Hello everyone,

I was gifted a large pot with multiple snake plants in it. Unfortunately, it appears that the plants have been overwatered since some of the leaves feel mushy and a couple of them became completely detached from the stem after I barely touched them.

Furthermore, almost all snake plants in that pot have unusual growths/stalks coming from the middle of the plant. The said stalks look like pups – they have their own roots and leaves. I have more than 15 different snake plant varieties and I have never seen any of them do this. Here are some pictures:





The previous owner(s) planted these Sansevierias very deep, so all those stalks' roots were covered with soil. Also, they kept the snake plants in a relatively dark room.

Could somebody please tell me what exactly are those growths/stalks? I want to repot all these snake plants in fresh, airy soil, but I do not know what to do with those unusual stalks. From what I know of snake plants, they do not like to have a large portion of their leaves touch the soil, but that is the only way that I can plant them to make sure that the stalks' roots are covered in soil.

They are new growth. You can leave them or separate them

Gina1960 said: They are new growth. You can leave them or separate them

Thank you for the quick reply. I am surprised that the new growth is coming from inside the rosette as opposed to extending from the main root ball and then creating a pup close to the main/mother plant. Do you know why is this happening? I have never seen this behavior with my other snake plants.

Also, if I leave it as is, I would have to plant them very deep so that the new growth's roots are covered in soil and, as a result, a large portion of the leaves from the main/mother plant will always be in contact with the soil. Wouldn't that be less than desirable?

No I have no idea. I almost never repot my sans so I wouldn't;t have seen it

Why not cut them off and plant at appropriate depth for each? Similar to spider plant babies.

I've seen them do this when the roots are failing. It's almost as if they're trying to crawl up and out of the soggy muck.
I'd go ahead and try to gently separate those sprouts and pot everything at the proper level, not trying to force roots up or down.

MsDoe said: I've seen them do this when the roots are failing. It's almost as if they're trying to crawl up and out of the soggy muck.
I'd go ahead and try to gently separate those sprouts and pot everything at the proper level, not trying to force roots up or down.

Thank you so much for this valuable information! I will gently separate those sprouts/offsets and re-pot them as soon as possible.

I always save chopsticks for just this reason.

They make excellent supports until plants can anchor themselves with new roots.

I connect them to plants with everything from hemp or jute twine, twisted tall grass (works great), heavy duty rubber gears ties (like twist ties but strong enough to last years, available from maybe 3" to 18"). Latex bandaging for dogs is cheap and works great also and dissolves on its own after a couple months.

This is called stacking. I suspect it happens in over-crowded conditions, but it's just a guess.

Humboldt said: I always save chopsticks for just this reason.

They make excellent supports until plants can anchor themselves with new roots.

I connect them to plants with everything from hemp or jute twine, twisted tall grass (works great), heavy duty rubber gears ties (like twist ties but strong enough to last years, available from maybe 3" to 18"). Latex bandaging for dogs is cheap and works great also and dissolves on its own after a couple months.

That is a good idea. I personally use barbeque skewer sticks as supports falling plants.

purpleinopp said: This is called stacking. I suspect it happens in over-crowded conditions, but it's just a guess.

Thanks for the information. I re-potted the plants so hopefully they will be okay now.

1337n3ss said: That is a good idea. I personally use barbeque skewer sticks as supports falling plants.

That's a great idea...whatever you have at hand.

For years I'd pocket my chopsticks after sushi and stash them for plants.

They're thick enough to avoid shifting in the soil much.

Happy to reply. : )