Inner Growth - Horty Girl's Plant Care Guide

Horty Girl Sanseveria, also known as a Snake Plant or Mother-in-Law

A Sansevieria, also known as a “Snake Plant” or “Mother’s Tongue, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue” is a great household plant to have in your home as it’s tough, durable and will even grow in conditions of low light or under watering.  This plant is perfect if you are someone that has a busy busy schedule, or has never had a plant before in their home.

The Snake Plant has tall, narrow, sturdy leaves that are stiff and very pointy.  The leaves can vary from pale to dark green, green edged with yellow or light green and yellow.  As the Mother’s tongue matures, the plant can produce little delicate flower spikes in a pale green or yellowish color.  This flowering is very unpredictable though, and some may never flower.

A Sansevieria is a succulent type plant, and therefore can survive with little attention as it retains water well.  These plants can live on average for 5 to 10 years, and with the proper care of following these tips they can live much longer than that - 20 to 25 years!  Don’t worry though it grows very slowly, growing to the height of 3 to 4 feet.

Caring for a Sanseveria Plant

Snake plants love the heat!The plant should be placed in a bright area, in indirect light. If this isn’t possible, it can survive in low light surroundings if necessary.

Water a Snake plant sparingly. It is better to under water than to over water. Use only about maximum 1/4 cup of water every few weeks.  Let the soil become completely dry between watering.  Always water on the edge of the base of the plant - never pour water over the leaves.

The Sanseveria will also give off warning signs of your watering habits.  If you are not giving enough water, the leaves will lean or droop and will wrinkle up.  Over watering? Leaves will turn slimy.  If you notice your leaves beginning to appear soft, greasy or slimy - pull them out immediately! This will prevent it from affecting the rest of the leaves.

*Also, as the seasons change - your water amount should adjust as well.  In the hot summer months your plants will  need more water.  In the winter months, your plant will need less water, and less frequently - once every month or two months*

A FOOLPROOF WAY to WATER A SANSEVIERIA SNAKE PLANT - Use the Horty Girl Smart Stick found with every plant.  Similar to baking, stick the smart stick into the soil, wait a second and pull it out.  If it comes out clean and feels dry then its time to water it.

OUCH! - Be careful, the leave tips are sharp! Put in a place that you won’t bump into it.  Don’t trim off the tips of the plant either.  ALSO - Do not let your loved ones eat this plant, as it is extremely poisonous!

Horty Girl Smart Stick included with every tag

The key to a long and healthy plant life is water management.  Indoor plant care is very manageable with the most basic of information.

The HortyGirl ‘SMART STICK’ method is brilliant yet very simple and applies to all plants in all containers:
If in doubt as to whether your plant requires a watering, use our care tag stake to test for moisture.  Just as you would use a toothpick to check to see if your muffins are done; insert our plant care tag stake into the base of the plant stems.  Pull the stake out and either notice if any soil is clinging to the stake.  If soil clings to the stake, this is an indication there is moisture in the root zone.  Alternatively, feel the stake for moisture levels (dry, moist or wet).  Depending on the care for your particular plant, you can make a watering decision from there.

Light levels are the most relative factor associated with watering routines.  Plants do require varying water management in association with their unique characteristics but light levels are the most important factor.

As light levels increase and decrease; so should our watering routines.  The changing seasons require a little extra attention as this is when we need to retrain ourselves with our watering routines.  In general; plan to increase your watering in Spring then maintain this more frequent ‘summer routine’ until Fall when watering should be tapered off to a less frequent ‘winter routine’.

As a simple example for an average indoor plant; if you are watering once per week in Summer, your Winter watering will be reduced to once every 2 weeks.

Our indoor plant products in clear glass vases provide us with a ‘window’ of opportunity towards water management.

General Plant Care guidelines for glass vases with pebbles, sand, bark or decorative granules:

• Resist any temptation to fill the vase with water
• Water sparingly according to the label directions
• Little to no water should remain in the bottom of the vase following watering.