Snake plants (Sansevieria) are fabulous roommates. They’re easy to care for, extremely tolerant, and can even help clean the air inside of your home.
You’ll love snake plants because you’ll find that both the live and artificial ones are easy to care for, but they do require some attention, just like any other plant. Here are five tips to make sure your Snake Plants stay healthy and great-looking.
Table Of Contents - Click To Expand Or Hide -->
Live Snake Plants Can Go for a Couple of Weeks without Water
If you are new to the snake plant world, you may be concerned that you are not watering your snake plants properly.
The good news is that snake plants can live happily without a lot of water, so their watering regimen is simple. Water your snake plant once every two weeks.
Be sure to let the soil dry out completely before watering again. This will reduce the chance of root rot and other harmful effects of overwatering.
Snake plants like high-quality of water, so before watering your plant buddy, you may want to test your water to assess its hardness, chlorine, nitrate, and other levels. We like this test pack from Amazon because it tests for 16 different impurities and 100 strips come in a pack.
Live Snake Plants Also Need Occasional Fertilizer, so Analyze their Soil Annually
Snake plants are hardy and can withstand a lot. Whether you grow them indoors, on the balcony, or in your garden, they will probably thrive wherever you place them.
While snake plants are pretty easy to care for, they benefit from periodic fertilization. If you begin to notice that the plant may be in distress or if the soil seems out of balance, a little nutrition boost can help.
What’s the best fertilizer for snake plant? We like this Perfect Plants Liquid Snake Plant Fertilizer because it is specially formulated for snake plants, and it has a ton of great reviews, too.
If you’re looking to keep your snake plant happy without fertilizer, consider putting down a layer of worm compost in the spring. You’ll only need a quarter of an inch for every six inches of the plant.
Of course, all of your indoor plants would love this treatment, so if your snake plant has friends, consider giving them a little worm compost too.
Bright, Filtered Sunlight Is Best for a Live Snake Plant
While snake plants can do fine in any kind of light, they, of course, do have a favorite. Since these plants hail from western Africa, South Asia, and Madagascar, they enjoy humid, hot, bright climates the best.
So, if you want to make your snake plant especially happy, place them in bright, filtered sunlight. They would also do pretty well in a place that offers indirect sunlight.
If you are moving your snake plant from a low-light location to a brighter area, take care to do so slowly. You may only want to move it a few inches every couple of days.
As you decide where to place your plant, you’ll want to keep one significant factor in mind: Snake plants are toxic to pets.
They may have vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and mouth pain as a result of chewing on the leaves. So, if you have pets that would be too curious about the plant, make sure to keep it out of their reach.
Artificial Snake Plants Are Easy to Maintain
Artificial plants are an excellent alternative to the real deal. If you would prefer something that is low maintenance, or you are worried about toxicity with your pets, this would be a great option for you. The best part is that they can be much easier to take care of because they don’t need water or plant food.
While some plants can lose their shape over time, an artificial snake plant will not. No need to worry about droopy, sad-looking leaves here!
Your beautiful artificial snake plants will look just like the real thing the moment you receive them, and they’ll stay that way.
We love this 38″ faux snake plant from Amazon. It’s tall with a beautiful white pot that sits atop a black stand and would be the perfect addition to any modern-looking home or even patio.
Be Sure to Periodically Dust and Rinse Your Artificial Snake Plant
One of the best parts about keeping artificial plants is that allergies are rarely a concern for people who suffer from them. The only allergen you run the risk of being exposed to here is dust.
To avoid contributing to any dust allergies, the solution is simple: dust off and rinse the leaves of your snake plant periodically. With the snake plant’s broad leaves, a simple periodic wipe-down should do the trick.
Store Your Artificial Snake Plants Properly When Not Using Them
Snake plants can run on the larger side. The one we recommend here is pretty tall. To help keep these taller plants looking pristine, make sure you store them in a space where other items in storage will not crush them.
You can also use a Christmas tree bag to keep dust and other nonsense off your beautiful snake plant. Before putting your snake plant in storage, be sure you have cleaned off the leaves and the pot is in good condition.
Snake plants are some of the most fabulous looking (and most popular) indoor plants around. They don’t need a lot of care and are tolerant of gardeners with less than green thumbs.
Do you have a snake plant? What are your favorite tips for caring for live and artificial snake plants? We’d love to know! Drop us a comment below.
