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Sansevieria plants are some of the most diminutive demanding plants in your home. People love this plant because it can go for long periods without water. It is also one of the significant areas where people fail when caring for snake plants because they cannot tell when the plant needs water. Consequently, some mistakes overwater the plant, and others leave it too long without water.
Signs a snake plant needs watering, include wrinkling leaves, drooping, leaf curling, brown tips, dry edges, yellowing/browning leaves, brittle leaves, and stunted growth. Always check and water the plant when the soil dries up.
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If you don’t water a snake plant for long, it will start suffering from dehydration, which affects the plant’s growth and eventually kills it. In this post, I will be providing information that will help you determine if your snake plants need water.
Signs That Your Snake Plant is Thirsty
Water is an essential component of all living organisms. Ninety percent of plants’ structure is made of water, which performs critical functions in plants.
Water is a transport medium for hormones, food, nutrients, minerals, and toxins. It is also used to manufacture plant energy through photosynthesis and cooling the plant through transpiration.
By maintaining cellular rigidity, water helps maintain the upright structure for plants.
Whenever plants don’t get adequate water, all these processes we saw above are likely to suffer, affecting the plant’s health. It is essential to regularly check your snake plants and maintain the desired watering schedules. Here is how you can tell that your snake plant needs water:
The soil is dry
The recommended way of checking when your snake plant needs watering is by checking the soil moisture content. The growing medium will often tell you when your plants need water because the roots will dry up when it dries up.
Snake plants rely on their roots to take up water from the soil for essential functions. When the soil dries up, the plant cannot take up essential nutrients and minerals from the ground, which is critical for growth.
Plants take up nutrients from the soil in the form of ions which are only formed when these nutrients are dissolved in water. The process through which these ions get to the plant root cells also requires water.
Plants take up essential nutrients like potassium and phosphorous through diffusion, which requires water.
Waiting between watering schedules is essential as it promotes deep and fibrous root systems. However, when the soil is dry for prolonged periods, the plant’s roots also begin to suffer.
For this reason, it is essential to water snake plants when the soil dries up. You can feel if the soil is dried up by feeling it with your fingers.
If there is no moisture content about two to three inches deep in the soil, it is time to water the plant. Also, resist watering the plant if there is still some moisture in the soil, leading to overwatering.
Wrinkled leaves
Water maintains the beautiful structure of the snake plant’s leaves. As sansevieria plants go without water, they begin using the water reservoir in their leaves to carry out essential metabolic processes.
Over time, the water levels within the plant go down, and the plant cells lose their rigidity. As a result, the leaves become wrinkled.
It will, however, take long periods of drought for snake plants, especially those indoors, to reach this stage without your notice. The wrinkles are lines of different shapes and sizes appearing on the leaf surface, and they are often the first signs that your plant is thirsty and could die from lack of water.
The plants’ lower leaves are often the first ones to be affected. Once you notice this problem among your snake plants, you need to check out the plant’s soil and see if the problem could have occurred from lack of water. Also, remember exposure to high intensity of sunlight or heat could contribute to the problem.
Leaf curling
Leaf curling among your snake plants could be a sign of dehydration. When the plant loses an excess amount of water it is not obtaining from the soil, its leaves begin to fold and twist, forming loops to preserve any further moisture loss.
As the plant leaves curl, they also begin to develop wrinkles. It takes extreme conditions of neglect for your plants to reach this level, especially if you have them indoors where there is minimum water loss.
If your snake plant is curling up its leaves, act quickly before it is permanently damaged. Remember to check the soil’s condition, as leaf curling can occur from other factors such as diseases and attacks by pests, excess fertilizer, transplantation shock, and root rot.
Drooping and wilting of leaves
Whenever plants go for long without water, they use up the water within, eventually getting exhausted. It often occurs when the water loss process is drastic. The plant leaves lose their upright structure as the cells lose their rigidity, and this causes the leaves to wilt and droop.
The plants assume an unpleasant look, and you need to verify if it is due to the lack of water.
Browning of leaves and tips
If your snake plant leaves are turning brown, it must be that they have been in distress for a long time. Prolonged lack of water can lead to snake plants’ leaves turning brown because the plant is not receiving the necessary water and nutrients. It is usually a clear indication that the plant cells in the affected areas have died.
Consequently, these leaves cannot regain their look even if you want to revive the plant; you can only prune the affected leaves. In other cases, when the plant is severely affected, it becomes impossible to revive the plant.
Prolonged lack of water also kills the plant’s roots, losing their functionality, ultimately killing the plant. At first, the plant will develop a yellowish coloration which gradually turns brown and brittle.
The color change begins from the edges and tip of the plant leaves, spreading across the entire leaf surface because when there is an insufficient amount of water within the plant, the water supply cannot reach the outer parts of the leaves.
Stunted growth
Given all the critical functions of water within snake plants, it would be impossible to grow without water. Snake plants cannot absorb and transport essential nutrients from the soil when they go for long periods without water.
Since water is a critical factor for photosynthesis, these plants can also not manufacture energy.
Consequently, they reserve the food and water reservoirs for survival rather than growth. Therefore, you will notice that if you don’t maintain the necessary watering schedules, your plants are likely to show stunted growth. Ideally, snake plants should grow 10 to 24 inches per year, developing 6 to 10 leaves.
If your plants are not growing as fast as expected, it could be because you wait too long before watering them.
Also, read Snake plant locations within your home, and find out which is the best.
FAQ’ about Snake Plants
Conclusion
Snake plants are not as demanding in terms of water requirements. However, if you don’t give your plant the water they require, they will likely develop undesirable appearances. If you suspect that your plants are not getting sufficient water, look for the signs we saw above. Remember, other factors could contribute to the poor health of sansevieria plants rather than lack of water.
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