I've made a mistake! I'm caring for my friend's snake plant for the holidays and as 'payment' for it, she said I can have the pup that had sprung up next to the plant (provided that I could detach it properly). Without knowing what I was doing, I removed the pup from its mother, but it doesn't yet have a good root system. In an attempt to root the plant, I put it in shallow water, below the plant's leaves, and waited to see what would happen. I read that changing the water every couple of days should prevent the plant from rotting instead of rooting, but this afternoon I found that what little root system the plant had had rotted off (granted, the pup only had two small roots to begin with.) The pup now has no roots and not a lot of base below the first leaves. Where should I go from here? The leaves seem healthy and they are still in a sturdy rosette. Is there a way to root a pup without it rotting? Here are some pictures of the pup. There were some small leaves at the base that were rotted, so I removed them. What's left looks healthy (to my uninformed eye.) What's the best way to root this little guy? And should I cut off the last bit of brown at the base of the plant first? Here are some of the options I've found so far: 1.) Rest the base of the plant in water for a day or two at a time, letting it dry out in between to prevent rot. 2.) Just repot it and water normally and roots will grow on their own. I'm not sure what to trust, since the last thing I tried from googling around resulted in this whole problem. Any help would be much appreciated!
No, don't start with water. Sand that you wet from time to time seems like the solution. Also, you may need to slice up the leaf a bit. See: Sansevieria (Snake Plant) - Plant Palette - University of Illinois Extension serving Dewitt, Macon and Piatt Counties And Plant Propagation | Cooperative Extension: Garden & Yard | University of Maine (for the latter, scroll down to Leaf Cuttings -> Leaf Sections).
