Greening up your living space has never been easier than with snake plants. These resilient and visually striking plants have captured the hearts of indoor gardeners and design enthusiasts alike. Today I’m going to go over how to propagate snake plants.
Whether you’re a seasoned plant parent or just starting your journey into the world of indoor gardening, propagating snake plants can be a rewarding and satisfying experience.
In this post, we’ll dive into the art of snake plant propagation, exploring various methods that allow you to expand your plant collection and share the beauty of these hardy specimens with friends and family. From leaf cuttings to division techniques, we’ll guide you through the step-by-step process of propagating snake plants, sharing tips and insights that will help you nurture your cuttings into thriving, lush additions to your indoor jungle.
Propagation by Separation
When you have a happy healthy snake plant, it can sometimes put up babies, or pups. They pop up on the sides of the base of your existing leaves, as opposed to new leaves coming out of the top of your existing stems.
If your snake plant is putting up several of these new pups it can be a good time to separate the babies from the mother plant to live on their own.
Expose the roots
This whole process involves repotting the mother plant, so you want to let the soil dry out almost all the way. It makes it easier.
From there, you want to get the plant out of the pot. If you grip it at the base of the leaves and the soil’s dry enough, you can usually just lift it out of the pot.
Use your hands to work the soil away from the roots and see where the babies are growing off the main plant.
Divide and Multiply
Once you can see where the babies are attached to the base of the mother, you can gently twist them off to separate them. Be careful to try to leave any roots coming off the babies intact (although there don’t need to be any at this point).
If they’re too tough, use some sterile, sharp scissors to cut them from the mother plant.
Plant in Soil or Root in Water?
If your snake plant babies already have some roots, you are good to just plant them straight in soil. Snake plants thrive with airy, well-draining soil (lots of perlite & other chunky medium like coco coir or orchid bark).
If your pups don’t have any or sufficient roots, I recommend starting them in water. Let the pups set out for a day or so, allowing any cuts or breaks to callous over to prevent root rot. After that, get a shot glass or jar of some sort full of water and just leave the pups in there. Place them in a sunny window and wait till the roots are a little more developed.
You can choose to leave them there permanently ( just remember to change the water out every once in a while ) or transfer the babies to loose, well-draining soil.
Propagate Snake Plants with Leaf Cuttings
A slightly simpler propagation strategy would be to take leaf cuttings. If you have a leaf that fell over or sticks out in an unsightly way, you can take some sterile scissors and just chop it off at the base.
Take the leaf that you’ve just hacked off, and cut it into 2-3 inch sections. You’ll want to make sure that up is up. Roots will only grow out of the “bottom” of the leaf. You can keep things straight by cutting Vs into the leaf pointing upwards:
This creates more surface area for roots to form on each leaf, plus helps you keep the cutting oriented properly.
Let your snake plant cuttings sit out for a day or so to let the cuts all callous over. If you don’t, you increase the chances of the cuttings rotting.
Once the edges are dry to the touch, you can then drop them, bottom down, in a jar or glass with water until roots form.
Once you’ve got a substantial amount of roots on the leaf you can plant 1 or 2 cuttings together in well-draining soil.
Patience is a MUST with Snake Plant Propagation
Even in the best conditions, Snake Plants take FOREVER to grow. This is no different when propagating. It can take months for roots to grow on your leaf cuttings, and it can take months for pups to appear on healthy plants.
Be patient. Things will grow with time, and light, and the proper watering frequency (or rather infrequency).
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