Usually rotting is the result of too wet of soil promoting fungal diseases. Mine can take being bone dry for weeks. The newer growth being solid green points to too little light. They are very tough plants, but in difficult growing locations, they will survive better if you have two plants; one in a better suited location, with which you can switch, so they each have some time to regain energy. And don't overwater them. (Although you can safely water more frequently than I do mine.)

Does the container have drain holes? If not, it needs them.

I'm not sure if that soil is the best either. A good mix is 50% potting soil, 50% pumice or perlite. That will not remain as damp over time, something succulents prefer.

I water mine once per month. Fill a 16 oz water bottle and dump it all in. It's been doing great for as long as I had it...about 9 years.

From what I see (and that's not much). I think your plant could be toast. Too much water and wrong soil?? Like Karen said, take it out of it's pot and let it dry out and inspect the damage. It may be too rotted. You could cut off all the rot off those stems you showed and put in pure perlite or stones and once in a great while give it some water but not on it but just the moisture on the stones. In about a few months new roots will appear then some new shoots producing new plants. Then pot up in cactus soil.

Forgot to add, let the cut ends on the leaves heal (dry) before inserting in the mix. It takes a few days to do.

Sorry, but we can't tell how big pot that is, so 16 oz of water, to what size plant doesn't tell us much. Do you water 'til it comes out the bottom?

Once a month watering seems pretty spare, something else is going on to cause that rot.

Again we can't see enough to tell; can't see the pot, the soil, what kind of soil it is.

Personally I doubt I'd try to root the rotted leaves, you'd have to cut 1/2 the leaf off at least & plants propagate better from healthy leaves, not so damaged.

Pls. do answer if you've got it potted in a pot within another pot, that's key for us to understand the problem.

If you've still got the plant, I'd remove it from the double pot now; otherwise, in a little while the whole thing may collapse.

So strange. I too have an older Snake Plant. I went away for 10 days and came back to mine falling all over and the out side stems a rotting mess. I had repotted it recently. I wonder if the new soil caused this.

Hi Kate,

Pls tell abt the repot - had you taken all the old soil off? Did you water it right after repotting? What kind of soil did you switch it to?

Kate, new soil can't cause rot. That's why Karen is asking more questions. It had to be over watering or too soon watering while there was some damage to the roots after re-potting.

Yes, the soil was extremely wet when I got home. Apparently this new soil doesn't dry out easily... it was just organic potting soil. And yes, this was a pot inside a pretty catchpot. I pulled the whole plant this morning and found all the oldest leaves totally rotted at the base. I have another that is laying all over too; I will have to check that out later. RATS!

Sorry to say Kate that potting soil is too water retentive for Sans plants. One needs to make the soil faster draining w/ either Perlite or Pumice, usually 50% added to any Cactus & Succulent mix (so you're mixing equal parts of each, the perlite/ pumice & the C&S soil.)

Thx for explaining what kind of soil & that it was double potted, unfortunately, that can amplify the condition of staying too wet.

Had you taken off the old soil when you repotted? I ask as that too can be issue, leaving it on sometimes makes drainage problems w/ the new soil.

Don't mean to swamp you w/ questions, it's just that too wet is really the only way to kill these otherwise almost indestructible plants (but I've done it too, so I DO understand).

We all have done it. It is called the school of hard knocks.

I seem to be having "too much water" issues with all sorts of pots out-of-doors too. See what happens when I go away for 10 days.

Q. The other pot is always dry; apparently it has the proper soil. But it is laying all over the place. Upon checking it out I find that this is happening wherever a new baby plant is coming up next to a big leaf. Is this normal?

No, something else is happening. Pictures?

The new growth could be related--just opposite from what you seem to assume. It could be the plant trying to save itself with new growth, after the mature leaves can no longer sustain the plant.

The biggest leaves are very long. I wonder if the weight is just too much. I checked and there isn’t any rot, nor is the soil wet. I remember people having huge plants but they were always in a heavy, deep pot/urn. I wonder if there was method to their ‘madness’. The deeper pot would help hold the long stems upright.

No, it's not normal. I've seen some pretty tall Sans & they're always upright. Agree w/ Stush, SOMETHING is going on, won't you pls share pix???

Deeper pots can be a mixed bag, if one changes the depth at which Sans are planted, that can cause rot problems, so I don't know how folks manage that.

Stush, my sense is you grow much bigger, taller Sans than I, what do you think pls about deeper pots?

Pls tell how you're determining if the soil is wet, something here just doesn't add up.

My tall sans are in about 8" deep pots due mostly because that's what I could find. Sans roots mostly don't go that deep. They like to spread out. Confined to a pot, some do. Deep pots are hard on the roots due to less air causing rot. or less growth.

Only two main reasons cause tall leaves to fall over. Over water or lack of water. Lack of water takes several months or more, so I base my reason on too much water. There are also some other factors like sudden temp change like a cold dwarf, exhaust from a hot blast. Accidental poisoning. Can't think of anything else right now.

In my big pots, I fill the bottom half with gravel, not so much for drainage but more air circulation around the bottom roots. The added weight gives stability to the pots keeping them less likely to fall over.

I'm afraid it isn't a very good photo, but you can still see my problem.

Stush, too dry might be my problem here. The leaves appear to be healthy, just not upright.

Is that an example of the amount of light it receives? It appears to be next to a patio door, but there is shadow from a patio cover on the concrete. Depending upon the house direction in relation to the sun throughout the day, does it gets more light at other times of the day? I mentioned in my first post about light amounts and it seems to have just been blown off. But there is only so much even these tough plants can take.

You should be able to recover every rotted leaf as a new plant...if you're looking for positive news. I have picked up sanseveria leaves off the ground at the nursery and made new plants out of them.

gyr, that is all the light it ever gets, and, yes, I did miss the light part in your first post.

How long has it been it that place? If under lower light, you see stretching and whitish new growth and old growth turns very dark. Which will weaken the leaves and make them droop. Why not put it on the patio? Bright light but not direct sun. At this stage, the best you could do is try to slip something like a tomato cage over them to keep them upright. In better conditions they will slowly recover.

Pardon me, but I'm still asking how are you assessing when to water, by feeling the top couple of inches of soil w/ your fingers? If so, that no indication of what's going on down below at the bottom of the pot.

Here it's often suggested that one use some kind of wooden dowel, stick, stake, bamboo, wooden chopstick, even a pencil pushed all the way down to the bottom of the pot to check for moisture. When removed, if stick comes out dry & clean, one can water, If it comes out damp to your touch, or w/ soil on it, there's still moisture there, so wait another couple of days to water & then check again. Is your soil crumbly or hard to the touch?

From your description of leaves laying down, I expected to see much worse.

Had you removed all the old soil when you repotted? I keep asking these questions as these factors can each make the difference.

Karen et al:

This large plant - in the photo - isn't the one that rotted and has never been repotted;

The soil is very loose and fluffy, and the top 2 " of soil is very dry, below that is damp; This plant's watering gets sorely neglected;

The plant has been in this spot for years;

The leaves are variegated, and there is lots of new growth.

The bathroom plant just plain rotted from being too wet; it was not "neglected'... unfortunately.

BATHROOM plant, I don't recall / didn't notice mention of that. It's probably too damp in a bathroom for a Sans. The humidity there will likely impede it drying out & that could have led it to rot.

A bit confusing btwn the 2 plants, but if the remaining one has never been repotted, I'd unpot it to at least check the roots. If they look good, maybe even give it new mix (50/50 C&S mix & Perlite or Pumice, whichever you can get). I'm guessing better drainage will help it stay upright.

Thanks for the helpful. I'll post pics soon. My soil was wet about 2-3 inches below the surface. I had no idea I was over watering it since when I stuck my finger into the soil it felt really dry.

I removed 5 rotted looking leaves from the root. I will buy some perlite and give and update this weekend.

And It's in the original plastic pot. I pit that pot in decorative wicker basket. When I water it, I remove it from the wicker basket and water it under the sink until water comes out the bottom. I leave it on a glass table in front of a west facing window until the next day. Then I put it back in the wicker basket in an area that gets indirect light (north facing window). Every other day day I put the plant in front of the west facing window.

easy fix-It needs some good potting mix and a lot less water.