I bought a fancy handmade ceramic pot at a fair nearly 3 years ago and it had this plant in it. For the first year or so I was definitely over watering it. Finally did some research on snake plants and moved it to this little pot and started watering every 2-3 weeks. I can't even kill the thing, I was convinced it was a really good fake until I repotted it. At this point I'm not even mad it's so small, doesn't take up much room on my side table
by Relyt4
42 Comments
Okay… genuine question here….. it’s real, right? LOL. I ask because I had a friend who told me all about her SOP that she had kept alive for a year and was so proud…. come to find out it wasn’t real. bahahaha
Anywhore…. I am assuming it’s real and my only thought would be that it’s a “zombie leaf.” Meaning that someone likely tried to prop that leaf and it eventually grew roots to sustain itself, however, it will never do anything more than that. Snake plants are super slow growers but three years is way too long without growth if there was ever any chance to begin, in my opinion. Regardless, it’s a cute little addition to your table 🙂 I had a pothos prop that never did anything but develop roots for the entire year I had it, yet it never died! I just left it until eventually it got root rot.
It hasn’t died either soooooo ….. 🤷🏻♀️
If you want, I would suggest repotting it into something smaller. I have a snake plant triple that in what appears to be the same size pot. Maybe you’ll be surprised with a pup someday 🙂 Nature is miraculous!!!!!!
Mine hasn’t moved an inch in several months. So I’m here for the comments.
Mine stagnated in growth because they were in pots that were too large. I put them into smaller ones and they started growing like mad. Try popping it into a wee pot and see how you get on.
How much light does it get? Even though they can *survive* in low light, they tend to grow better with more.
Like some others have said, they thrive in tighter conditions, or as someone said in the snake plant group “they’re family oriented and like to be next to each other”. It being a single leaf…. Gotta make it feel snug on its own.
I have some that took about a year to grow because the pot was simply too wide. From what I’ve gathered of my own plants, too big and the roots grow go figure out where the edge is, but also it’s too much water for them. I didn’t report 2 of mine and they just took off. Eventually 1 got repotted and about 6 months later got repotted again because a pup was destroying the pot it was in… The other one is completely root bound, like I’m not sure if there’s any form of soil in it anymore. That one actually gave me flowers last year.
If you’ve got it, I should try and put it in a pot that’s as snug as you can fit the roots into. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, even a nursery pot will do.
They are SO slow growing. That pot is also pretty big for it and it would probably do better in a smaller one.
Smaller pot, more light. They have small roots so it doesn’t need to be in a large pot. Snakes actually love sunlight. They will grow much more if put in a sunny location.
https://preview.redd.it/3f7ghgjc7qaf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82626192fd5b4d0896a7e3dbec34e54ba2e40846
Oh hi twin! I wish I had advice but I’m in the same boat as you 😅😅 going on two years now and it hasn’t changed a bit. It’s also under a grow light for 8hrs/day and gets fertilized 🙃
I’ve had one leaf plants never push another leaf. I think it has something to do with the nodes.
It’s not getting proper hydration. These are really good at waiting.
The pot is too big so if you fully water you kill some of the root system, and if you underwater it goes into conservation mode and doesn’t grow while waiting for the pot to dry out.
I guarantee you if you pot it in a smaller pot which you can water without reluctance … the growth will take off. Bonus points if you simply setup a self-watering reservoir-and-wick system.
Snake plants CAN be really slow growers but they don’t need to be statues. The reputation of “slow growth” is actually “strong resistance to death allowing for poor conditions to go uncorrected”.
It has roots, but does it have a rhizome? I don’t think they can replicate with roots alone, I believe it requires a rhizome.
Snake leaf
I was starting a little plant in a little pot and needed a prop to hold it up. I grabbed a leaf off a Hoya plant and used that. After about a month the little plant died but the Hoya leaf looked like the day I picked it. That was back at that start of covid. The leaf sits in my kitchen window in a tiny little pot. I water it every week or so and it seems to be perfectly happy just existing as a leaf. I’ve realized I’m good with that and will continue to water said leaf until one of keels over.
My snake plant was abandoned in the corner of a room behind a chair because it didn’t grow for over a year with it’s previous owner. One single snake, just like this but in a bigger pot.
I simply gave her a small cup of water around the soil but nowhere near the roots, probably less than 8oz. Maybe every 3 weeks. And I’d let the pot sit in the water run off in a glass pie dish, almost like it made its own humidity system.
She’s now putting out her 2nd pup!
My lesson is to totally ignore it for a while (thriving on neglect) , and then make it work towards its water source lolol
Pots too big. They like being cramped
Mine grow when I neglect them for a while!!
my zz plant took 1 year until it developed one aditional leaf. turns out i overwatered it. sometimes messing up one aspect of the plants care halts their growth completely
I wouldn’t want it any other way
Be grateful it’s alive.
The tip of it is broken off, so that leaf will never grow any taller.
As soon as I gave my snake plant granular fertilizer, it has been making pups like crazy!
Oh oh oh! I have hope for you yet! I had mine for FIVE years before it put out new shoots. This summer it’s decided that the time is finally here, and we’ve now got 3 babies! Don’t give up hope – sometimes they’re slow starters. I didn’t put mine in a smaller pot purely because the rhizome was huge and i didn’t want to break it further – probably the reason for the slow growing, but hey, we got there in the end.
Why is this so precious?
I’m convinced snake plants don’t grow. They just exist until you accidentally water them twice in a month. Then they rot.
Water less. I bottom water mine every 4-6 weeks
They thrive on neglect
Try and shallow bowl that’s what i use
How hilarious how money I have one similar to that only mines called a silver streak, but it has like the one whatever you wanna call it. It’s not really a leaf. It’s a fin whatever it is and it hasn’t done anything either and it’s not going up high, but it’s not dying for you to say you can’t even kill it. That’s funny. Some of them are just so weird and I have another one that’s got the yellow stripe on the edge. I’m probably gonna make it bad but it seems to be doing OK. It’s not getting tall, but I’m getting a lot of little plants in the outside of it. They’re weird they’re weird. Good luck.
J yes nature is miraculous. It’s weird. It keeps you on the edge and then it makes you give you up. It stresses you out and it gratifies you all of that.
Maybe that’s just its shed skin?
Snake plants don’t grow if the tip is broken. But they will put out pups. I bet if you dig it out it’s started to grow little pups from the root ball.
They like their roots to be super snug in their pots, so maybe try downsizing the pot!
Decreasing pot size like everyone has suggested will help, although in my case I also wasn’t watering it enough. You don’t want to overwater it, of course, so I was scared to water too much. But when you decrease the pot size and it’s still getting plenty of sunshine/plant light/etc, water it when the soil gets completely dry – don’t let her go thirsty!
I was going to say repot it. Mine went nuts after I repotted. But you already did that.
Pot too smol
DO NOT, i repeat, DO NOT give it any fertilizer until you have researched good ones.. i’ve killed two snake plants using fertilizer on them. i still haven’t mastered that yet. you need a really good one.
Has it been in the sunlight all this time? With that much light the lack of growth is kind of shocking
I have its family members at my house. They’ve been sitting around doing absolutely nothing for 3 years.
Let it dry out more than you usually do. I’d check it every couple of days to be safe but these damn things thrive on sunlight and neglect
Let him cook
They like to be root bound, and it takes a while to grow a new leave. Like everyone is saying its not a lost