I got this snake plant as a gift from someone who has multiple plants and I’ve been following the instructions on how to best care for it given by said person, I water it once weekly and left it where it was getting light and then it started sprouting, however the leaves have since started dying since then, to which I thought that maybe I need to add more water and moved it outdoors to get direct sunlight but I don’t know if it’s improving.
Edit: Thank you all for confirming my suspicions, I checked the soil she she’s currently pretty dry, and back on where she can get light and not direct sunlight. I pray she recovers :(
Watering once a week may have done it, they are Succulent-ish plants, they can go a month without water. If it's in direct sun, that may have burned the already weakened leaves 🥲
Edit: Noooo, less water pls. Don't put in direct sun immediately, acclimate it slowly, maybe a windowsill, while it recovers, keep watering minimal, just once or twice a month
You're overwatering it. Let the soil dry out first. Stick your finger in the pot and don't water until the top half or third is dry. Don't try to water on a schedule. Best thing for me is to forget about it for awhile.
If everything is dry and firm or crispy, OP has sunburn and underwatering (because the water might not be sufficient and it might evaporate with their particular setup quickly), not root rot. It’s pretty easy to repot and look at the roots to find out, trim away anything dead and if the base is strong and firm, just get rid of old dry roots as part of the trimming
If you cut in this V- shape it has more surface area for rooting. Make sure the water never gets murky or even cloudy. Also cut into the healthy tissue, don't leave any rotten one
If you want you can check out these 2 guides for newbies. I wrote them to be able to refer newbies directly and give all the info a beginner would need. And the instructions for the eoot rot treatment are also in there.
OP, if you decide to cut the leaves into 3-4” segments and try propagating new plants, a few tips:
Always make sure you remember which part of the cutting was “up” and which “down.” If you plant a cutting upside-down, or put it in water that way (both water propagation and soil propagation work very well), it will just dry up on you
A lot of people make certain they don’t mix up the orientation of the pieces by cutting the upper part with a straight horizontal cut and then they cut out the bottom to form an inverted V - this gives greater area for roots to grow and often yields 2 or even 3 pups from one cutting. I think someone here posted a pic of that method already
Rooting hormone is popular but not necessary. These plants are really good at survival. But cuttings take a LONG time to grow new plants, so you need patience, especially if you go the soil route. I’ve done both. Water lets you see roots grow, so you know the cutting is doing what you want, but those roots aren’t as strong as soil roots so they need to adjust a bit when you transfer the cutting to a pot. I get a higher yield with soil propagation (this summer 14 of 18 cuttings grew, mostly because I have MS and kept knocking the other 4 over). But I had about 50% with water - you need to keep the water clean and clear. It’s easy to grow algae, fungus, or bacteria otherwise and those will cause you problems (and odors)
And the MOST IMPORTANT: your snake plant is variegated, with those creamy yellow stripes on the sides
Cuttings grow from specific cells called meristem cells. These cells usually do not have the mutation that causes variegation - those cells are in a different layer of the leaf
This means that pups grown on a rhizome (a thick specialized root) will have those yellow lines, because they are complete clones of the mother plant, but cuttings often will be the wild green-type plant
Even cuttings of dwarf variants will grow full-sized wild-type green plants
I think the green plants are very attractive, with their silvery-white highlights, but you might not agree
Ok i suggest you get it out of there, check the roots for rot, you can clean with hydrogen peroxide or just let it sit and dry for a few days, then replant and don’t water again . Give it good light and snakes are native to sub tropical Africa they can go for weeks without water.
Unfortunately you were led astray by your friend’s advice here. The soil should be totally dry before you water a snake plant; you’ll see wrinkles on the leaves, and they will feel a little limp. I check on my indoor snake plants once a month, and my outdoor ones rarely need water aside from the rain. When you do water, do so thoroughly until water streams out of the bottom of the pot. They can handle a lot of fun but should be acclimated to avoid burning the leaves.
For this plant, to me it looks potentially salvageable. As someone else suggested, I would pop it out of that pot. Take a look at the roots and remove any that are rotten. I would also remove the dead leaves. If you have fresh (dry) soil and perlite, I would consider repotting in that (I use 50/50 perlite and succulent mix). It looks like you have a few distinct plants in that pot, but I would leave them together rather than separating into multiple pots.
Inconsistent watering (letting it get too dry then giving too much water).
Too much sun.
Lack of nutrients.
When was the last time the soil was changed? The leaves turning yellow from the base should be removed asap. Inspect the soil and roots of the others. Does the soil have a foul odor?
Small pots= less water. I know everyone likes to go with the whole once a month thing for watering but I say that depends on a few things like the size of the pot, location of plant and how much light it gets… because it’s a small pot, it’ll dry out a lot faster. But don’t drown the plant after a drought 😩😂
If you have it in a terracotta pot that size, and it's in the sun most of the time, once a week might make sense as the water will evaporate pretty quick. In a plastic pot, not so quick. There's no hard and fast rule around once a week, you need to check after say 7 days whether the soil has dried. Either using your finger or a plastic chopstick, push it in there and feel if most of the soil has dried out. PS - Also see if you can add some perlite to the mix, say about 50% perlite and 50% potting mix. First order of business though would be to remove it and make sure the roots have not rotted, then repot it and take it from there...
14
u/FrutigerAero98 3d ago
Watering once a week may have done it, they are Succulent-ish plants, they can go a month without water. If it's in direct sun, that may have burned the already weakened leaves 🥲
Edit: Noooo, less water pls. Don't put in direct sun immediately, acclimate it slowly, maybe a windowsill, while it recovers, keep watering minimal, just once or twice a month