Propagate Snake

Plants from Leaf

Cuttings and
make more
plants!

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Snake plants, or Sansevierias, are one of the easiest to care for houseplants.
And if you have one, you can make more. For free!

Propagating a snake plant is very simple to do. Rooting snake plant

cuttings in water is almost foolproof. Being patient might be the hardest part.

Want to know more about your snake plant? Hop over to my other article
about how to care for your  Sansevieria. Get all the tips to keep it happy and
healthy.
W
ater Propagating Sansevieria trifasciata laurentii
Snake Plant Propagation
There are a few reasons why you would propagate your snake plant.

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 Reuse a damaged leaf with sunburn marks, or leaves that get too tall
and bend or break.
 Maybe you have accidentally overwatered your Sansevieria and now
your plant has root rot. If it is not too bad, you can still save your plant by
propagating the parts that are still healthy.
 Perhaps you just want to adjust the overall look of your plant a bit by
removing a few leaves here and there.
Those otherwise discarded leaves will grow your indoor jungle, or can be
used as thoughtful gifts for friends and family.

Easy Propagation Tips

For the quickest results, use healthy leaves, preferably those that are not too
old.

When I say quickest, don’t expect overnight results. Snake plant cuttings take
a long time to root. Be prepared for an exercise in patience.

It is important to keep the leaf cuttings in the same direction as they were
on the plant. If you mistakenly turn them upside-down, they will not root.

Cut a v-shape notch on the bottom of the cuttings. This increases the

surface area for roots to grow from, and it also helps with keeping track of
which side is up and which end to put into the water or soil.

If you propagate a variegated snake plant, one with yellow leaf margins,
the new leaves that grow from those cuttings will not have those
variegated yellow edges.

The only way to keep the variegation is to propagate your plant by division.
Gently separate a clump of leaves with roots from the main plant and repot in
its own pot.
Sn
ake plant water propagation

How to Propagate Snake Plants in Water

Use clean, sharp cutting shears and carefully cut a leaf near the soil.

You can propagate a single leaf, put it in a tall glass vase for dramatic
effect. But you can also cut the leaf into multiple sections. That way you
can grow more new plants from that one leaf.

Let your cuttings dry out for a couple of days so that the cut ends callous
over. This will help in preventing root rot.

Place the leaf cuttings in a glass vessel with just enough water to cover the
bottom part of the cuttings. Place it somewhere where it gets plenty of
indirect light. Change the water every few days.

Next, the waiting period starts. Don’t worry if it has been a month and you
don’t see any roots yet. That is perfectly normal. You might need to wait
another month for roots. And even longer for leaf pups to start to grow.

Wait until the roots are at least an inch long before you pot them
up into well-draining succulent soil. Mix in some perlite or pumice for even
better drainage.

Check out my other article about water propagation if you want to know

even more about growing new plants in water.

How to Propagate Snake Plant cuttings in Soil

I love rooting in water first because I truly enjoy seeing the roots grow. But I
can also understand that some of my readers just want to do one thing and
be done with it. If that’s the case, you can also propagate
your Sanseveiria cuttings directly in soil.

This method basically just skips the water part. Cut your leaf, let it callous
over, put it in soil and wait.

Keep the soil slightly moist while rooting, less when roots are established.
The leaf-cutting itself won’t grow anymore. Unless it was the tip of the leaf
and tip is still intact. So once you see a new leaf popping up, you can cut the
original cutting down.

To speed up the process a bit, you can dip the bottom of each leaf cutting
into rooting hormone powder before planting it in soil.

Propagation problems
Even though I said earlier that propagating snake plants is basically
foolproof, it might still happen that it doesn’t work as planned. Some cuttings
might just not take as well as others.
Leaves get mushy and brown

Watch out for snake plant cuttings that get a bit mushy starting from the
bottom up, and then turn a brown or black color. You don’t want this.

Most likely your cutting is suffering from overwatering and has started
rotting.

This can be caused when you are watering the cuttings too often, or they
might be in a pot that is too large or without drainage holes on the bottom.
Also make sure you use an airy, fast-draining soil instead of a heavy potting
soil.
Reference: https://www.modandmint.com/snake-plant-propagation/