If there was a list of the most tolerable indoor plants on the planet, snake plants would undoubtedly be near the top. Snake plants are without a doubt the easiest plant to grow, with the least amount of regular maintenance and effort required.
Anyone can grow the perfect plant anywhere, including your bedroom, kitchen, lawn, and even at the bathroom corner. Wherever you keep them, they will provide you with green foliage without bothering you or requiring you to provide much plant care.
Because of its incredible air purification capacity, the snake plant is also becoming a popular indoor plant. Keeping a snake plant next to your bed is like keeping an oxygen plant next to you.
According to NASA research, this tropical plant not only provides oxygen but also removes toxins from your home and purifies the air. All these factors contribute to the plant’s popularity and suitability for indoor gardening.
However, like other living beings, the snake plant also suffers from various diseases and sometimes pest attacks. Some of them are, yellow leaves curling, wrinkled leaves, leaves falling over, and so forth.
As a gardener, you must identify some common snake plant problems and diseases & strive hard to prevent this in your plant, and try to resolve them if they happen.
Table of Contents
Why Snake Plant Leaves are Turning Yellow
You may suddenly see that the snake plant leaf is turning yellow or there are yellow spots in the leaves of your plant. Although snake plants hardly suffer from sickness, excessive negligence may cause the plant to suffer.
In yellow leaf, the yellowing in snake plant begins at the leaf tips. Minor curling of the leaf’s tips may follow, which occurs when that area of the leaf dies. As a result, the plant may appear to be wilting or losing its variegation.
Several factors contribute to snake plant leaf yellowing. Temperatures around freezing can damage some or all the leaves on tropical plants.
This can happen when a plant is exposed to a cold windowpane, whether it’s outside or indoors. It’s also possible that water will be a factor.
Plants that don’t get enough water begin to dry out, and their leaves begin to yellow from the tips down.
Root rot can be caused by too much water in the soil. Infected roots slowly kill the plant. this may lead to causing the death of snake plants.
A general rule of thumb is to water snake plants when their soil is barely moist, and only every other month in the winter.
Why Snake Plant Leaves are Curling
You might find your snake plant’s leaves are curling and you want to cure the problem. It’s important to look for indicators of plant stress and to determine the root cause of the problem to know what to do next.
Leaf curling on a snake plant is most likely caused by an insect infestation Curled leaves can also be caused by overwatering, cold stress, and fungal diseases.
Your snake plant might be suffering from curling leaves due to a wide range of reasons.
Lack of proper indirect sunlight light or light conditions, inconsistent watering, improper fertilization or temperature, root rot, and root bound can be among the list of possible reasons for leaves curling. Transplant shock, insect infestation.
Why Snake Plant’s Leaves are Falling Over
You may notice that the leaf on your snake plant is falling. Not all the leaves nor entire leaves to be precise, but a portion of your plan plant may be a leaf or two. This may happen due to overwatering, improper lighting, or improper temperature issues.
As a tropical succulent plant, the snake plant had the ability to store water in its leaves, roots, and rhizomes. Excessive water pressurized these places to store excessive water.
Hence, once healthy leaves start to mosh out and then mushy leaves start to fall after a certain time.
Why are the Leaves of Snake Plant Wrinkled
During spring and summer, you’ll notice that your snake plant’s leaves are a richer dark green, and the grey stripes are more visible. The leaves may wrinkle during the hot season when temperatures are high. High temperatures can cause sansevieria leaves to curl and shrink.
If there is more water loss than intake, causing wrinkles and wilting in the plant’s leaves. Snake plant leaves will curl and shrivel if you don’t water them more often. This may also happen due to getting exposed to excessive sunlight then it can take.
Hot weather, soil-drainage rate, Shock and stress, temperature, and humidity, might also have an indirect impact on wrinkled leaves.
Possible Solutions to the Issues
Although the problems are various and not related to each other the main reason behind them is that you are not maintaining your plant properly in the way you should take care of your snake plant.
For this here is a list of things you should follow to take care of your snake plant and keep it healthy and lively.
Water once in 2 weeks:
You should water your plants once each two weeks, especially during the summer months. You may need to water your plant less on winter days, even once every four weeks. However, you should check the soil before watering them. You can easily check the soil by putting your finger into the soil.
You should dig about one inch into the soil with your finger and then check if the soil there is moist-free or not. If you find moisture at that level, you should refrain from watering and wait for a few more days.
If you find the word soil completely dry, then go for watering. You should look out for both not watering too much or too little because both are harmful to your plant.
Provide bright indirect light:
The snake plant thrives best in low-light conditions. As with any other succulent plant, they prefer indirect sunlight. You can use LED lights in case there is not sufficient sunlight to use.
Use less fertilizer:
You should provide the least possible amount of fertilizer to your snake plant. Fertilizer increases water storing capacity in the soil and reduces soil dryness which ultimately makes the soil moist and harms the snake plant.
For this, you pray you must refrain from using much fertilizer and use as little as possible. To be safe, you may only put a handful of organic fertilizer when potting or reporting the plant.
Maintain Temperature:
Like other succulent plants, snake plants also hate cold, rather it loves to stay in warm places which also makes it relevant to why it is often found in desert areas. You should make sure that your plant stays at more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Anything preacher between 55 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit is the best for your snake plant. So, keep an eye on the plant and the temperature, especially in the winter months
Use well-draining soil:
As snake plant hates wet soils, you should pot the plan in dry well-draining soil. You may use readymade succulent soil or cactus soil to pot your plant.
You can also simply make a better version of the soil for your plant by mixing 3/4 of the ready-to-use potting soil with 1/4 of the succulent soil.
This will ensure that the soil is well-drained and aerated and friendly for the plant roots. The soil will be naturally richened by adding a handful of compost to it as well.
Dry soil lets the excess water drain fast and lets you control moist conditions for your plant.
Use proper pot:
While planting a snake plant, you should look for a pot that has a good water drainage system with a huge drainage hole. This will aid the water drainage system and keep your plant safe from waterlog or moist soil.
Always keep a reminder about the drainage issue while choosing a pot for the snake plant. A pot with proper drainage will also ensure healthy roots and green leaves.
All these tips will help you to get a healthy and happy snake plant. So try your best to look after this point these issues and you will get healthy snake plants free from diseases and other issues.
Final words
Snake plants are pretty easy to take care of. You can easily breed a handful of snake plants in various places across your home just if you can maintain the topics mentioned in this article.
Hope you have a great garden full of lively happy plants.