My mom has this massive snake plant in her kitchen. It is massively root bound, which I understand that snake plants will always grow until they take over the pot but this seems like there is little dirt left. My mom wants to take it out and repot into several pots but is worried that cutting apart the plant will kill it. It is beautiful and seems happy so she is afraid to mess with it.
She instructed me to “ask that Reddit thing you use all the time” so here I am. Any advice?
by DDayDawg
38 Comments
Snake plants are durable as heck. I recently accidentally ripped the insides off of one while repotting (don’t ask how, I don’t know) and I just put them both into soil and everyone’s happy and growing new leaves now. 🤷
It’s massive, i love it! How long did it take to get to that size?
She may have to sacrifice the pot, but it shouldn’t kill the plant. There are a ton of YouTube videos on replanting snake plants. That is a gorgeous snake plank! Good luck.
WOW!! That thing is beautiful. When mine has “pups” I always just pluck them out and put them straight into soil. These plants are SO RESILIENT and thrive on neglect and abuse I swear 🤣 it might be difficult to get out of the pot tho…. Maybe try submerging it in water for a few hours to loosen it a bit! But it will be just fine being separated and repotted!
That is such a gorgeous plant! Will definitely survive being split.
Dayum, it’s impressive! Don’t fix something that isn’t broken.
mine has fallen over every 6mo. that pot must be heavy
Oh my goodness. It’s majestic. My snake plants are all repotted pieces from a neighbor. They just thrive with little water and less care
You can split it up by taking a sharp shovel right down the middle of the clump, and it will grow on like nothing happened. Snake plants are made of steel. Be totally fearless with your division endeavors. You would basically have to drop it in a vat of weed killer to hurt it.
Mine is almost that big. And it is so durable as I have broken/cut leaves off. I also think mine has minimal dirt and I will have to do something soon. But for now I’ll leave it be.
I do this each spring. It will not hurt it at all. The only problem I have is them falling over at over 3.5 feet tall. To counter this I cut solid foam blocks. Insert them in the repoted plant bowl to help keep them upright until the roots grab hold.
https://preview.redd.it/1hyn4o8wut2g1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb33730f7e7ef745b5e66497ae5abc32f49f2eb3
It also works as a Christmas tree. LoL
This is one of the most beautiful snake plants I have ever seen!
This nakes me want a snake plant, they can get this tall?? 👀
In central Africa they would use the sinew strands of the snake plant to make bow strings for hunting.
Anyway, I’d just take a hammer to the pot if it doesn’t have sentimental value.
Wow, that’s impressive! Dividing a snake plant into smaller sections and repotting each section in an individual pot is a proper propagation method. So it won’t kill the plant. Looking at the size, your mum could do with a second person helping her. Sansevieria are extremely resilient, and even if a leaf breaks, it can still be, hey, rooted in soil or water. Good luck!
I’m sorry I have nothing to offer, as I struggle with this one plant.
Please dear help me/us, what’s your care routine? Soil, light, water, nutrients, fairy dust?
Bravo!
Beautiful
It is truly beautiful and would look nice in a slightly larger pot. Probably breaking the pot is the only way to get it out of there though.
Beautiful! Can’t wait for all of mine to get that big!
It’s impressive. I’ve never seen one this tall and so unsupported.
I would be inclined to either report the whole plant into a larger pot; if it needs to be split, try to keep your retained piece as a large undisturbed clump to increase the chance it will remain self supporting
Wow ! That’s incredibly beautiful!
The plant will be fine. Pieces will break off. Plant them separately and give them away.
The pot is history. It’s why I never use pots that curve in at the top.
This should get a repost in r/absoluteunit
Damn! This makes me miss my 6ft snake plant. Beautiful
😍😍😍
Pulling it apart is how you clone the plant. Like if it was a variegated one you could take it apart and keep the variegation but if you took a cutting it would lose the variegation.
You could make so many plants from that huge one. That said a lot of the leaves look really thin so it probably needs light. When a snake plant has plenty of light and is thriving the leaves are wide and firm. While snake plants can survive low light, that’s not the same as thriving
Just ensure you choose appropriate soil and don’t overwater.
I split and repotted a gorgeous thriving snake plant several years ago and nearly killed it cause I used rich soil that retained moisture very effectively. Got root rot. Caught it in time to save the plant but it was a close thing.
That makes sense- it’s amazing how the tall parts of a snake plant can stand up at all with such a small root structure relative to its size. I guess it needs crowd.😎
I’d keep the plant in one piece but repot into something 30% larger. The pot will likely have to be smashed to get the plant out but it’s now worth $250-$350+ to give context to the operation and associated costs.
This my inspiration. Just wow and wonderful!!
The important thing is get a big tarp, take the root ball out and use you fingers to gentally tease apart the spears. Then plant them into new pots. From personal experiance I would say deepest pots you can get. They will have trouble stay upright for weeks after repotting. I have done this several times over the past 8 years with a large snake plant I inherited. It is now 3 pots of snake plant I have and at least three smaller pots I have given away.
You won’t be able to salvage the pot on the repot, this is what we call a “forever pot” because the soil diameter is larger than the diameter of the lip of the pot.
So yes, you can repot, even without hurting the plant, but the pot is toast.
That’s a gorgeous plant
It looks like it’s about to bloom flowers. Mine did that once. They smell so good. You should enjoy that before you repot.
If you’re separating it into several new pots anyway just go for it you might lose a few leaves as with any repot.
It’s so happy it’s blooming! Kudos to your mom! (Agree with everyone else, she won’t hurt it as long as she doesn’t over water when transplanted)
She’s beautiful
I think you need a bigger pot.
Jaws jokes aside, it’s gorgeous and separating it should hurt it if you’re careful.