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Snake plant very thin

6 years ago

any idea why this snake plant is not growing wider?? some leaves are super thin, not wide at the bottom... i grew these ones from cuttings... some are wide but clearly the taller leaves are thin at the base

Comments (15)

  • 6 years ago

    Give it significantly brighter light and see if that makes a difference. It will have to be in the new spot long enough for additional leaves to have been produced before you will be able to see any improvement that might have occurred.

  • 6 years ago

    I don't think your Sansevieria looks bad, just a little weak. Sansevierias of all kinds CAN live in low light -- but they can also thrive in better light....bright, indirect light (like a back screened porch so they are not in direct sun). I live in FL and have about 6 different varieties of Sans, and some of them get bright afternoon Florida sunlight, and do well.


    I would also consider modifying your soil. It's hard to tell WHAT is in the pot, but it looks like you maybe top-dressed with pea gravel of some kind??? I have tried a lot of different mixes. Many people here grow Sansevieria in gritty mix -- which doesn't include C/S soil. There IS a Sansevieria forum (it's pretty quiet right now, but you can still find it and do a search). You can search THIS forum or the Sans forum for a guy named Stush, who is a real expert on Sansevieria. I know right now he is using homemade compost for his Sans and reporting fabulous results.


    I myself use a C/S soil and washed pumice. It's about 60/40 pumice over soil. If you cannot get pumice, you can buy bagged perlite, but you need to SIFT it and wash it or else it will clog up your entire mix. Finally, make sure your pot has adequate drainage at the bottom -- critical.


    Good luck. I don't think your plant looks bad, and with a little nurturing, it will improve I'm sure.

  • 6 years ago

    I use very gritty mix, mostly mix of grit ad perlite in about same amounts. Few pots have some soil in, but no more than about 10-20% of total. I also use top dressing of gravel, few have pea gravel just because I had some leftovers.

  • 6 years ago

    i just find odd the fact that is so thin at the base, usually the ones i see are wide at the base, so made me think there was something wrong

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I posted response twice, and it was erased for some reason...this is 3rd try:

    I do not have same sans so can't judge. I have few different ones, closest to yours would be Moonshine.

    Did you grow yours from a leaf cutting or from an offset?

    I have several divisions from original plant. Here is a pic of one I divided on July 7th/2020:


  • 6 years ago

    Continue from above:

    As you can see (from photo above), two more mature plants were separated/cut. One on right was potted, left one I gave away. There is another small offset growing from roots of the plant on right, not visible in the photo. I potted them in gritty mix, in a square plastic pot. All were outside until recently, getting full sun until about noon. After, it was more dappled because of a large birch tree. They were rained on or watered when dry. Here they are today:

    The growth is more compact and leaves more wide than yours - I don't know if that is because it is different san, or another reason.

  • 6 years ago

    from leaf cutting

  • 6 years ago

    Sans. started from leaf cuttings usually reverts back to it's main parent origins. So your plants are S. trifasciata. They are know to grow up to 4 feet in good conditions.

    Rina's plants are from rhizome cuttings and stay the same as the plant it came from. Her's are S. trifasciata futura 'Moonshine'. If started from stem cutting, they it would be S. t. futura or all green with wider growth and not getting much more than 15 inches.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    when the leaf produces new pups they take awhile to mature. and they are mostly very thin like yours. it is best to divide them allowing 5 shoots to remain connected: they grow faster and produce fatter shoots.

    but low light will definitely produce weaker growth with thin stems at the bottom.

    i grow mine either in part-sun indoors or put it out on N-NE very bright shallow balcony for summer. It immediately improves the growth to more stout pups and longer wider leaves.

  • 6 years ago

    Maybe it also depends on which sans you have. I divided Moonshine few times, never more than a plant with 0, 1 or 2 offshoots starting to grow. From original pot with few neglected plants, I have now 6 pots and gave away 3 larger divisions. Smallest pot is 5" square in photos in my previous post, that was divided July 7/2020. You can see size of offshoots then, today they are 5" and 6.75" tall from the soil line - I think that is good growth, in just few months:

    I had done similar dividing in summer of 2019 - there were 2 plants potted in 7" round pot. Today, there are 4 of almost same size, and the pot is bulging on opposite sides - that means at least 2 offshoots are going to pop out any time. Pot is also starting to crack from that pressure. Not sure if you can see the bulges, I tried to draw arrows:

    There are also 2 larger, 10" pots that are pretty crowded.

    I have cylindrica that is growing too vigorously too. OTOH, Jade Dwarf is growing slower, and after dividing original pot, couple didn't make it. But I still have 3 pots and they are growing and looking well.

  • 6 years ago

    OP was asking about regular S. trifasciata. that's the one i was referring to.

    of course, different varieties exhibit different patterns of growth. many are bird's nest: fat low leaves. Moonshine is one of them.


  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I do not know much about sans. I am not sure what size do you consider to be fat, low leaves. Moonshine, while it doesn't grow as tall as 'regular' trifasciata, doesn't seem to have low leaves. Most of mine have leaves wider than I see on regular trifasciata, and are over a foot long/tall (30-35 cm). I didn't think that is low growth - but I could be wrong? Jade Dwarf does. IMO, that is bird's nest type of growth, as hahniis seems to have. Pls. correct me if wrong.

    Pencil shaped leaves of cylindrica are much longer. My oldest cylindrica (approx. 7yrs) has many between 30 - 35" (75-88 cm) long and arching.

  • 6 years ago

    From what I have learned on this forum (Sansevieria) that Sans. trifasciata comes in three major sizes. The birdnest group or hahnii, the medium group which is futura and the large growing that just caries it's cult. name. Moonshine as I stated above is under the futura group. Check out this site for cuttings and what they return to stay as;

    https://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/foliage/folnotes/sansevie.htm

    It is out of date some what but is still a valuable source for getting started.

    Most Sans books are out of print and extremely expensive now.

    Some can be found on line as e-books and copied cheaply or free.

  • 6 years ago

    Stush

    Thank you for confirming, that is what I thought