Hey everyone - I have had a starfish sansevieria for about a year now and am recently having a lot of difficulty with the plants not forming roots after reporting. I began having several of the leaves become mushy (I believe due to overwatering) so I repotted the plant to a smaller pot and changed soil.

I am using a combination of orchid mix potting soil that is fast draining with cactus and succulent mix on top. The pot is a ceramic pot. The main plant has continued to survive but the pups keep dying off. They become mushy and fall over and when I remove them there are no roots.

I repotted the plant two months ago. I followed several videos and did not water for about 10 days. I then watered just enough for it to start coming out of the bottom. I waited another two weeks and more pups seem to be becoming mushy. I didn't water it at all for 2 weeks so the soil would be completely dry.

Here is a pic of one… in this month it hasn't rooted at all and even after completely dry soil for weeks it becomes mushy.

Any suggestions to help the pup to take root? I'm down to one after originally having 3 pups.

Thanks!

Did you remove the existing roots when you repotted? Why would roots need to re-grow?

I water my Starfish and Samurai Sanseverias every other week or so as well, but I'm also in a pretty dry climate. The fact that you are still getting root rot suggests that in your conditions, every other week is still too much! I know many people water their Sanseverias as little as once a month.

The pups on my Starfish have remained connected to the parent seemingly indefinitely until I physically cut them off, and they often don't have much root of their own until they're about the size of yours. After I separate them, I just stick them in succulent mix and water about the same as the parent (bottom water, if possible). They will take a long time to root and grow independently -- like 2-3 months -- and get creased/deflated some before they do, so patience is required. As long as there's no actual rot, they'll come around eventually!

I would also ditch the orchid mix and just use a succulent potting mix with some pumice or perlite added instead. The bark used in orchid mixes is pretty acidic and that might be part of the problem. In any case it's not typically added to succulent potting mixes and it couldn't hurt to get rid of it.

purpleinopp said:Did you remove the existing roots when you repotted? Why would roots need to re-grow?

I wasn't very clear. What I meant to say was that I attempted to propagate this pup from the main plant and it isn't growing any roots whatsoever. It's been a little over two months and it's just not forming any roots.

Several of the pups that I had to get rid of due to the mushiness had roots but this one was cut from the main plant due to needing to separate it to fit in the new pot.

romalu said:I water my Starfish and Samurai Sanseverias every other week or so as well, but I'm also in a pretty dry climate. The fact that you are still getting root rot suggests that in your conditions, every other week is still too much! I know many people water their Sanseverias as little as once a month.

The pups on my Starfish have remained connected to the parent seemingly indefinitely until I physically cut them off, and they often don't have much root of their own until they're about the size of yours. After I separate them, I just stick them in succulent mix and water about the same as the parent (bottom water, if possible). They will take a long time to root and grow independently -- like 2-3 months -- and get creased/deflated some before they do, so patience is required. As long as there's no actual rot, they'll come around eventually!

I would also ditch the orchid mix and just use a succulent potting mix with some pumice or perlite added instead. The bark used in orchid mixes is pretty acidic and that might be part of the problem. In any case it's not typically added to succulent potting mixes and it couldn't hurt to get rid of it.

Thank you very much for taking time to respond in great detail. Your suggestion for getting rid of the orchid mix and using succulent potting mix with perlite makes a lot of sense. I'll plan to do so.

Also knowing it takes 2-3 months to form roots is very helpful… I just need to be patient. It isn't rotting and is still keeping its firmness, so I will continue to give it time.

As far as climate, I live in Nebraska, and the plant gets some indirect light. I've gotten a soil moisture meter, so likely I'll find out that I need to water less often.

Thanks again!