I am a beginner plant parent. I’ve done research & it suggests the damage on my snake plant is from literal physical damage to the leaves (which has happened from people bumping into it) + sunburn (which I definitely think occurred because I’d placed it outside in the sun after taking poor advice because I thought it wasn’t getting enough sun indoors).
Do we think those two reasons sound accurate based on its state or do you think there’s something else going on?
Is there anything I can do to help the plant recover? I know the broken-tipped leaves won’t grow back. Can I somehow support the leaves that are still quite alive but just cracked making them fold in half?
I took the best pics I could- there isn’t any root rot that I can see or any leaves becoming mushy or anything else- they just look dry and weak. ☹️
Care Details:
• the pot has drainage
• i try to leave the plant alone and water when the first 2 inches or so of soil is dry but the times in between vary so i’d say i water about every 10-ish days maybe?
• it’s a houseplant that usually sits in a southeast window (we don’t have any south facing ones) but that window is near an air vent so i try to move the plant as far away as i can which leaves it about 2-2.5 ft away (i move it farther if the vent is expressing warm air)
Note: I very recently learned that I shouldn’t remove tips of leaves even if they are damaged so I no longer am doing that.
by fromnowfromzero
10 Comments
Well, first this isn’t a snake plant. So let’s start there. 😅 Looks like a Dracena
Yeah that’s not a sansevieria
I agree with u/gin_kgo, it’s definitely a dracaena. Most of the damage does look mechanical, the crispy/yellow edges probably aren’t from mechanical damage. I don’t see any signs of pests so it’s probably from over or under watering
That’s a dracaena and the leaves look a lot like mine and I have not figured out the best watering and light ratio so I just ignore it 😬
Indeed, a brown leaf will never turn green again, and holes and tears will not fill back up again either. As you have deduced by now, dracaenas hate direct sunlight. Indirect light is what it likes. The best you can do is place it in a less frequented spot in your home and keep watering it regularly.
If the brown spots at the end of some leaves really bother you (they bother me!), you can chop the ends, like we see you did in picture 4, but you could cut them in a spiky shape, so it fits better with the other leaves. That’s what I do.
Any kind of ”support” will take away from the beauty of the plant. In my eyes, best choices are to either tolerate or cut. But these grow relatively fast, so pretty new leaves will comes and take your eyes away from the bruised ones in no time.
Patience!
so everyone forgot sanseveria doesn’t exist anymore… and is now dracaena…
anyway, don’t risk damaging or stressing the plant any further by leaving it alone in an area where it can produce enough energy to grow.
Dracaena giganta, let soil dry almost completely before watering
It’s a dracaena, they just do this. It feels impossible to keep them in pristine condition lil
I see no sun damage. The chlorotic edges are probably from fluoride if you are using tap water and live in the US.
This looks typical. Almost every one I’ve ever seen looks like this haha. Consistent watering, feed it once in a blue moon, and wash your leaves every few months. A few little brown spots is normal, don’t fret.