Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant: Ways to Grow and Care
I recently purchased a baby plant of Sansevieria Francisii hoping it would bloom, but unfortunately, I wasn’t successful. The reason? I couldn’t to provide the snake plant with its basic requirements such as light, water, humidity, temperature, fertilizer, soil, and more. After realizing my failure, I made the necessary adjustments.
I’m happy to report that I’ve since successfully grown Sansevieria Francisii. To help my fellow plant lovers avoid similar issues, I’ve outlined all the essential requirements for this plant to thrive and bloom beautifully. If you encounter any difficulties, feel free to ask me in the comments below.
Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant
Botanical Name (Latin Name/Scientific Name) | Sansevieria Francisii, Dracaena Francisii |
Common Name | Snake Plant, Sansevieria Francisii Chahin, Dracaena Francisii Chahin |
Light | Low light tolerant |
Watering | when the soil dries out to the bottom of the pot |
Soil | succulent or cactus mix |
Repotting | Once a year |
Fertilizing | once every 2-4 weeks with a succulent fertilizer |
Temperature | 18 to 24 C° (65 to 75 F°) |
Humidity | optimal 5% to 25%, but adapts well to any humidity level |
Toxicity for Pets | Toxic to cats and dogs (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) |
Toxicity for Humans | Toxic (vomiting, diarrhea, dermatitis) |
Propagation | leaf cuttings in waterleaf cuttings in soil division stolon cuttings rhizome cuttings seed propagation |
Pruning | Prune dead or diseased growth or prune for propagation |
Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant Care
To grow Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant you need to provide the plant with basic care and requirements such as Light conditions, watering, repotting, soil, fertilizing, temperature, humidity, pruning, and propagation all you need to follow and maintain the routine.
Light Requirements:
- The snake plant does require medium indirect light in which the minimal amount of light should be 50 lux (5 FC) and the optimal amount of light should be 750+ lux (75+ FC).
- The plant does have tolerance to tolerate the direct sunlight of about 5 to 6 hours.
- In case you are not able to provide the plant with light levels don’t worry the plant can survive in lower light conditions such as as low as 50 lux.
- If you provide the plant with more light the happier the plant will live.
- Giving the plant more light enhances photosynthesis and makes the plant more resistant to pests and diseases.
Water Needs:
- You need to water the Sansevieria Francisii snake plant only when the soil is dry from the bottom of the pot.
- Before watering the plant check the soil using a chopstick and push gently the stick inside way down and pull it out
- If the stick is wet or dirty it means the soil is still wet and there is no need to water the plant if the stick comes out dry with no soil attached it’s high time to water the plant.
- In case you are still having doubts you can wait another week.
- For growing the snake plants it is better to under water them.
- The plant is actually drought-tolerant and can survive for a few months without watering the plant.
Humidity Needs:
- The Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant needs to get optimal humidity between 5% and 25%.
- The plant can adapt to any humidity level well such as even if the humidity of the home is over 70%.
Temperature Requirements:
- The Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant thrives best in optimal temperatures between 18 to 24C° (65 to 75F°).
- Make sure never to drop the temperature below 16C° (60F°).
- The dropping of the plant will not harm them but will slow down root development and leaf development.
- The plant can survive in higher summer temperatures.
Fertilizing:
- You need to fertilize the Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant using low-nitrogen succulent fertilizer once every 2 to 4 weeks.
- During fertilizing the plant make sure to follow all the instructions mentioned on the fertilizer package and avoid using more fertilizer than the mentioned amount on the package.
- The perfect fertilizer for the Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant is Espoma Succulent and Cacti Fertilizer which is a low nitrogen fertilizer having an N-P-K ratio of 1-2-2.
- It is not important to fertilize the snake plant if you are repotting the plant annually.
- Repotting the plant annually gives the plant fresh soil containing a sufficient amount of nutrients.
- Avoid fertilizing the plant when it is not growing because it will not be able to use the nutrients that are accumulated in the soil and after some time they will burn the roots and damage the plant. So always fertilize the plant during the growing season.
Soil:
- The snake plant loves to grow in soil that dries out quickly between watering which is called well-draining soil.
- You can also make the soil yourself in which you can add 1 part of any potting mix brought from the store and 1 part of perlite, pumice, or coarse sand.
- The potting mixes present in the store in most cases are not well draining and retain too much water which means the soil dries much slower which results in increasing the chances of root rot condition which way you need to amend the potting mix with perlite, pumice, or coarse sand that results in well-draining soil.
Repotting:
the following are some steps to repot the Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant:
- First of all, you need to take the plant out of the pot.
- After that lightly lose the root ball and then inspect the roots entirely.
- Make sure to cut off the dead, soft, mushy roots if they are present on the plant.
- Next, you need to select a pot that is one size larger than the previous pot.
- Fill the pot with ⅓ of fresh soil which contains a good amount of drainage holes.
- After doing this you need to place the snake plant into a new pot and fill it with soil.
- After filling the pot you need to press the soil lightly all around the plant.
- You need to water the soil in case the soil is dry before repotting the plant.
Toxicity:
Here I have discussed about the toxicity of the Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant:
Toxicity To Pets:
The plant does contain saponin which is toxic to pets. If it gets ingested according to the American Society For Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals (ASPCA). It will not kill the animal but cause discomfort to them. There are some symptoms from which the pets go through like severe pain, vomiting, nausea, increased saliva, and diarrhea. So the plant is not a pet-friendly plant.
Toxicity To Humans:
The snake plant is also toxic to humans when it gets ingested and will cause minor illnesses like vomiting or diarrhea, says the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The ingestion will also cause dermatitis such as skin rash or irritation.
Pruning:
There is no need to prune the Sansevieria Francisii Snake Plant which is healthy so only prune dead or disease growth or you are going to propagate the cutting of the plant.
Propagation:
The way to propagate the Sansevieria Francisii snake plant is by using leaf-cutting in water, leaf-cutting in soil, division, stolen cutting, rhizome cuttings, and seeds. The following are some tips and methods for propagating Sansevieria Francisii snake plant:
Leaf Cuttings In Water:
Here are some steps for propagating leaf cutting in water:
- First, you need to cut off a whole leaf in a propagation dish with water.
- Make sure you don’t mess with the top and bottom of the cutting and if you turn it upside down the cutting will not be able to absorb moisture and in the end, will die.
- After putting the cutting into the water you need to locate it in bright indirect light of over 10,000 lux.
- You need to replace the water weekly to replenish oxygen and remove harmful bacteria.
- When the cutting grows about 2-3 inches of roots you can pot them in the soil.
- When you put the cutting into the soil water ensures the soil is 100% dry.
- You will see within a few months to 1 year the growth of new leaves with the help of a heat mat or an air pump will increase the water propagation to speed up.
- Using the heat mat will increase the temperature of the water and speed up the propagating process.
- Using an air pump will provide oxygen to new roots.
- It will cut down the propagation time in half and reduce the need for water by the plant.
- After some months you will see the cutting growing roots and new shoots.
Leaf Cuttings In Soil:
In case of propagating the leaf-cutting in soil you need to follow these steps:
- To start the process of propagating the plant you need to cut off a whole leaf or cut off a single leaf into several sections.
- You need to use a well-draining soil mix to fill the shallow pot in which there is 1 part soil and 1 part perlite.
- You need to pot the cutting leaf into the pot and make sure not to turn the leaf-cutting upside down because then it will not be able to absorb moisture and will die.
- Make sure to put the pot in a warm location where it gets bright light over 10000 lux.
- Now it’s time to water the soil once after the soil gets 100% dry.
- In case the soil tends to remain wet longer than a few days you need to increase light and also repotting them to a terracotta pot.
- The leaf cutting will take a few months to 1 year to grow.
Division:
- In case you have Francisii Sansevieria Snake Plant in more than 1 plant in the pot you can propagate the plant using the division method.
- In this method, you need to separate two plants at the root level and then pot the plants individually.
- With this method, you will get two separate plants.
Rhizome Cuttings:
In the case of propagating the plant, there is no need to cut off the beautiful leaves rather than use a piece of the rhizome to create a new plant. The following are some steps for propagating the plant using rhizome cutting:
- First of all, take the plant out of the pot.
- You need to remove the soil to expose the rhizome’s thick fleshy roots.
- Always use a sterilized knife for cutting off a part of the rhizome and the bigger the part is the better it will be.
- Leave the rhizome for a few days so that the wound of the plant heals up.
- Now you need to pot rhizome in a shallow dish using well-drained soil containing 1 part of soil and 2 parts perlite.
- Make sure to keep the pot in a warm place.
- You need to water the pot once every 2 to 4 weeks and make sure the pot is fully dry before watering and always make sure the soil doesn’t stay moist longer than a week.
- In a few weeks, the rhizome will grow roots and in several months to 1 year, it will start to grow new leaves into the original rhizome cutting.
- In case of having a bigger rhizome the more energy it will have and will be able to produce larger leaves.
- The only tip to success in propagating the cutting is not to keep the rhizome moist for longer than 1 week.
- Using the heat mat will help it to grow better by increasing soil temperature to several degrees.
- Doing this will speed up the process of drying soil and will result in the growing of roots faster.
Seeds:
- It is also possible to propagate the Francisii Sansevieria snake plant using seeds.
- Although the whole process will take a long time for the plant to flower and a long time to grow a plant from seeds.
- When compared propagating by Leaf cuttings, division, and root cuttings is much faster than propagating it using seeds.
How Long Does It Take To Propagate Sansevieria Francisii?
The process of propagating the Francisii Sansevieria snake plant is a slow-growing process and will take several months to 1 year for propagating the plant.
Common Problems:
The following are some common problems with growing the snake plant and some common diseases you need to protect the plant from such as:
Shriveled Leaves:
- The plant will get shriveled leaves which is caused because of underwatering.
- Make sure to water the plant and make the soil fully saturated.
- If you follow it, the plant leaves will come back too soon.
Soft and mushy leaves:
- Growing of soft and mushy leaves is a sign of root rot that is caused by overwatering the plant.
- In case you find any soft and mushy leaves on the plant you need to take it out of the pot.
- To remove mushy and soft leaves you need to remove the soil and then cut off soft and mushy roots.
- Make sure to repot them in a fresh well-draining potting mix.
- You need to place the pot in the brightest location of your home.
Pests:
- Some common pests affect the Sansevieria Francisii snake plant such as scale and thrips.
Scale Pests:
- This snake plant is pest-free but on some occasions gets infested with scale.
- To treat the scale from the plant you need to scrape them physically no matter how much scales are present in your plant.
- You can also treat the whole plant using insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, or neem oil.
Ezoic:
- Using ezoic is a better option against soft scales than armored scales.
- Talking about armored scales it is protected using armor due to which the product can’t penetrate them.
- You can apply ezoic on the plant when the scales are young.
- There are other options for helping plants to get rid of scales such as using a systemic insecticide.
Thrips Pests:
- Getting rid of the thrips pests is a difficult task.
- You can use systemic insecticide In which you need to add one teaspoon of systemic insecticide for a given of water and then water the plant.
- The plant is used to observe the insecticide using the water because the thrips pests are used to feed on the plant which will get ingested by the insecticide
Diseases:
- Having fungal red leaf spot, Southern blight, and bacterial soft rot are the most common diseases that can affect the plant.
- Talking about the red leaf spots You can characterize them by reddish Brown lesions, having a yellow border which used to occur mainly on the young leaves. If the leaves of the plant are wet and fungal spots are present on it.
- You need to treat the plant with fungi side and always keep the foliage dry.
- You can characterize Southern blight by water-soaked necrotic lesions On The Leaves near the soil which will lead to stem rot and wilting.
- Make sure to discard the diseased plant.
Tips To Grow Sansevieria Francisii Problem-Free:
The following are some best tips for growing the Sansevieria Francisii snake plant. after taking proper care you will not experience any problems:
- Make sure to keep the plant in bright light that is over 750 lux (75-foot candles).
- the perfect light condition is over 10000 Lux during the early morning for hours.
- Always pot the container using a well-drain mix that is not compacted and contains a lot of oxygen which is used by the root system.
- Always make sure the plant is watered once the soil is 100% dry.
Conclusion:
I think now you must know about Sansevieria Francisii basic requirements so that you too be successful in growing them at your home. I will recommend you to follow all the instructions for making them the best to bloom.