Transplanting Snake Plants: The Ultimate Procedure

Transplanting snake plants involves transferring them from their original location to another. The steps you follow should start off with making sure why you want to do it, to transferring the plant to the new pot to, finally, taking care of it.

This is best done during the seasons when the plants are actively growing, which is in summer or spring. This article describes and explains the steps that are involved when you are repotting your snake plants.

How to Transplant a Snake Plant Successfully?

To transplant a snake plant successfully, be sure of your reasons, prepare the potting soil, choose the new pot, loosen your plants and examine it. After that you can transfer it to its new home and care for it as you did before.

1. Be Sure of Your Reasons

It is important that you determine why you need to transplant your snake plant. This will help you do the process in a way that will benefit your plant and meet your needs as well. For example, if you are transplanting your plant in search of sunlight, this will guide you into choosing a better spot for your plant. If you are repotting your plant because of a disease, say, root rot, then this should be clear so that you can take the extra precautions.

Is the soil for your plant no longer as nutritious as it used to be? Could it be that it has become compacted over time, to the extent that drainage has become an issue? If yes, then you should pay much attention to the growing medium when you transplant your snake plant. If it is the size of the previous pot that you are worried about, then focus on increasing the size of the pot when you move your plant.

If your plant does not seem to be growing well in its current location, transplanting it might solve the matter. In such cases, you should be aware of snake plant care requirements so that you can provide your plant with conditions that make your plant grow in its new location. This includes light, watering and soil composition.

2. Prepare the Potting Soil

Once you are clear on the reasons for transplanting your plant, it is time to prepare the new potting soil. Your plant will prefer a growing medium that is loamy, well-aerated,with proper drainage characteristics. You can buy a ready-made, commercially available soil mix ㅡa cactus mix will do!.

You can also make your own potting mix in the comfort of your home. This can be done by combining potting soil, perlite, and sand at a ratio of 2:1:1, respectively. You can replace the perlite with pumice if need be. The perlite, pumice, and coarse sand have a loose structure that helps to loosen the potting mix, thereby improving the drainage properties.

Another recipe for a snake plant soil mix involves ⅔ of potting soil with ⅓ clay pebbles. Adding clay pebbles helps to improve the aeration of your plant’s growing medium. Considering that this soil component also enhances better drainage, your plant will not sit in water, a scenario that might expose your beauties to root rot.

3. Choose the New Pot

The drainage system for your plant involves the potting mix and the pot. If any of the two is not proper, your plant might sit in water. Therefore, select a pot that has a relatively bigger size than the previous one, preferably the one that is one pot up. This means that if the current pot’s size is 4 inches, we recommend that you choose a 6-inch one. Choosing a bigger pot allows for the roots of your snake plants to have enough space.

Make sure that the pot that you use is not so deep, considering that snake plants grow by spreading. Otherwise, a deeper pot is more likely to cause water logging because you will have to add more soil that your plant does not really need.

Also check the drainage holes that your new pot has. It should have more drainage holes that are big enough to allow excess water to escape. Smaller or fewer drainage holes will slow down drainage and this might make your plant susceptible to waterlogging and possible root rot.

4. Loosen Your Plant From Previous Location

We recommend that you water your plant before removing it from its current pot. Doing so will not only help to prevent wilting and possible transplant shock, it also comes in handy in easing the step of removing the plant from the pot.

You can use a dull knife to loosen the attachment between your plant and its pot. Sometimes, shaking the pot of the plant sideways might also work. The aim is to remove your plant without damaging the root ball. Otherwise, the snake plant may not recover quickly after transplanting it.

You can also tip the pot of the plant on its side. Tap the pot’s bottom and release your plant. If you are transferring your snake plant from a pot that is already cracked, you could just break it to increase the ease at which you can remove the plant.

5. Examine the Plant

Once the plant is out of the pot, check its roots and foliage for any damage or infections. Roots that appear off-white or white and firm are healthy. If you notice any mushy or brown roots, it is a sign that the plant has been attacked by root rot. You will need to remove such roots using a pair of scissors that have been dipped in 70 percent alcohol.

We also recommend that you wear gloves as you handle your plant to prevent transfer of diseases in your home garden. Also cut off leaves that appear diseased. You might also need to consider dividing snake plant beauties before transplanting them. This way, your new plants will appear tidier after transplanting – you will also reduce the burden on the roots of the plants as it recuperates from the transplanting procedure.

6. Transfer the Plant to its New Home

It is time to place your plant in its new pot. Before you do so, be sure to line the bottom of the new pot with coco coir liner, acoffee filter, or landscaping fabric. Doing so helps to prevent the potting mix from leaking out of the pot.

Carefully place your snake plant into its new pot, making sure that it is positioned in the middle of the pot. Add more soil in the sides of the pot to give it anchorage. Add worm compost on top to enhance the nutritional capacity of the growing medium and give it a boost.

7. Take Care of Your Snake Plant

How you take care of your plant immediately after transplanting plays a significant role in making the process a success. Some snake plant enthusiasts prefer to leave to deprive the plant of water soon after transplanting it so as to give them time to settle in. If you choose to follow that route, you will then have to water your plant in a week’s time. Remember to place the plant on a spot that is exposed to bright light that is indirect, not direct sunlight.

Avoid fertilizing your transplanted snake plants during the period within a month after their relocation. If you add fertilizer way too early, your plant may experience a more severe transplant shock. When it is time to fertilize your snake plants, use compost tea or general houseplant fertilizer.

Your plant is more likely to survive if you grow it under temperature ranges between 55 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures that are below 50 degrees Fahrenheit are a threat to your plant. Be on ye lookout for pests like spider mites, fungus gnats, mealy bugs, and scale as these usually attack snake plants. If these pests attack your beauties, you can use interventions such as Neem oil, insecticidal soap, and rubbing alcohol.

Frequently Asked Question

– Can You Transplant a Snake Plant With Root Rot?

Yes, you can transplant a snake plant with root rot but only if the situation is not severe. Uproot the plant to check the extent of damage caused by root rot. If only a few roots appear brown and mushy then you stand a chance to save your plant.

Just remove the affected roots and then spray the rooting system with a fungicide. You can then dip the root ball in a rooting hormone to hasten the development of more roots. After that, you can then transplant your snake plant.

If all the roots are brownish and smelly, your snake plant’s rooting system is dead and the likelihood of surviving is minimal. Under such circumstances, we recommend that you dispose of the plant completely. If you were also wondering how to repot a snake plant with root rot, the information provided in this section may also come in handy. It also applies where snake plant propagation is used as a way of dealing with root rot.

Conclusion

Steps to repot snake plant beauties have just been explicitly explained in this article. Here are some main nuggets that you should keep at the tips of your fingers:

• You should always know the reason why you are transplanting your snake plant.
• You can purchase a cactus potting mix or make your own using perlite, potting soil, and sand.
• Prepare a new pot that is big enough, with good drainage properties.
• Genty remove the plant from its previous pot and transfer it to the new one.
• Practice normal care requirements for snake plants but consider watering the transplanted plant for the first time after one week.

Some of the tips that you learned from this article are also applicable when you propagate snake plants, repotting snake plant pups, and even when replanting snake plant leaves. Take charge when you transplant your snake plants by applying the straightforward steps!