How can we save snake plant from dying?

Snake plant is one of the easiest indoor plants to grow, making it popular with homeowners. Also known as the snakeskin or mother tongue, the snake plant has a reputation for being almost destructive.

It is the ultimate set-it and forget-it indoor plant, making it attractive to beginners and experienced gardeners.

Snake plant is known scientifically as sansevieria, has been relatively recently reclassified into the genus dracaena, much to many people's dismay.

Though humans have a short-term memory over the last 250 years or so, these plants have been placed into the genus of cordyline ascent Sansa viremia and Sansa Verena.

Before them being established in san severe in 1905, so the fact that there are now in dracaena is kind of like an old hat for them.

It has long, tall, pointed leaves that stand upright; hobby gardeners often report that the leaves of their snake plants tip over and look limp.

Snake plants are also called mother-in-law's tongue succulents, meaning they store water in their leaves and rhizomes, which are a kind of thick root.

Placement

This plant could be placed anywhere in your home. The only place that you shouldn't put it somewhere it gets direct sunlight all day.

If you are located in the northern hemisphere, you shouldn't keep your snake plant in the southern facing window, where it gets a lot of sunlight.

It will survive that spot; however, all of that burning sun all day long will start to hammer on that cuticle (protective waxy covering on the leaves) will be thinner.

And eventually, you will see that the whole plant will start to get pale and begin to lose its color. It will still be alive, but it will not be looking like you wanted it to look. It will look sad.

Otherwise, you could place it anywhere. You could also put this plant inside of a room where you get almost or a little light. That works as well.

The big difference is that the more light you give this plant, the more it will grow and feel better.

Like any other plant, snake plants can succumb to problems that make you scratch your head.

And wonder what to do next when trying to figure out why the snake plants are dying and how to fix it:

Causes and solutions to save snake plant from dying

The right amount of watering

The san severe is a succulent, or you could call it a semi-succulent, because it doesn't work exactly like most succulents.

Still, it keeps water inside the leaves, now what that means to take care of the plant. It's a warning signal, and the warning signal is.

This plant stores water because it can withstand drought, which means that you should never give this plant too much water.

We usually see about many different types of plant that you should let it dry out in between watering. So that is something you hear over and over again.

But this is one of the plants you need to listen to because it needs to be bone dry before you water it again. On average, you can steep this plant once a month to save it from dying.

If you give it too much water or if the soil is wet for a longer time, what could happen is that you could get something we call black spots.

That black spot could arrive in the middle of the leaves. It could arrive at the edges or the tips of the leaves.

When they do, you know that you have a fungal or a bacterial problem, which comes from the plant's overwatering.

If you get those black spots, you cut away the leaves that have the black spots completely. Just cut it off down to the soil level and take it away.

Please don't put it in compost because that fungi or bacteria could spread to something else. Instead, take it away from the house completely.

After cutting that off and you will probably be fine. The next thing you do is that you let that plant dry out so that it's so bone dry that you can almost see the leaves starting to wilt a little bit.

Then you water it again, and probably you've saved that plant because those fungi could spread to the entire plant. And then the plant will die.

Use a suitable container

Suppose you have a nursery container whose outside is closed. If you water the plant, the water goes, and it ends up in the bottom, and the plant is standing in the water.

You will get root rot on a snake plant; what will happen is that some of the leaves will start to be wet and mushy. When you feel the leaf, it will feel soft and moist.

And it can start to smell a little bit, and it will not be a nice odor.

If that happens, you probably have root rot or have water too much, so you have something else.

So what you do then is take those leaves that are mushy and wet, pull them out. And pull out the entire root system for that leaf. Then you let it dry out hard before you water it again.

You have probably saved it because it's very common that the root rot hasn't spread to the other plants. So you could save the plant from dying.

If you leave that, just letting it stand there and wilter. And be that mushy, then it will start to affect the whole plant.

Clean the leaves

At least once a month, you can take a microfiber cloth used for cleaning, soak that in water, and rinse off the leaves.

Just take that and wipe off the leaves and do this because you could get a lot of dust on the leaves. You can get bacteria or other things that have been on the leaves.

Furthermore, you could start a pest problem or something by wiping it off and keeping that cuticle that waxy surface as clean as possible.

You're helping the plant becoming healthier and becoming more resistant to problems. So wipe the leaves off once a month or every time you think of doing it. And you will help the leaf that will help the plant a lot.

After a while, your plant will start to grow, and it will become bigger and bigger. Soon enough, if it is healthy, it will grow so big that you cannot handle that.

You will not know where to put it. And you don't know what to do. You could prune this plant.

To maintain the refined look of this plant, you must prune it. To prune that, take the entire tilted leaf, cut it off from the bottom level of the soil, and take that away.

You could also prune this plant by cutting the leaf. However, if you do that, what happens is that when the scar starts to heal. You will get some brown spots or burnt edges.

It will never be as nice as the leaves that are not cut, so you could do that you won't harm the plant. But it will not look that nice.

So, it would be best if you cut away the entire leaf. Then, if you need to prune, prune it back down to the soil level.

Fertilizing the plant

This plant doesn't want you to fertilize it very often or with a lot of nutrients. What usually is enough is to give it some fertilizer when you water the plant. When you water the plant, mix the fertilizer in water and usually two to three times a year.

You should give the fertilizer when the plant has its active periods. The active period is when you have a lot of light and high temperatures from around March to October.

So during that period, two to three times when you water it, you should add the fertilizer. You should use a complete coverage full fertilizing that you can buy almost anywhere.

This plant doesn't need to be a specific type of fertilizer. However, it is recommended to use organic fertilizer for this plant.

When you give that fertilizer, make sure you deliver what is says on the box. Never add more to the water because it could harm your snake plant.

It is better that you dilute it a little bit more with more water than it says on the box than the other way around because it can hurt the plant.

You will see that on the plant. If the plant has too many nutrients or if you're giving too much fertilizer. The root will react to all of that salt because it is in salt form when you add the fertilizer.

When the roots get too much salt, they react, and you will see that the leaves will start to get burn marks on them. It can burn marks on the middle of the leaf.

It can be on the edges of the leaf, which is the most common, or it can also be at the tips, and the information can start to be brown and dried out.

If that happens, then that is the indication of either too much sunlight. But if you don't have it in direct sunlight, then it could be that you have been given too much fertilizer.

So, make sure that you only give it a couple of times a year and don't give too much when you provide it.

Use of pesticides

The snake plant is extremely tough and rarely gets pests, and the reason for that is that they have that extremely thick cuticle, that waxy surface on the leaves.

The pests and most of the pets we have are pests that want to bite into the plant and suck out the nutrients. But if that cuticle is so thick that the pests can't get through it.

That means you have a plant that rarely gets pests, and it is one of those plants—the extreme ability to avoid getting pests. But if you get pests, it's usually mealybugs because they are one of the biggest pests you get indoors, and they can bite quite hard as well.

On rare occasions, you might have had some mites spider on the snake plant. But usually get that if your plant is not feeling well, if, for instance, has gotten a lot of direct sunlight and has damaged the cuticle a little bit.

That waxy surface is a little bit not as strong as you could get pests. So usually, when you get pests, it's because the plant is not feeling well.

If you get that, you know that it's not feeling well, and what you do if you get mealybugs on the plant. If you see it in an early stage, you could remove them with your fingers.

But it is recommended you go out and buy a pesticide or use and follow the instructions on that pesticide to get rid of those pests, or you can use the mix of green soap and water and spray that on the plant usually works.

Then after you've gotten rid of the pests, you have to check the plant. If the plant is again not getting well, then it is due to overwatering.

In 99 times of 100, if you have a problem with your snake plant, it's because of the watering. But usually, most of you will never have pests on this plant. It is extremely tough. Just make sure to keep it happy, and you won't get any problems.