Snake Plants are one of the easiest indoor plants to care for, but with mine I started notice a strange smell coming from it one day. I was shocked, all I could smell was raw sewage and it took me a while to realise that my snake plant was the culprit.
So why does your snake plant smell? The most likely reason is that you’ve encountered a bit of root rot, this is usually caused by over watering. These are hardy plants and require little water to survive so it’s easy to give them too much by mistake.
Don’t worry though, it’s not all over for your snake plant as it can still be saved, I’ve compiled all the information below to help you restore yours back to life and get it cleaning your air again!
Table of Contents
How To Restore It Back To Life
Get yourself a good pair of scissors
Luckily, it’s relatively easy to save your rotting snake plant but you do need to ensure that you give it the due diligence it needs to get back on its feet.
Here’s what supplies you need:
- Scissors
- Snake Plant (duh!)
- Clean Pot
- Fresh Soil
Now you’ve got the essentials, let’s go through the steps to bring it back to life.
- Take your Snake Plant out of its pot and rinse away any soil under a tap
- Cut away the rotting ends, make sure you make the cut at a section that looks healthy otherwise the rot might return
- Allow your plant ends to calcify by leaving them to dry overnight
- Fill your clean pot with the fresh soil
- Now place each leaf gently into the soil, just deep enough so they are able to stand up on their own
- Keep the soil slightly moist for the first 6 weeks and allow your snake plant to propagate
That’s it! See, that was pretty easy, right?
After around 6 weeks your snake plant should of started to grow new roots, each leaf will become its own plant – so technically you’re now a new plant parent, congratulations!
Root Test
To test if the plant has grown new roots, gently tug on the leaves and if you feel resistance then they are ready to be moved to their own pot.
Prevention Tips
Preventing root rot in Snake plants is generally pretty easy, they’re a tough plant and can cope with even the upmost neglect.
So how do you prevent root rot in your snake plant? First of all, ensure that your pot/soil allows water to drain sufficiently and it does not become waterlogged. Secondly, don’t over water your snake plant as they store a lot in their leaves so they only require watering once the soil has become dry to the touch.
Just those two simple tips should be enough to prevent you from encountering root rot in your snake plant again, let me know how you got on in the comments below!