Snake Plant Propagation by Cuttings and Winter Care Tips
Although the snake plant does not bloom often and its appearance is not as showy as other flowering varieties, this does not affect people's fondness for it. It is often used to decorate living rooms and offices. Not only does it have high ornamental value, but its ability to absorb formaldehyde and purify the air is also unmatched by ordinary flowers. For gardeners who want to grow it, of course the thing they care about most is its propagation method.
Snake Plant Propagation by Cuttings
1. Time for Cutting Propagation
Snake plants can be propagated by cuttings throughout the year.
2. Choosing Cuttings
For medium and large varieties of snake plant, split-leaf cuttings are suitable; for small varieties, whole-leaf cuttings are suitable. Choose healthy, thick leaves as cuttings.
3. Cutting Propagation Method
Cut the leaves crosswise into several pieces at equal intervals of 5-8 cm, insert the leaf pieces diagonally into a clean medium. The medium should first be thoroughly moistened with water, then place in a semi-shaded spot and wait for the cuttings to sprout. Once the young plants have grown, they can be transplanted into larger round pots for growing on.
How to Care for Snake Plant in Winter
1. Care Temperature
The snake plant prefers a relatively warm growing environment. Its suitable growing temperature is between 20℃——30℃, and the wintering temperature in winter should preferably not be lower than 10℃. So when growing snake plants in winter, try not to place them outdoors.
2. Restrict Watering
Temperatures in winter are generally relatively low. The snake plant is a desert plant and is quite afraid of frozen leaves and waterlogging, so in winter it is best to restrict watering. Just resume watering in spring. If the indoor space is not warm enough, it is best to stop watering and wait until the temperature rises before watering again.
3. Do Not Fertilize
In winter, the growth of the snake plant slows down, and at this time it does not need a large amount of fertilizer, because the snake plant's demand for fertilizer in winter is not very high.
4. Winter Cold Protection
In winter, be sure to protect the snake plant from freezing, because the snake plant is a plant with a relatively high water content in its leaves. If it freezes in winter, the cells will rupture and the plant will die. So pay attention to cold protection and do not let your snake plant die.
Snake Plant Diseases and Their Control
1. Leaf Spot Disease
Symptoms: It mainly occurs on the leaves. In the early stage of the disease, nearly round or oblong spots appear on the leaves, and the edges of the lesions are light yellow and slightly sunken. When there are many lesions on a leaf, they tend to merge, the leaf withers and dies, and in the later stage the lesions fall off and perforate. Lesions near the ground are prone to rot, causing the stem base to rot or the whole plant to topple.
Control method: During care, reduce watering, keep the soil slightly moist, and lower the soil humidity, which can effectively prevent leaf spot disease. When the disease occurs, in the early stage you can use Bordeaux mixture or 53.8% Kocide 2000 dry flowable, spraying 2-3 times in a row at intervals of 5-7 days. Alternate the chemicals when spraying to prevent the plant from developing resistance.
2. Rot Disease
Symptoms: In the early stage of the disease, water-soaked lesions appear on the plant's leaves, and after gradually expanding, the lesions become round to irregular, dark gray, soft-rotted, and slightly sunken; afterward the lesions dry out and become sunken, and in humid environments black mold spots appear on the leaves.
Control method: When diseased plants are found, promptly remove the diseased leaves and change the pot and soil. Disinfect the soil before replanting. In severe cases, spray 50% carbendazim or thiophanate-methyl at 800 times dilution, once every 5-7 days, and stop once improvement is seen.
3. Bacterial Soft Rot
Symptoms: After the plant is infected, the leaves change from green to light yellow to grayish yellow, the stem base near the ground develops water-soaked soft rot, and later it gradually topples, and the roots rot and die.
Control method: In winter and spring, the temperature should be kept above 10℃, watering should be controlled, and appropriate shading should be provided. In the peak growing seasons of spring and autumn, appropriately increase the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers to improve the plant's disease resistance. When diseased plants are found, promptly pull them out and clean up thoroughly. If discovered in time, you can use streptomycin sulfate at 2000 times dilution, spraying once every 5-7 days for 2-3 consecutive sprays.
How to Propagate Snake Plant by Division
1. Cutting Apart
Sparse clumps do not need to be dealt with; here the main task is to cut overly dense snake plant leaf clumps into several clumps. Each divided clump must have not only leaves but also rhizomes and suckers; only in this way can the snake plant survive.
2. Potting Up
First, spread a layer of potting soil at the bottom of the pot, then starting from one side of the pot place the snake plant's leaf clumps evenly in the pot, and finally fill the empty spaces in the pot with potting soil.
3. Care
After potting up, do not just leave it alone. Water thoroughly the first time, and afterward the amount of water should be controlled.
4. Division Precautions
When cutting apart, try to ensure that each clump has a little more root system on the premise of evenness, and try to avoid damaging the roots, and of course do not hurt yourself.
The planted snake plant should be placed in a cool place for care. On rainy days it should be moved indoors and must not be rained on for a long time, to prevent the roots from rotting.
Although the snake plant has very strong adaptability to the environment, when growing it at home you still need to control key factors such as light, water, and fertilizer. In the later stage you also need to guard more against pests and diseases; the detailed control methods are given above. If all these can be done well, the snake plant's growth will not be poor, and it may even produce pretty little flowers!