Wow -- that is one gorgeous Bantel's Sensation! I have about 12 different species of Sansevierias, but I admit, I have killed THREE Bantels to date and am reluctant to inflict damage on any more. Yours looks so healthy and beautiful -- it's literally bursting at the seams. Is that scoria you are top dressing with? I love scoria as a top dressing because it's so lightweight. I have a hard time lifting heavy pots, and scoria makes it easier. Anyway, Josh, LOVE that plant. Great job you did with it.

Thank you!

Yes, I not only top dress with scoria, but I also incorporate it into the mix directly. This is the only Sans. I've ever grown, however I've heard Bantel's are difficult. I just make sure that the potting mix is incredibly porous and well-draining, and then I water routinely, even during the Winter.

Josh

Very pretty, Josh. It looks like it's very happy in your greenhouse. :-)

Josh, I'm not trying to take this off topic, but I do have a question about the scoria. How do you get your pieces so small and usable? I bought a bag of "red lava rock" from Home Depot and culled out the pieces I wanted in the 1/2" to 1" range. But that left A LOT of big pieces. I tried backing over them with my car. That broke up a few pieces, but very few. I'm a senior citizen, don't think I'm strong enough to whack them with a hammer for a couple of hours. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

I'm not sure how effective it would be, but I've considered putting pine bark through an old used blender to get smaller pieces. I feel like the blades of a blender might not hold up too well against a lava rock but it may be a somewhat viable option.

Thanks, Rob. The only blender I have right now is a usable one, but if I can find a thrift shop one -- I might try it.

Let me know how we it works.

Hey, Robin! I actually buy scoria in small bags of the perfect size at a local nursery.

The product is from E.B. Stone.

Thanks Josh. It's beautiful. I know I can't get that where I live. I have looked everywhere. But now I'll check online. That looks like exactly what I want.

Robiswfl, I am also a senior citizen with disabilities but I found using a small sledge hammer best and then sweep up all the pieces. Not too easy but works. I have found that using poultry grit is the best I ever used. For sans I now go 25% grit.

Josh, I remember when you first got this. We had a contest with hijole (Greg). Stupid me living in Pa to go against Cal. I couldn't grow them past a year or two until I got a bunch of them on clearance at Lowes' and gave many away and they still keep growing great for me. They are in a peaty mix and water soaked right now and loving it. Don't do this during winter time.

Beautiful plant !! I'm jealous :)

Not growing as well for me this year but seeing many new pups coming up. I have to add more lights to my wintering space this time. They come out too beat up. With the cost of LED's coming down in price and much cheaper to operate than fluorescents. Also that pot was full of tiny black ants last year. I think they did something to help the plants. That was the best year I ever had with them. Sad to say, I killed them. No way was I going to bring a colony of ants into my basement. Maybe termites next? I get them in my old bags of mulch that I have left over from landscaping.

Hey, Stush! Yeah, it's fun to grow them in the greenhouse...I don't have to worry about them at all. Only problem now is repotting. Mine ripped a big hole in the plastic container, so now it's shooting out the side. I will cut it free in a month or two, but I like the look now.

Sad thing about Greg....he threw a tantrum on facebook and he blocked me. Really embarrassing for a grown man, and a religious man, to behave in such childish fashion. Oh well.

Josh

Sad indeed. Some times we type something that didn't come out so well and then someone takes offence. Seen it here very often. Hope you guys make up. I like both of you.

Not a chance, Stush, not a chance. Like I said, he blocked me, so there's no way that I can connect with him. I didn't write anything offensive. He had a succulent group, and he and Rosemarie had a tiff or something....he booted her, and I re-added her to the group so that she could remove her personal photos. That's what he got pissed about, nothing that I said or wrote.

Josh

Looks like a bigger pot is required. Seems they grow best if grouped together instead of separating them. Mine is picking right back up where it left off last year. When I winter it over, it gets a little beat up.

Shame about Greg. I was hoping he stuck around and maybe traded plants with me. I sent him a few and got hardly nothing in return. But I under stand some times.

At least your still around. Enjoy seeing your plants. Nice Jade collection.

Hello!

Well, that leaf that burst the pot is also blooming, and there's a second bloom within the pot. Can't wait until the flowers open and release their great scent!

Josh, can you get your hands on those big plastic hanging baskets? They make the prefect pot for sans. Rounded at the bottom so it directs stray rhizomes to go up instead of out. Large and shallow which is what they love. Mine are doing great this year.

Josh, do you know why the leaves on it didn't get as tall as the mom plant?

Nancy, That is a quark that a bloom stock came from a root rhizome. I had that happen to me last year on a S. Senegambica.

Stush, thanks! Your plants look great! And, yes, I do have rounded hanging pots - my Hoyas are growing in those, and I can get more. I was explaining to my brother in law how aggressive those rhizomes are, thus why the previous pots had all cracked.

Nancy, like Stush mentioned, that little shoot blooming is a bit of an oddity. When I repot the planting, I think the leaves will all expand to full size. Also, I haven't been watering or fertilizing as often.

Josh

Sorry Josh, With that bloom stock, it zaps the life out of that rhizome. Leaves will continue to live but almost all growth is done. It just might send out new rhizomes in the air around the base. That would be wild to see.

That'll be fine by me! I'm already running out of room!

Josh

Well it's been a few years, but never to late to revisit an older Thread.

I repotted the Bantel's finally in mid-April of last year, moved it to a larger container, and removed any exhausted/dead rhizome material. It had been languishing in the smaller ruptured pot, and drying out far too quickly. Now it seems to be pretty happy.

Looks great! Very full planting!

I can't wait to get mine back in order!

Josh

Wow @greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a and @st@Stush2049 Pitts. PA, zone 6 your bantel are wonderful, see my trifasciata bantel too

Surprisingly mine seem to do best when kept in a group planting. I like the looks of a full planter. When I first got mine and planted, I had the hardest time growing them.

Thanks, Gil!

Stush, I should be able to keep mine together for another year or two...basically until the rhizomes burst the container again.

Josh

Stush and greenman, i saw that the trifasciata bantel like dn't moisture, her to melt, i left the earth of pot dry,and left them in place dry and more warm

Gil, they don't like for their roots to be in soggy wet soil, but they do like moisture.

I have mine a very free-draining, porous mix, and I keep them moist at all times.

It is nice to see this revisited and updated, greenman28. I remember reading about Bantel's and your thread here, before I even got one. I was not looking for one, it just happened that there was one in a neglected mixed pot of Sans that I got .

Has this plant ever been finicky. It's been 2, near three years, and just now putting out leaves and finally, a pup. This plant looks shorter than many of the photos of BS that I see, though. It does seem to like a little more moisture than some of the others. I think I'm working out some of the 'keys' to keeping it happy.

The weed growing in there was once a big green afro. That's when the BS plant looked the happiest. I pulled a bunch out and let the rest dry. Now it is coming back. If it did not seed so successfully, I'd leave it alone.

Greeman i made a mix of fertilizer for my sansevierias too😄

@Shana Lee your sansevieria bantel is wonderful

Shana, glad you're still here!

I think the weed in your pot is Oxalis. It pops up in almost all of my containers, and all throughout my garden.

Josh

Since I switched to my own compost mix from my garden waist (grass clippings & maple leaves) I get tons of weeds popping up in my containers.

I know it was reported to be the wrong mix but my sans love it.

As to water. My Bantal's Sensation loves being wet and even soggy but only during the hot summer months. 6 months out of the year. Rest is best to keep on the dryer side. Once temps reach 90's it's soaking time.

Old formula is water plus cold equals death (rot) while water plus heat equals high growth.