Garden Tips
How to plant and care for your Mother in Law's Tongue plants
Snake Plant, Mother in law's tongue or Sansevieria
The Mother in law's tongue plant is more commonly known as the Snake plant os Sansevieria plant and is classed as a cactus or succulent.
The Sansevieria plant originates from the West coast of Africa in countries such as Nigeria and the Congo.
The Snake plant or Mother in Law's tongue plant as I know it grows well in South Africa either indoors
or outdoors and it can be grown in a pot or in the ground in your garden.
The Mother in law's tongue is normally used as an indoor plant where it must be placed in good light for it to thrive. It can also be planted in the garden where it gets some sun.
How to propagate new plants.
Sansevieria plant in a pot
If you have a Mother in law's tongue in your garden and want to propagate more you can do that in various ways,
You can cut off a leaf and place it in water to grow roots but you need to keep changing the water if you don't want the leaf to rot and die. It is however better to plant the cuttings directly in soil as this allows the leaf to grow a scab over the cut and the roots to grow.
To do this place the cuttings in dry soil and don't water for four days. After that you can water once every 14 days. Once they have taken root you can replant the rooted cuttings in small pots of their own.
A second way to propagate the plant is to break off a new shoot or an existing leaf with a root on it and place it in a small pot in soil not watering it for 4 days and then once every two weeks thereafter.
Snake plants tend to grow faster in a small pot as the roots like the coziness of a small pot.
Once the plant has taken you can keep it in indoors in a well lighted room. If the light in the room is not sufficient for the plant it will let you know by one or two leaves drooping and looking like they are sick. To fix this problem move the plant to a well lighted area and leave it there until the leaves have straightened up again. You can then move it back to where it was but if the light is not sufficient for the plant the same problem will arise again.
If you however are not watering the plant enough the plant will let you know by all the leaves drooping and going soft and starting to dry out. Water the plant and if it is not too far gone it will revive again.
You should not water these plants more than twice a month letting the soil dry out in between waterings. Too much water can cause the roots to rot and the plant to die.
Mother in law's tongue in flower
Having said the above I must admit that I have had my Sansevieria plants in a pot in my garden in a very sunny spot for years and they have never drooped or looked like they were thirsty or going to die. During the summer months they get watered daily. During the drought in Cape Town they received the minimum of water and when they were watered it was grey water which had soap in it. Other plants died but the mother in law's tongue soldiered on bearing out the fact thay they are hardy plants needing very little attention.
Once the drought was over I was amazed when they suddenly started flowering. They had never flowered for me in all the time I had had them. Apparently they normally flower in April, May or June here in South Africa.
I took the gesture as a gift from the plant thanking me for looking after it during the drought. This year it has once again flowered so its still happy with me.
Benefits of having the plant in your home.
These plants have some very beneficial benefits especially if they are kept inside the home. Firstly they require very little maintenance. All they need is some water every two weeks and sufficient light and they are happy.
They grow in any type of soil.
Snake plants produce a lot of oxygen into the atmosphere so they are good in a room where there is a sick person.
They also take Co2 out of the atmosphere during the night and also remove contaminants in the air making the air cleaner to breathe.
People in the east use the leaves when they have earache so it has medicinal properties as well.
There are a number of varieties of this plant and all are suitable for home planting.
As the Mother in law's tongue plant can grow anywhere with little difficulty why not get yourself a few plants for your home. They will reward you with their beautiful colourful green leaves and lack of maintenance and possibly a flower or two.
Get yours today.
Happy gardening.
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Mother in Law;s Tongue, Snake plant, Sansevieria
12.7.2023
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