched them all over.
Just my experience, like I said, not claiming expert status here!
Theresa

Another NO EXPERT here. I used to correspond with the above mentioned Guru, never had any problems, always good advice. I still have a couple of sans from him. Now, speaking of sans, I can not keep any hahnii type alive. No matter what I do, they die. But my other sans, which I have total of only 6 different varieties, doing good so far, or at least still alive. Some in plastic, some in clay. I do let them dry pretty much before watering. They all, except the new and the biggest one (plain green tall one in 12" plastic pot from HD) planted in Jerry Barad mix, which I got from the great nurcery in PA (was suggested by the same person), which is very porous. I water them all about every 2 weeks. Big one - once every couple of month, but it is in the humid bathroom with low light. I do use moisture meter to make sure it is dry and stick it in a few places, very deep down.
Same goes for my ZZ plants.

I've been wondering about optimum pot size for some of my planst for a while now.

I grow mostly species Sansevieria, and some of them have massive rhizomes that can get pretty long (like S. hallii or S. masoniana). I don't want to be stingy with the pot size, but I'm afraid to pot on for the next growth. My S. masoniana can get a rhizome 8" long, so it will grow against the side of the (distorted) pot no matter what I pot in, unless I pot up more than 4 pot sizes (and I'm already in a 12" pot).

I took a chance with the S. hallii thios year anr repotted from a 6" tall (tom) pot into a 12" regular clay pot. I know that it will take some time for the roots to fill the pot before any shoots appear, but something should happen by mid-summer 2004.

I will be very careful with water and temperature this winter (as I am every winter), and we'll see what happens.

I have the same question with my S. cylindrica which is flowering now. I've had it a few years, and it is growing a really nice shoot since late winter last year that is already larger than the flowering parent plant (still attached). This is in a pot that is too small in my opinion - the plant needs to be delicately balance to keep from toppling, but it will have to wait for warm weather for the move.

Joe 'always curious' DeRosa

Hi Joe, your comments are interesting. You must have just posted as I was reading this thread and then after I returned to the main page, I saw that there was another post and came back to read it.

Yes, there is a risk when potting up to allow for the new growth. I think adjusting your watering and being careful is the best advice. I was just thinking of another approach for someone who really doesn't want big mature growths. I "think" I heard or have actually done this, but now I am having trouble remembering, that a rhizome that is fairly far along, can be removed and potted with the tip just under or at the surface of the soil, to get it to grow into a new growth. That new growth would probably be small but not distorted.

I find cylindrica to be a very forgiving plant. You could repot it now, since, I assume, you are growing it indoors, where it would be fairly warm. You could simply pot it into a bigger pot without disturbing the rootball, so that it has an extra inch all around. I find that sans are busy growing roots and rhizomes in winter. By the way, if you have some older leaves on cylindrica that you don't like or can remove, they root and make the neatest little plants--with a perfect miniature fan of cylindrical leaves. One leaf can produce a half dozen or more plants. I pot them up singly for gifts or to donate to plant society sales. Or, I just keep one or two around to enjoy. Cylindrica is slow to reach its final mature form. I have a very old but underpotted, and under watered plant but I see it making a new type of foliage--big fat single leaves or pairs of leaves that stand fairly upright, rather than the spreading fan of leaves.

Jon

I keep my Sans outdoors during the summer, with full morning or dappled afternoon (partly shaded by a tree) sun. During cooler weather, they live indoors in full western lighting. My Sans do just fine and keep growing wonderfully. I keep my house cool during the winter (I'm cheap), so I only water maybe once a month, when potting mix gets very dry. I admit to somewhat neglecting my Sans as many of my other plants require much more TLC. I've had my Hahni for a few years, and it has grown tremendously. My old 'Laurentii' - can't remember how long it's been around, probably at least ten years, maybe more. I know I haven't had it as long as my Pothos, which has lived with me almost 30 years (my first plant).

I always repot up a size or two. I had to repot my 'Laurentii' this spring because she was literally busting from her pot. I had been putting off repotting it until after I moved. I wasn't sure the pot was gonna survive until then, but it did. Strained a back muscle moving her around, she's getting heavy as she ages!

Vera, I finally learned to place my 'birdnest' types out of casual watering range. Since I am a big underwaterer, thus explaining my success with cactus & succulents, I find this a stretch. On average, my 'birdnest' type gets a good soaking about every 5 weeks. It is waaaaaay over in a corner, that I have to purposefully direct water into.

I just bought one today, don't have pics yet. Mostly a week of exploding cars & motorcycles. Oh, and the Ant Invasion... I will try for photos tomorrow.

Jon,
One of the problems I have with my Sansevieria is that I want to have mature growths on them. I have been trying for years to get my planst large enough to show mature form, and now that I am almost there (on some of the larger types) I have the problem of pot size.

How can I get mature undistorted growths from my S. cylindrica (the parent plant is almost 4' tall, with 7 or 8 leaves a full inch thick) when the plant is in an 8" clay pot? How large a pot can I really keep one of these in without having winter problems (my plant room is cool in winter - maybe 55F at night).

I'm starting to run into problems with the number of species I can maintain. Every time I repot one of the plants (without splitting it), I lose more space. I have to keep a very careful watch on what I bring in as each plant is growing larger. But this is where I get my trading material from. Of course, this just changes the problem from year to year...

Joe "it's always something" DeRosa

You're good, Joe. I wish I could contain myself so well as you do. I always seem to find space for everyone though. Who needs a kitchen table anyway?

Leslie

Unfortunately I had the room, a long narrow living room with east facing picture windows along the long wall. So now I have run out of energy to water all my huge plants. It takes about ten to twelve trips to the sink to fill a 2 gallon watering can, just for this room alone. So growing your sans on to maturity is a problem. My cylindrica is underpotted in a twelve inch pot. I did overpot a few plants though--phillipsae isn't doing much growth in a huge pot with enough room for new shoots to come up, if they only would. I think one solution is, as I said, to always grow your plant for the next growth, and to remove the oldest growth so that you only grow one to three growths at a time, and use the older portions for trading or giving away. When some species get really big they do well in a regular 5 gallon black nursery pot, which are taller than they are wide. I suggested this to a friend who grew metallica. It did very well and grew very tall leaves (5 feet tall, I think?) and huge floral spikes with hundreds of buds. My plant outgrew an 8 inch pot in just a few years. I have a weedy semigambica in a 5 gallon pot. It finally looked good after always looking ratty and weedy in smaller pots. Then it popped a hole through the side of the 5 gallon tub, and a rhizome grew out about 18 inches, landed in the saucer of another sans and is now growing its second growth rooted into that pot through the drain hole. This is not a species I recommend unless you are one who has to have every one.

Jon

That's funny, Jon. Did you take pictures of your errant Sans? It's amazing how strong and persistent they are to break through a pot. Some of my large Philos like to sneak their roots into other pots while I'm not paying attention. They can harm the other plant, so I must be diligent and keep them contained.

Leslie

Oh, that "guru" was the best! He still keeps in touch with me. I believe he still has many sans, but had to sell some before making a major move. He tells me that he remembers Vera, Cena, Jon, and especially Karen so fondly.

But, yes, pot bound is the way to go. If you would like a more aesthetically pleasing look, just sink the smaller pot in a larger decorative one.

"Now, how they grow if Florida is a complete mystery to me--their version of the sub-tropical climate is so different from our California experience."

I have quite a few sanseverias, both in the ground and in pots. I don't know the varieties I have. The ones in pots are variegated and I love their "architectural" look. The ones in the ground are not variegated and they've grown quite large and dense. I "inherited" the ground plantings when I bought homes with them already in the garden.

Here in Florida, the rule pretty much is "don't plant them in the ground." I know this will sound like heresy, but here they grow and spread so fast and are so hard to control that they're considered pest plants. The best way to treat them is to put them in pots. In fact, I'm getting ready to have to eradicate a couple of beds of them that have just gone out of control at one of my houses.

As far as care, they thrive on neglect here in our sandy soil, which drains well. I don't do anything to them. I mean, nothing. No supplemental watering, no fertlizer, nothing. They thrive equally well in the blazing sun or in the shade. The plants I put in pots become root bound in no time because they grow like crazy. I'm currently dividing up some root bound 15 gal pots of variegated ones right now that were just tiny plants 2 years ago. All of mine are starting to bloom right now, both potted and in-ground ones.

I hope nobody takes offense to this post because I know you are all fans of this plant. These truly are some of the easiest plants to grow here but most people in FL don't like them because of their invasive nature and the difficulty in removing them once they've spread. I know a lot of people who consider them "ugly," but I'm not one of them. I really like the way they look. I just don't like digging up ginormous beds of them.

I think root/pot bound is the best situation for a majority of houseplants, as they will probably not stay wet long, and push more energy into growing foliage rather than developing root systems, and considering the problem of overwatering that a lot of people run into, pot bound is the way to go. I don't overwater, and so I don't really worry about using larger pots than you might consider normally. I use a well draining mix and bare clay pots and they dry out just fine, even indoors which is usually pretty cool.

Josh

Hi all,

I was just re-reading this thread & discovered something interesting. JonD had discussed "...older leaves on cylindrica that you don't like or can remove, they root and make the neatest little plants--with a perfect miniature fan of cylindrical leaves."

I was checking the plants having just read this & realized I have one of these. As a matter of fact Jon, it's from the late Stan S.'s collection which seems to have been spread & shared around over the last couple of years. I remember someone had brought in a cylindrica of his & I took the very smallest leaf I could find hoping to grow it but keep it small.

It turns out exactly as JonD said, perfect, small miniature cylindrica 4 leaf fan w/ 2 tiny out leaves. The whole thing is 6-8" tall. I think it's charming.

As to the topic at hand, I don't pay much attention to pot size (but don't have some of these large plants other folk do). My only considerations are pots often taller than wide to combat the topheaviness (sp?) Sans can get.

I also got into the habit of growing on single leaves in tall, clear plastic cups (in C&S mix w/ pumice). This way I'll be able to see when the roots start threatening to break out of the cup. I've got a Canaliculata leaf w/ a 2" sprout, a leaf of some unknown Baseball Bat (ridged) type & another tall rosette type all in these cups. So far so good.