A derivative of western Africa, Madagascar, and South Asia, these twisty desert plants love heat and humidity and are incredibly resilient in indoor environments. If your snake plant isn’t getting enough sunlight, it will tell you with droopy and sad-looking leaves. While you should be careful to not suddenly move your snake plant from a dark corner to a high-light environment, you can train it to grow really well next to a window that receives some brighter light. To do so, Santiago recommends gradually moving it toward your light source while keeping its humidity levels high. Once it’s closer to your window, just stay on the lookout for “sunburn.” According to Santiago, “one sign of plant sunburn is a thinning leaf that’s starting to blacken or brown. It’ll look flimsy, and the tips get crispy.” RELATED STORY: 7 Best Grow Lights For Indoor Plants 2023: LED & Fluorescent So this is one type of plant that can handle some breaks between waterings. One of the tricks with snake plants is to make sure their soil is completely dry to the touch before watering. Sabharwal says one of the first things you’ll notice about an overwatered snake plant is that the stem connected to the root structure starts to get soggy. “That means there’s something wrong. They’re very abuse-tolerant,” he explains. As you give your snake plant a fresh influx of soil, check to see if its roots are pressed all the way against the pot. If they are, you’ll want to transfer it to a new pot that is 1 to 2 inches wider in diameter. Santiago says you shouldn’t need to do this more than once every two to three years, though. (Again, snake plants are slow growers!) Some other signs that your snake plant could use a new home are if its new leaves come out wilted before they had a chance to mature, or if older growth suddenly starts to look unhealthy and die even though your care routine hasn’t changed. “We hear that we should mist our plants,” she adds, “but snake plants do not like to have wet leaves. They live in very drought-heavy areas where overhead rain doesn’t happen often—which is why they’re so resilient.” To avoid this, Santiago recommends staying away from spritzing and only watering the soil itself. Sabharwal adds that water propagation is never ideal for a snake plant. It causes its root structures to become so brittle that they have a hard time acclimating to soil again. When Carly’s not covering sustainability topics, she spends her time tackling social impact issues regarding the environment & its inhabitants, practicing self-reflection (on and off the mat), and reading memoirs from Black authors. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
