How To Grown & Care For Indoor Snake Plant (Complete Guide)

The snake plant is one of the most common houseplants. People often agree this plant is a must-have in their collections. This versatile, low-maintenance plant can add greenery to just about any indoor space.

While caring for a snake plant is straightforward, many of us plant enthusiasts agree that store care tag instructions are often oversimplified and even incorrect for the snake plant. This can lead to a lot of guesswork in keeping your snake plant healthy and thriving. Let’s dive into what they need and discuss the best snake plant care tips.

Snake Plant Background

To understand how to care for a snake plant, it helps to learn about where it’s from and its natural habitat.

The snake plant was first grouped with the Aloe plants in 1753 due to its succulent-like leaves and similar care needs. However, it was later classified within the genus Sansevieria by David Prain in 1903. While many of us still think of the snake plant as a Sansevieria, it was re-classified once more in 2017 as Draceaena trifasciata.

The snake plant is native to rocky and dry areas in West Africa, where the plant is adapted to long periods of drought.

There are over 70 discovered species of snake plants, and many of them have a combination of striped patterns on their leaves. These stripes are beautiful, but they also serve as a defense mechanism to help the plant blend into its habitat and avoid predation in the wild.

Did you know that the snake plant also produces a useful material? Due to the strong fibers in its leaves, African communities use the snake plant to produce eco-friendly ropes, yarn, and textiles. They also use its sturdy fibers to make bowstrings, slingshots, and woven baskets.

The snake plant is toxic to pets and people. Therefore, it’s essential to keep this houseplant out of reach of small children and pets.

How To Care For A Snake Plant

Water

As you may have heard, you won’t need to water this houseplant often. Only water the snake plant when the soil is completely dry.

Some big box store tags recommend watering when the soil is halfway dry or every week, but this is incorrect. The frequency of how often to water varies for each person depending on how much light the snake plant receives, temperature, and humidity levels.

In addition to dry soil, snake plants can show other signs of needing water. These include leaves curling inward and mildly drooping leaves.

On average, many growers report only needing to water their indoor snake plants around once per month in the summer and once every couple of months in the winter. Again, this will depend on your growing environment.

As long as you have well-draining soil and drainage holes in the pot, you’re safe to water your snake plant when the soil is dry throughout.

The number one thing that can kill the snake plant is too much water, resulting in root rot. Signs of root rot are drooping leaves. Understandably, preventing root rot can be one of the only aspects people may find challenging when caring for a snake plant.

Any clean water, including tap water, will suffice when watering this houseplant. Additionally, the best watering method for the snake plant is top watering.

Since the snake plant is more prone to root rot than most other houseplants, top watering, as opposed to bottom watering, helps ensure there isn’t excess moisture left behind in the bottom of the pot. They do well when given a thorough watering from top to bottom, with plenty of time to drain completely.

Light

If you’ve ever been confused about how much light to give your snake plant, you’re not alone. Snake plant care tags from stores often advise you to provide low light, but many experienced snake plant growers strongly disagree with that advice.

How much light do snake plants require?

The snake plant’s ideal lighting conditions are medium (200-500 foot candles) to bright indirect light (over 500 foot candles).

Providing more light helps the snake plant in the following ways:

Grow much faster
Dry out better between each watering.
Prevent root rot

However, you still can grow your snake plant in an environment with lower light (50-200 foot candles). Since snake plants are native to areas that receive both shade and sunlight, this plant is versatile enough to grow in many light situations. Since low light is not the snake plant’s preference, you will see slower growth.

Additionally, it will be essential not to water your snake plant before it is completely dried out. This is because it will take your snake plant much longer to use up the water provided.

While the snake plant can still grow in low light, you must watch it more closely for root rot.

What about direct light?

Yes, you can give your snake plant some direct light, especially the morning sunlight. The afternoon direct sun can burn this plant since it is too intense for the leaves.

Furthermore, snake plants previously growing in lower light should be transitioned slowly into locations that receive direct sunlight. Therefore, it works great to put this plant in an indoor area that receives some gentle morning direct sun at first. Then you can gradually move it to a window with more intense light if that works best for your plant setup.

Temperature and Humidity

Snake plants enjoy warm temperatures between 70 and 90°F (21-32°C). They can become cold-stressed in temperatures falling below 50°F (10°C). Snake plants don’t require supplemental humidity and grow well in regular household humidity of 30-50%.

Soil Mix

Snake plants do well in soil mixes with plenty of filtration and aeration. There are several snake soil mixes that plant enthusiasts recommend, including our well-balanced recipe below.

40% Pumice
20% Coco Coir or Peat Moss
10% Cactus Soil Mix
10% Worm Castings
10% Fine Orchid Bark or Coco Chips
10% Coarse Sand

Fertilization and Growth

Do indoor snake plants need fertilizer?

Snake plants are light feeders. You can use half-strength liquid fertilizer once at the start of spring and once in mid-summer.

They don’t grow much in the winter, and you won’t need to fertilize your snake plant during those low-light months.

When you first learn how to care for a snake plant during the winter, be sure to prevent cold drafts, use well-draining soil, and only water it when the soil is bone dry.

How fast will my snake plant grow?

The growth rate for the snake plant varies depending on its environment. They are relatively slow growers.

In optimal conditions with plenty of light, you might see your snake plant grow 1-2 feet per year. Additionally, snake plants typically produce 2-3 new leaves each growing season, while they may go dormant in the fall and winter.

Does a snake plant have a flower?

You may see your snake plant flower on rare occasions.

Flowers grow as a long stalk with silky, thin, white petals. This can happen in the spring, but many snake plants never flower. Growing conditions affect snake plant blooms, and they can flower when they have high light, slight stress, or when they are root bound. While you should keep an eye on your snake plant when it flowers to ensure it remains healthy, you can still consider yourself lucky to see such a rare sighting.

Repotting

Snake plants prefer snug pots and don’t need to be repotted very often. Depending on growing conditions, your snake plant may only need to be repotted every 2-5 years.

Only go up one pot size and use a proper filtrating soil mixture. Always use a pot with at least one drainage hole when choosing a pot for your snake plant.

Never put this plant in a pot with no drainage hole, as this creates a risk of root rot.

You will need to repot your snake plant when you notice these signs:

Roots growing out of the drainage holes
The pot is cracking or bulging
The snake plant has put out several pups

Propagation

There are a few ways to propagate a snake plant, each relatively simple.

Propagation by division: cutting the rhizome to separate the mother plant from a new offshoot or pup.

Water propagation: cutting a single snake plant leaf horizontally and placing it in water to develop roots.

Soil propagation: cutting a leaf where it emerges from the soil on the mother plant and placing it into the soil to develop roots.