A Sansevieria plant, otherwise known as a snake plant or mother in law tongue, is such a wonderful beginner plant. I get asked often what the best plants are for people with a “black thumb”. This will always be one of them! Snake plants are easy to care for, can pretty much be placed anywhere in the home (even low light), and don’t need watered often. They are very forgiving if you just forget about them! But what is better than one snake plant? Two or three or four, right? Here’s how to propagate a snake plant from a mother plant you already own.
How to Care for the Mother Snake Plant
The mother just means it’s the main plant that is already potted in soil. One you have bought at a nursery or a big box store. My snake plants do well with a good watering about once a month. Told you, low maintenance! I always water all of my plants with Happy Happy Houseplant fertilizer.
Snake plants can do well in a low light space but will grow and thrive best when it gets some light. If you’re lucky, you might even see one of your snake plants bloom! This happened to this mother plant this year and it was amazing. I have never seen it before. A good sign that your plant is happy! Another tip…make sure you have proper drainage!
Where to Cut a Snake Plant for Propagation
You can literally cut a stem of the snake plant with clean shears to start the propagation process. Cutting towards the bottom is the best so the stem is long to start with. I cut mine at an angle.
Placing A Snake Plant Cutting in Water
I always get asked about what tricks I have for propagating. The answer is, I don’t really have any! After I cut plants for propagation, I just stick them in water. I don’t use grow agents or put anything in the water. The only tip is to place your stems in clear glass. I think this helps with light penetration. Other than that, I have no special tricks! Once your stem is cut, simply place in water and put in a spot that gets adequate light.
I created a propagation wall a few years ago. These little vessels are perfect for storing many propagators at once. You can read all about that propagation station in this post. You can even see another snake plant propagating in this photo from a few years ago.
The Waiting Game
Once you have cut one, or many, stems and put them in water, you now play the waiting game. Snake plants take longer to propagate than other plants in general. With patience, you should start to see little roots forming after a few months. After several months you will get established roots like this one. I basically just forget about these until I see tons of roots. Very low maintenance! This one even produced another little stem growing from the side of original stem. Amazing what plants are capable of!
After you have established roots, you can transfer it to a pot with soil. Here is a photo of a plant that started from propagated stems! It’s been growing for several years and it’s still not huge, but it is growing!
I have an entire section on the blog about plants and flowers. You can also follow me on Instagram where I have an entire highlight on propagation. I hope you can see how to propagate a snake plant is an easy process! If you are a plant lover like me, propagating is a hobby and part of the plant care process. I need to start giving some away, I have too many at this point! XO