Snake Plant - Our First Fellow

Hello Friends! Welcome to Paudhayan. Last time we barely met with the snake plant. Today we will try to befriend it and know more about it.

Friends! There are two things you must find to know about the nature of a plant. First is its original habitat. The place and the conditions in which it has adapted itself for thousands of years… generally that kind of environment is the best for it. Second thing is the capacity of the plant to adapt itself to the new environments. Keeping these two things in mind, you can roughly guess whether it would be able to thrive in your place. And also about how much and what kind of efforts will you have to make to keep it green and happy in your house. We will make our understanding about Snake Plants with these two factors.

Naturally these plants are found in West Africa from Nigeria to Congo. The entire region is very dry and rocky. Hence, these plants have become accustomed to endure conditions of extreme heat and drought. But one good thing about them is that they are adept at adapting themselves to almost every type of environment and live happily in almost every type of soil, water, sunlight, temperature and air. To plant them, therefore, you do not need to make your home Nigeria or Congo.

Although they are called as Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, they have all the traits of an ideal daughter-in-law. They can be planted in any season, temperature and climate. There are only two things you need to keep in mind.

Water Needs

The first thing is to water them only occasionally. These plants with thick leaves come under the category of succulents. Therefore, they obviously need very little water. Water them only when the soil dries up completely. But whenever you water them, water them thoroughly; until the water starts flowing out of the hole at the bottom of the pot.

Season

The second important thing is that if your house is in a place where the temperature drops significantly in winter and there is snow or frost, they should not be kept outside in the open. Keep them in shade in bright light then. These sun loving plants may tolerate low temperatures but do not tolerate frost or snow at all. That is why in tropics where the temperature does not fall much even in winter, they are planted mostly outdoors. While in temperate regions, they are preferred as indoor plants.

Sun and Shade

There are some other things about them which will be good to keep in mind for the health of the plant. For example, they like open sunlight a lot but they can live in any kind of light. They do not even mind being kept in a nearly dark place. However, prolonged placement of them in dark place their considerably affect their growth. Their leaves may also become thin and weak and eventually bend or droop.

There are two ways to avoid this problem. You may either keep exposing them to sunlight every few days (4 to 5 days of mild sunlight in a month will be enough). Or they may be kept under grow light. Grow lights look like normal LED light bulbs but the light emitted from them contains all those wavelengths that the plant can use to make its food i.e. for photosynthesis. Grow lights fulfill their light requirements to a great extent and the plant remains green even in low light conditions.

Like other drought tolerant plants, snake plants also prevent evaporation from the leaf surface during the day. Therefore, they exchange the gases required for photosynthesis only at night. This is the reason why they provide Oxygen even at night. So, keeping them in the bedroom ensures a little more oxygen while sleeping.

Soil

Sandy soil is generally good for plants that require less water. You can always prepare soil for them by mixing some sand and some small pebbles or gravel in clay soil in case sandy soil is not available. If you have to plant them in clay or loam, do not overwater them.

Pot and Planter

No particular type of planter is needed for these plants. They happily thrive in any pot made of cement, clay, ceramic, wood, stone, plastic or any other material. The planter must have drainage hole at the bottom to let out water. Otherwise, the roots may rot due to water accumulation. If you want to plant them in a decorative metal pot which does not have a drainage holes, plant in a normal pot with holes and keep the place the plant with pot inside metal pot.

इन्हें पानी में भी लगाया जा सकता है। पानी में लगाने पर ये सड़ेंगे नहीं उल्टे इससे एक फायदा ये होगा कि पानी ज्यादा या कम होने की चिंता से आपको पूरी तरह से छुटकारा मिल जाएगा। इसके लिए आपको किसी बोतल या जार या किसी भी कंटेनर में इसकी जड़ों को डुबाकर रख देना होगा। फिर हर 10 से 15 दिन में उस कंटेनर का पानी बदल देना होगा। पानी में रखने पर इनकी बढ़त धीमी हो जाती है तो अगर चाहें तो थोड़ी सी तरल खाद भी पानी में मिला सकते हैं।

Fertilzer

Snake plants have slow growth so they generally do not require fertilizer. Small amount of minerals present in water are sufficient for them. Still, if the plant looks weak or while it is growing, feed it with little fertilizer. It will keep the plant healthy and help it grow faster. These plants remain dormant in winters. New growth starts in the spring. Small amount (one fourth of recommended) of any balanced fertilizer may be fed to them at this time.

That is all you need to know to keep your snake plant happy. We will discuss about their propagation in next post.