So I was watering the good old Snake Plant (it's been a while, it doesn't want much water at all these days), and what do I see? A tiny little bit of bright geen sticking out of the soil! Since they're pretty tough leaves and there was no way I could damage anything, I pushed little bit of soil out of the way, and there it was: a little Snake Plant pup of a third or an inch tall already! What a strange and random time for it to make a pup, now that it's getting colder and it gets less light. Now, when I was pushing away the soil, I noticed that the plant has become incredibly root bound. There wee even roots almost wound around the little baby plant! Sooo... I'm guessing it's time to repot. If it wasn't for the baby, I might wait for spring, since I didn't expect any significant growth over winter, and I hear Sansevieria trifasciata does okay being root bound, at least fo a while. But I swear, the baby wasn't there a month ago! Or at least it wasn't sticking out of the soil yet, heh. So I'm guessing I should repot soon, right? The plant is in a 6 inch pot right, with only about an inch between plant and the outside of the pot. So I'm guessing an 8 inch is appropriate. Also, I've heard people say they never feed their Sansevieria, including not giving them any kind of soil that has nutrients in it. I'm using miracle grow potting soil. I'm guessing that should be okay.... can't really go wrong with that stuff. But what do you think about that whole no feeding thing? Any truth to that? Another concern: is the pup old enough to be separated? It looks pretty robust, but it's a stupid time to repot, I know. But I don't want it to get killed by strangly roots! So, what do you think? Thanks for your help!!! If I repot, I'll post pictures of the little guy, right now I can't get a good angle on him. =) (The funny thing, I have been trying to propagate from a leaf cutting, which has done nothing buy sit there for weeks.... and now the plant's decided to make a baby. Ha!)
Hi Frauleinlayla, Congratulations on your new 'pup'. This site is The Sansevieria Book and has loads of great info about these plants. Unfortunately it's not in color. If you scroll down to their page 61 you'll find some good info on 'culture'. If you continue to scroll down to page 65 you'll find great info on 'propagation'. http://www.endangeredspecies.com/Projects/Sansevierias/Text/Book.pdf One other note about Miracle Gro potting soil. Most of their bags of soil contain slow release fertilizer, so be aware that the plant will be getting fertilized as soon as you repot for at least 3 months. Newt
This is actually a very 'normal' time of year for them to offset. I wouldn't repot, if I were you. Also wouldn't detach the offset until it 'resembles' it's mother plant more closely ('til it's about 5-6" tall, IMHO) and has a good root system of it's own.
Thanks a lot to both of you for your replies! The book was really helpful! And namawa, yeah, you're probably right about not separating the baby! My problem is: the pup really doesn't have the space in the current pot to grow that tall... there isn't much spac between the mother plant and the pot at all. And like I said, it's completely pot bound. Do you think I might want to wait until spring and repot them then, without separating the baby? I doubt it's gonna be very tall by then, and I can just not disturbe the root system much at all and put them in a slightly larger pot. Would that work? Thanks for your help!
I think that will work. If you're growing it in a plastic pot...that baby will *make* room for itself to grow up, really! If you're growing it in a clay pot and the offset continues to grow...it just might crack the pot.
Haha, it IS in a plastic pot, and the pot has a half inch crack in he top rim near the pup... I neve even made the connection, heh. Those things are strong!!
lol...hope your pot 'holds out' until then! It probably wouldn't hurt to repot into a *slightly* larger pot now. Just be sure you use a good fast-draining potting mix. I have to say, I probably would if it were me. I think it'll be OK as long as you don't disturb the roots too much. I've repotted many plants in the fall, usually after I bring them in from the outdoors and they absolutely need a larger pot.
I'm thinking the same as Namawa. Maybe a pot 2" larger until the pup is bigger would be a good idea now. Since the current pot is split, the soil will dry faster and the roots near the split might dry faster too. Newt
Alright guys, I'll repot into 2" larger this week. =) I never really buy plastic post, but it kind of sounds like I might want to consider another plastic pot for now, especially if I might want to repot again in spring. What do you think? I really don't want to risk a burst pot. The mother plant is a REEEALLY slow grower, but the little guy seems to have grown since I last posted! Also, I lifted the rootball out of the pot before I watered it (it was pretty much completely dry), and it looks like the rhizome under the pup went around the pot quite a bit before emerging in the new offshoot! It's really thick and strong, about the thickness of my little finger (almost the thickness of the pup itself). Thanks for your guys' help and suggestions! I'll definitely post pictures when I repot!
Whoa.... I haven't managed to repot yet, as I've been sick this past week and haven't gotten around to buying a new pot, and the little guy has grown so much!!!! He is now about 2 and a half inches tall! He's growing a few millimeters each day (I'm originally from Germany, so I measure him in centimeters anyway, hehe), which is so crazy! His mom is SUCH a slow grower! So, can I basically expect the plant to put all growth energy into the new pup? In the book Newt linked me to it said that a pup will grow taller than he parent, then produce another pup, which will again be taller. If I understood it right, this only happens, if you keep them all attatched, though (by separating them you keep them in the juvenile state... right?). I think I'll keep all of mine attatched and see how big I can get them, haha!
Frauleinlayla, Sorry to hear you were sick. I hope you are feeling better now. As to whether you repot now or later and separate the pup(s) or not is really a personal preference. The pup will take the energy from the parent if it's still attached. When mine start to bust out of their pot is when I repot. If I don't have a pot big enough then I separate them. I'd say to go with what the book recommends and what pleases you. Of course you can let the mother make lots of pups over the course of a year or so and then separate some of them to have more plants. Newt
Just came across this forum tonight. Thank you for the good information! I had planned to separate my 3 pups this weekend but on second thought I'll just be repotting the whole deal :)
