Episode 187: snake plants aka Sansevieria
Colin Walker’s Sansevierias on display. Photograph: Colin Walker.
Transcript
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Succulent expert Dr Colin Walker joins me to discuss the wonderful world of snake plants aka Sansevierias, plus I answer a question about repotting a fern.
If you're a Patreon subscriber at the Ledge End or Superfan level, you can listen to Colin talking about Sansevierias and putting me right about succulent fertilisers in An Extra Leaf 71. Scroll down for more information on how to become a patron of the show or give a one-off donation.
This week’s guest
Biologist Dr Colin Walker is the outgoing president of the British Cactus and Succulent Society and an expert on succulents, with an interest that stretches back 50 years.
He’s an Honorary Associate at the School of Environment, Earth & Ecosystem Sciences at the Open University, with research interests in cacti and succulents particularly in terms of biodiversity: here's his OU profile.
Some of Jane’s Sansevierias, including (from top left) S. trifasciata var. laurentii, S. Metallica’, S. ‘Bantel’s Sensation’, S. trifasciata ‘Twisted Sister’, S. trifasciata ‘Hahnii’ and S. trifasciata ‘Jade Dwarf’. Also visible are a variegated Hoya kerri and Hoya obovata.
Check out these notes as you listen, and scroll down for a gallery of Sansevieria images…
Colin has been on the show before! You can hear him talking about Aloes and Agaves in On The Ledge episode 59.
If you'd like to find out more about the British Cactus and Succulent Society, visit their website, Facebook page and Instagram account. Why not join and you'll have access to lots of expert advice, cheap seeds through their annual seed scheme and much much more?
Sanseveria is a genus of around 80 species, mainly native to Africa, with a few scattered as far east as Myanmar.
If you want to check out Hermine Stover’s The Sansevieria Book you can download a digital version.
All Sansevierias have tough, fibrous leaves. One of the common names of various Sansevieria species is bowstring hemp, because its fibrous leaves were used for stringing bows.
Sansevieria care tips
Sanevierias love centrally heated rooms - they will die if they are allowed to freeze and are best kept above around 12C.
They are often recommended for low light conditions - they will survive in these conditions but won’t really grow. So, if you want your plants to actually grow, give them as much light as you can.
Snake plants can be grown in plastic or pottery containers - terracotta pots will dry out more quickly than glazed china or plastic.
Colin uses two parts John Innes no 2 to one part grit as his Sansevieria substrate. He recommends repotting straight away if you’ve bought from a non-specialist grower, as the substrate they come in tends to be too water-retentive to work for home growing.
Once your plant is in the correct potting mix though, don’t repot until they are bursting out of the pot as some don’t like to have their roots disturbed.
Sansevieria propagation
There are four ways to do this: the first, growing from seed, is not generally your first choice, as seed is hard to come by, and it’s slower than the other methods.
You can take your plant out of its pot and pull or cut away part of a rhizome to pot up separately.
Some snake plants including S. parva produce overground stolons, so with these, you can cut off one of these, dry off the cut surface for a few days then put it into some substrate.
Leaf cuttings also work well: you can chop longer leaves up into short sections and each piece will root when potted into a gritty potting mix - some people also root them in water. This is a slower method, and you’ll find that variegated forms won’t come true to the parent plant - with these, rhizome cuttings are the way to go.
The Sanseverias we mention in this episode are: ‘Bantel’s Sensation’, a silvery variegated cultivar that I spent ages trying to add to my collection. ‘Ikea’ flowers annually and is a good grower. ‘Punki’ Colin believes both come from a cultivar called ‘Fernwood’ long leaved form.
Snake plants produce beautiful white, scented flowers - they are pollinated by moths so the flowers need to release a hyacinth-like perfume but don’t need to be brightly coloured. if you want flowers, choose the right species: S. trifasciata doesn’t flower very often, whereas ‘Fernwood’ and Colin’s ‘Ikea’ bloom without fail every year. Most have tall spikes up to 1m or 2m tall, others have flowers that emerge at ground level, such as S. halli. Each flower lasts only one night. One of the best species for flowering is S. francisii.
Sansevieria’s naming controversy
Following genetic sequencing of Sansevierias, taxonomists have placed them within the genus Dracaena. This has caused controversy in some parts of the Sansevieria world, and Colin and I agree it’s absolutely fine to keep calling your snake plants Sansevieria if you wish!
Sansevieria gallery
All the images below are credited to Colin Walker.
Eliza’s fern…
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Eliza wants to know what to do about her huge fern - to pot, or not to repot? the fern in question looks like Pteris cretica, the Cretan brake fern, which makes a great houseplant. People panic about repotting, but this fern grows from rhizomes so it’s pretty tough - wrestling it out of its current pot may well be worth it if it starting to lose condition.
Spring and early summer is a good time to do this, giving the plant plenty of time to continue growing before it slows down in winter. Once you have the rootball out of the pot, tease out the roots, or if you are facing a solid wall of roots, grab a serrated knife and slice away! What you want to avoid is putting the still-solid rootball in a new pot so that the roots just continue to circle around each other. Choose a pot just slightly larger than the old one: you should be able to stick an index finger between the two pots if you nest them together. Fern substrates need to be fairly moisture retentive - I’d add some fine orchid bark and vermiculite to a peat-free houseplant mix.
Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!
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CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, Namaste by Jason Shaw. The ad music was Dill Pickles by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. All tracks licensed under Creative Commons.