You can re-pot to the next size larger maybe in another two years. Looks fine to me. It appears to be Sansevieria trifasciata. They could grow to 4 feet (in time).

Same comment as your Oyster plant, this is likely to burn for same reasons.

However, this needs a soil intervention, as what I can see here is not fast draining; that mix looks awful for it, sorry.

Pls read posts at the Sans. forum (above) where you can learn about more appropriate soil mixes for them. I can't spare the time to explain it right now.

Hi Bob, your Dracaena trifasciata can probably get up to just under 3' tall if well grown; and it is possible to get even taller under ideal conditions for a mature plant. Your soil is just fine. These snake plants (I prefer its other common name, mother-in-law's tongue!) will grow well in almost any soil. If you were to repot now into "ideal" soil, then the setback from transplant shock would outweigh any possible benefits from even the world's most perfect soil. That pot size is also fine. These actually do a little better if you let them almost fill the pot before repotting. So that pot can probably last quite a while still. This one will want slightly less-frequent watering than your oyster plant. Mine love constant, very light fertilizer. You can find more cultural information by searching under its older name, Sansevieria trifasciata.

Sorry Tom, I respectfully disagree, strongly.

Yes, you're right that they'll grow in almost anything, that does not mean they'll do well that way, it will predispose the plant to root rot.

Your comment count suggests you're new here. I am not, am on here 20 yrs. & growing Sans at least that long. I have also lectured on them to the Indoor Gardening Society of America (NYC Chapter) in 2005 & again, more recently within the last 5 yrs.

Transplant shock is a quasi-mythical & overrated bunch of baloney; at least for these plants.

Here's an example of why I say that:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5881844/neglected-sans-local-rescue#n=11

Referring to the above link, the smaller of the 2 plants, well I noticed a brand new leaf in the center today. I don't have pix of that yet, I can post them if you'd like further evidence of their recovery, but really, I'm not exactly the person you want to challenge about these plants.

Bob: Pls note how porous my mixes are, that means large particled to be fast draining.

We all still call them Sans here, they may be called Dracenas now by some, but we're resisting the name change mightily.

I don't use the name 'Mother in Law's Tongue', 'cause it's derogatory to women, which I'd rather not be. I use the names Sansevieria, Sans or Snake plant. Works plenty well for all of us here.

Bob,

Sansevieria is usually an easy plant to grow and tough as nails. The worst thing is allowing it to sit in water logged soil for too long. If you move it into a bigger pot, it will eventually fill it up. I've had ceramic and clay pots broken by the roots of this very robust plant.

I've seen them growing in the ditches of Florida and Mexico so they really do well in tropical climes.

Here is a row of them at the Mayan ruins Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula (mid February, 2012) I wished I had pulled over and snapped some photos of them growing alongside the roads in Florida now (HAHA!)

Here is my oldest pot of Sans. The plastic bowl is probably 12 or 14 inches. This was in mid-February in a dimly lit area of a utility room. (3 over head shop lights and some sun coming through the double doors). I would trickle water on all my sans in winter once a week. Just enough to keep them happy.

My big cylindrica is still in its original pot from Walmart years earlier. I cut back the floppy blades so that they aren't intruding into other plants' space. The pot is at least 8 inches, maybe 10. I should give it a new home one of these years. This is 14 years old now and blooms in winter usually. Easy to start with a cutting as well but how many do we need of this plant?

Brand new in 2006 (I thought it was one of those new hybrids from Thailand because it was so large)

Then they all go outside for summer so they can grow as much as possible before taking them all indoors for winter once again. UGH! Have fun with whatever you grow.

Bobv.....I am one of those people who agrees on the soil issue. I think you would be best to remove this plant from its pot, tease out the soil from the roots (maybe with a wooden skewer) and give it all NEW soil. What I use with my sansevierias is a 50/50 mix of cactus/succulent soil (I use Black Gold, but that's because it is what my local garden center sells) and either washed perlite or, if you have pumice, washed pumice. Get the dust out of either before mixing with soil. Sometimes I even go to 40/60 so the perlite or pumice is more abundant. For pot size, my recommendation is -- see what the roots of this plant look like first, then make the decision.

I have a number of Sansevierias including masoniana, dwarf samurai, ballyi and hahnii. I have tried my Sans in various combinations of "gritty mix," but for me, mine do best in the soil/pumice combo described above. Location is important. I live in FL and my plants are outside on a covered porch 24/7. Even in the summer, I water my Sans about once every two weeks. They are in plastic pots, and with a soil combo, they don't need as much water as one would think, especially the larger ones. Good luck with yours.

Robin, have you tried clay pots for these? I sure prefer them to plastic, but like HC mentioned, they will break the pot if you leave them too long. How is your masoniana doing? Is it putting out pups for you yet? Regarding best soil, I honestly don't think outdoors in SW Florida is very similar to Bob's Z5b windowsill.

Karen, I would love to see some pictures of your big ones. I'm curious how many days between waterings that type of mix gives you this time of year in NY? I do think it's odd to give me your resume like that, but since that's what we're doing, I've also been posting here for more than 20 years, but very little in the last decade {it's nothing to brag about how long you've posted at the worst of the plant forums on the internet}. I've been a Director at national plant society, a plant advice forum moderator for 2 different plant forums, an International Registrar for cultivated plants under ISHS, and yes a public speaker too (mostly on soils). These days I'm just a custom soil builder. So I do have a very firm grasp on the soil science behind just what plants can tolerate vs. what they prefer, and I understand the how's and why's of overwatering as much as anyone anywhere.

Here is a dark green version of Bob's Dracaena trifasciata. It's in bloom almost constantly (you can see one peeking out middle-right). It is the only one I have planted in soil about the same as Bob's, and as you can see it is growing well. It doesn't require anything special different from my other plants in more porous soils, other than just less frequent watering. If you give me a day or two, I'll briefly explain the science behind why that soil works great for this plant.

No thanks, Tom I'll pass.

I was going to try & have a discussion w/ you, but given your last comment, I am not interested.

If you feel this is the worst plant forum on the Internet, why are you even here? Given that, why should I bother explaining myself to you?

In a nutshell, your advice sounded wrong, misleading & like that of a beginner. When you chose to challenge me on it, that's why I responded that way.

I don't grow large plants, I've got over 90 plants inside a studio apmt.

If you wish to see my plants, you can search for me here at Sans, or C&S, Houseplant &/or Hoya forums, under my name as above, or under the handle 'Lmontestella'.

To answer your question, I'm here because I like helping people, and quarantine has given me more time to do that at places that would normally be a low priority. :)

Apologies Bob, for digressing your thread.

Thank you both for participating here. We are fortunate to have you take time to help others.

Tom,

I happen to like this forum. I also belong to Garden.org which refuses to give me a Sansevieria forum all on it's own like here. I got to know and enjoy reading these stories and I learned so much here. I wish you give us a fresh approach again. I don't agree with a lot of what I read but what works for some I can still learn from. I hope you stick around and continue giving your advise.

I also hate the idea that Sansevieria is now Dracaena. I will always use the term Sansevieria when discussing this plant. I'm old and set in my ways and happy about it.

Soil here is a big problem with me. With so many experts saying the same about super fast draining soils. It's most important to learn more about watering than most anything else. The fast draining soils help with the over watering. Since switching to a more compost mix, my Sans have grown and multiplied tremendously. But it still helps a lot of people to use this mix some times . Not me anymore and not knowing how some are growing their sans I can't recommend it.

I have been here about 20 years or so and grew snake plants for well over 60 years. Only really learned about them after joining this site. Some really great people here over the years who taught us so much.

Hi Stush & Socks, it's nice to meet you. Stush, let's talk about your having more success with these in a mix with more compost and not as fast draining, when it is all the rage at this forum to only recommend super-fast draining mixes for every plant. These fast-draining mixes are touted here as 'maximizing genetic potential', when in fact study after study has shown the opposite. Plant studies have shown that water is the #1 limiting factor in reducing potential, and moisture-retentive soils grow plants faster than fast-draining bark type mixes. Air in the soil is great at reducing overwatering errors, but it also directly reduces growth potential. Too much air is not good, except for epiphytes with aerial roots. Professional nurserymen have even specifically quantified how much air is too much for some plant species in reducing their yields in container soils.

But how do we reconcile that idea with all the posts we see about plants suffering and dying from overwatering? Several reasons, but first is that we never see posts from the vast majority of people killing plants from underwatering, because no one needs help to see why a plant died when you didn't give it water (the crispy leaves and your guilty memory tell the whole story!), but overwatering is not so obvious as to 'why', and we need help understanding it. So both under- and over-watering are serious problems. If you were to think of how many days between waterings for your plants, what we really need then is a soil with long window of watering safety, where it is neither to early or too late to water.

Here are some soil factors that make that window of safety bigger or smaller: 1) The faster a soil drains, the smaller that window of safety. 2) high-nitrogen materials like compost also reduce that window somewhat, though not as much. 3) Sphagnum peat has the longest window of safety, although like bark it doesn't hold significant nutrients, which are desirable in most soils. Cultural factors that reduce the window include low light, low temps, reduced leaf volume (anything stressing the plant), and especially a lack of knowledge/information about how wet or dry the bottom half of the soil is. This last one is crucial, since otherwise we could just say 'why don't you just water less often, then you won't have overwatered plants!'. We need information. As a soil designer, it's crucial to me to have soil ingredients that 'speak' to me (yes that guy is a little crazy about his dirt).

Here's how soil speaks: some ingredients are easier to tell if they need water. For instance sphagnum peat has both a color change you can see and a texture change you can feel when it starts to dry. This effect is stronger in the longer-fiber blonde sphagnum peat (not long-fiber sphagnum moss). Another way a soil speaks is that some soils have better capillary action, so the top of the soil you can feel is much more similar to the bottom of the pot where the overwatering danger zone is. For instance peat can transfer water up from the bottom more than 2.5 times better than fine bark. This helps you 'see' that zone better and avoid overwatering, teaching you what the appropriate time interval should be.

So having water-poor and nutrient-poor fast-draining soil is not the only way to avoid overwatering. Watering less often with a soil that talks back is another way. Now let's differentiate between cheap homecenter soil vs high quality container soils of peat or bark. Cheap soils are low in bark and peat, and high in "forest products" (looks like bark), dirt, sand, young-aged compost, and any other cheap ingredient including construction waste. But these actually really work great for most plants with adequate light, like Bob's window sill, and especially well for a plant like this that makes every single 'easiest houseplant' list.

Sorry that was too long! I'll stop now. :)

Tried to answer but had computer problems.

If you get a healthy plant, you don't have much to worry about. You buy a nice plant in the store and it is in a peaty mix and growing great. We change it to a gritty mix and it starts to go downhill or worse dies. Problem is once it goes into shock by transplanting or change of environment, it stresses the plant and something like rot can set in. Seen this quite often. I grew snake plants for many years with a real peaty mix. Did well. then changed to a real gritty mix and they never seemed to grew the same.

I have switched to my own mix of a well rotted (many years) compost mix of grass clippings and maple tree leaves. I noticed weeds growing well all the time in this stuff and tried on one of my most fussy plants, S. trifasciata Forescate. This plant almost died and was in decline. To my big surprise it started some new leaves and sent up two new pups. All this in a matter of months. Now, this mix has it's problems in the long run. It will compact and sort of ware out. To this, I use a compost tea mix to keep the roots simulated. This stuff is sold as 'Stump Tea'. So far it seems to work.

Roots need oxygen and nutrients and most of all soil microbes. If given in due time the plant will respond well. Peat has the anti-fungus added bonus but lacks the base for soil microbes.

My biggest problem is moving the plants in for the cold season. Inside my house lacks bright light and warmth. I have upgraded to LED lighting and it helps a lot.

Water is not a problem unless is gets below 60 degrees. Better to caution on the side of too dry than too wet. We have a old saying here, if you can't decide to water or not, then don't. Once the hot summer temps go to the 80's, release the water.

Many-years compost is the best! Love that stuff. I keep a rolling stock at least 5 years old for my Special Reserve personal soil. Your post reminded me of a video I saw a while back where they were growing cuttings of these plants in 100% pure aged cow manure. They were growing great in it.

I know what you mean about peat and soil microbes. Some peat is actually good for beneficial microbes, but those kind of peats (sedge, herbaceous, & Chinese peats) are also lame for helping the air/water balance, which is why I use the best peat and keep it to a max of 33% of the total for any high-growth mix I build. This still allows for thriving mycorrhizal fungi populations.

Bob,

Forgot to add about using alfalfa and potassium in my mix. Thanks. I ordered the Alfalfa on line at a drug store company. They usually have it on sale BOGO. A bottle of 100 pills last a long time. I add them to all my re-potting and new potting.

Here’s a comment for Tom. I really enjoyed seeing your viewpoint about soils. Very refreshing. You brought up some points I had not considered. Please keep posting. There are many people who enjoy different opinions.

I love alfalfa in potting soil! You might consider using it in the meal form, as it can by mixed throughout the soil more thoroughly and is available quicker. You can buy alfalfa meal very cheaply at the feed stores and also now in the organic amendments section of most larger nurseries. If you get the big cheap feed store bag, you can also use it in the garden. Many plants love it, like roses (I use it together with a standard NPK fertilizer). I notice it really helps with disease & pest resistance on heavily-fertilized flowering plants.

I usually use several kinds of meals and rockdusts in my live soil mixes. If you were only going to use 1 meal, I would suggest researching kelp meal. :)

I purchased some Kelp from 'Gardens Alive' once and never more. Smells extremely bad. Don't care what it does, not worth it. Did you investigate Stump Tea?

I used the alfalfa meal in the past and used it thru out the mix. Not a good idea. Caused critters to dig in and try to eat the meal. I pills I use is in the middle of the pot and breaks down fast.

Did you use their liquid kelp? I tried that stuff a long time ago, very stinky! I'm sure it works great out in the garden, but not for indoors. The kelp meal I use from Down To Earth has a very light odor. We have very sensitive noses here, and it is just fine for us for houseplants when fully mixed in as an ingredient from the start. That's interesting about your critters digging in the alfalfa meal. I've used it for a couple decades now and haven't had the problem yet. Must have different critters than you.

The Stump Tea seems like a fine product. I like that has a very diverse set of inoculant species, including bacterial, which would probably make it work as an inoculant for legumes like peas & beans (I would assume, but would have to check the bacteria species). It also has kelp, lol! ;) One thing that did catch my eye was the lower concentrations of mycorrhizal fungi, at 6.45 propagules per gram per species on average. Compare that to other brands with rates around 220 ppg total, or over 55 ppg per species. I realize that Stump Tea aims to be more than just simply a mycorrhizal inoculant, but I feel that I am getting its other fertilization-type features like kelp, molasses, etc. from other, cheaper sources. So for me, I would just use it for the mycorrhizae, and do wish for higher concentrations. I still think it's great though!

Tom,

I did see the liquid Kelp at store and asked the guy there about that and the Sea Weed they sold. He recommended the Sea Weed. Doesn't smell so bad. The stump tea does pick up a smell left in the bottle a while. Suppose to aerate it but I don't.

Chipmunks were the diggers of alfalfa meal in the soil.

Hey there! I'm so excited to hear that you're exploring new varieties of plants; the Sansevieria Snake Plant is a great one! These plants can vary in size depending on the variety, but generally, they can grow quite tall if given enough space. If you're looking to repot, it's generally a good idea to do so when the roots start to fill the current pot. A 6" pot can work for a while, but an 8" pot will give it more room to grow. A good resource for care tips is succulentexperience.com/snake-plant-drooping/ it's a great website that provides a lot of information about snake plants and how to take care of them. Keep us updated on how your plant is doing! :)

Welcome Alisha, This time of year this post gets very slow. With over 70 species of Snake Plants and crosses of same there are thousands of new varieties out now.

Over the years I sort of lost interest in Sansevieria. I'm sort of into Agave now. Was into Aloes but lost interest in them as well. With age I guess we all change a little.

I also prefer Agave to Aloe, except for the medicinal aloe. I still LOVE snake plants, even though they are now classified as a species of DRACAENA believe it or not. I gained new respect for Agaves once I saw specimens grown in Zone 7 NJ in a container, outside, year round..., not happening with ANY ALOE.

These are HUGE!

There are some that believe it's still not Dracaena. Like myself. As well as Manfreda into Agave. I have a big collection of Mangave in my area but have to bring in every winter.

Closed Aloe to our are is Kniphofia, Red Hot Poker Plants. I am tring to cross with some hybrid Aloe to see if I can expand it's zones.

With old age I an loosing interest in all the hard work in keeping all these plants. Maybe if I lived in zone 9 or 10 it would be more enjoyable. Too expensive to heat a greenhouse thru the winter months.