Description

Mother-in-Law Tongue is a variety of Sansevieria. Commonly known as "Snake plant" (Sansevieria Laurentii), many of the other varieties are mistaken for the same plant. All Snake plants are Sansevieria, but not all Sansevieria are Snake Plants. Mother-in-Law Tongue are a semi-succulent. Meaning they hold their moisture to endure drought and heat, but they do not like too much direct sunlight, unless slowly acclimated to do so. Snake plants have 2 - 3 different shades of green with horizontal bands across the leaf with vertical yellow edges.

New growth comes from the root system, so we encourage growers to let their Laurentii fill their grower pot fully before upgrading it to the next size up. Essentially, allow the Mother-in-law root to fully fill the container with foliage before upgrading the pot. 

Care

Many growers make the mistake of assuming that because Sansevieria can grow in low light, that must mean they like growing in low light. This isn't necessarily always the case. Most Sans will appreciate a couple hours of direct sunlight in a day. 3 - 4 hours of direct sun, with indirect bright light the rest of day and your Sans should reward you with lots of new growth and vibrant colors. We recommend keeping your Sansevieria root bound until the foliage fills the container, give your Sans at least 3 hours of direct sunlight a day, and treat your plant to a fair bit of plant food throughout the grow season. If you have a room with no windows, you can always replace a bulb in a lamp/light fixture with a standard size grow bulb to encourage a longer life and more aggressive growth.

Sizing

Mother-in-law tongue Sans will grow 3' - 4' tall and should reward you with leaves at least 4" - 5" wide at the widest. If you are happy with the height of your Snake plant you can use a pair of scissors to gently cut the top 1/16th off the top of the leaf. This will essentially "cap" the leaf and it will not grow any taller. If your Snake plant outgrows its container or if it outgrows its space, you can transplant to a larger container or you can split the plant and transplant into separate containers. 

For Propagation tips, check out our Snakeplant Prop video:

Fertilizer

We recommend an all purpose or cactus feed for Sansevieria. Fertilizing every other watering throughout the grow season. (March - October)

 See also Sansevieria Snake plant (Sansevieria Zeylanica)

See also Sansevieria Mikado

Browse our other Varieties of Sansevieria

 

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