Is Your Snake Plant Root-Bound? Learn When and How to Repot Snake Plants

All types of snake plants (also scientifically called sansevieria plants) will eventually outgrow their pots, showing signs like roots growing out of the pot and through the drainage holes or bulging pots.

While most house plants are fine to be left on the same pot during their lifespan, most varieties of sansevieria plants, especially the ever-popular sansevieria trifasciata (or commonly known as mother-in-law's tongue), golden hahnii, and sansevieria laurentii, are all known to have long leaves, grow tall, wide and top-heavy. 

When you see these signs, it’s time to report your sansevieria plant to a larger pot.

This article provides a step-by-step guide for repotting snake plants from a small pot to a larger one.

We also discuss when to repot snake plants, how to do it, and why repotting is necessary if you want your plant to grow healthier.

When Do I Know If I Need to Repot My Snake Plant

You should consider repotting your snake plant if you notice the following signs:

First, check for roots growing out of the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot. This indicates that the plant has outgrown its current container.

Second, observe if the pot appears bulging or deformed. This suggests that the roots are overcrowded and require more space.

Third, monitor the soil’s drying rate. If it dries out quickly after watering, the plant may be root-bound and unable to absorb moisture effectively.

Fourth, look for signs of stunted growth. If your snake plant’s growth has slowed significantly or the leaves are smaller than usual, it may be time to repot.

Finally, assess the condition of the soil. Over time, soil can lose its nutrients and structure. If the soil appears compacted or degraded, repotting with fresh soil can restore nutrient availability.

Changing soil is a great opportunity to renew the bad or old soil with new and fresh succulent soil and a little compost.

Is There a Better Time in the Year to Repot Snake Plants?

Generally speaking, the best time to be repotting a snake plant or any houseplant is during spring, when houseplants are just about to enter their growing period.

The same applies to all varieties of houseplants. You can have houseplants transplanted during the late winter or early spring.

With that said, however, repotting snake plants out of these time periods is recommended whenever it is required.

Note that the best age to transfer a plant is within a year and up to six years old.

This will really depend on how fast your snake plant grows. The best time to repot is right after transplanting a snake plant.

While it’s true that most sansevieria like their root to be bound to the pot.

Transferring a snake plant to a larger pot is necessary if the plant’s roots are already trying to take grow outside of the pot.

Follow these steps to repotting a snake plant in a new pot with fresh gardening soil or potting mix will result in a healthy and thriving plant.

Reasons to Repot Your Snake Plant

Repotting your snake plant is essential for several reasons:

1. Healthy growth: Repotting provides more space for roots to grow and access to fresh soil, promoting vigorous growth.
2. Propagation: Dividing your snake plant during repotting allows you to create new plants.
3. Soil refresh: Old soil loses nutrients over time. Repotting with new soil gives your plant the nutrients it needs.
4. Prevents stunted growth: A pot-bound snake plant may stop growing or have stunted leaves due to lack of space and nutrients.
5. Improves soil moisture: Fresh soil retains moisture better, preventing your plant from drying out too quickly.

Repot your snake plant every 2-3 years or as needed to maintain its health and encourage lush growth.

Materials needed to Repotting Snake Plant

Correct pot size

Sansevierias (particularly mother-in-law’s tongue) is a good container plant. There are many types of pots to use and choose from.

You can use pots that are made of different materials.

The easy choice of many gardeners is plastic pots. However, the important decision on what to use is the pot size.

The container size will depend on the age and how big your snake plant is.

But obviously, add your house plant to any type of pot you like!

Typically, it may be best to use large-sized pots about 2 to 3 gallons in size.

A snake plant is rather tall and top-heavy with its foliage, so depth should be considered too.

Measure the diameter of your current pot and make sure that the bigger pot you use may need to be more than an inch wider.

Does the material matter?

In our opinion, whether it be plastic, ceramic, or event terracotta pot (i.e., clay pot), as long as the pots are sized properly.

Do the pots need holes to drain excess moisture?

Of course, don’t forget to make sure that the grow pot you use will allow good and well-draining – so make sure there are drainage holes in your pots.

Best Soil Types

Whether you have a sansevieria trifasciata (mother-in-law’s tongue) or any other type of snake plant, you’ll need well-draining soil around your houseplant.

These houseplants are very prone to root rot when there is a lot of moisture due to overwatering.

Don’t let your sansevieria sit in water-logged soil around for a long time.

It’s best to use a soilless potting mix, gardening soil, or ready-to-use cactus and succulent potting mix.

These are known to be great when it comes to good drainage.

If you only have a regular potting mix or gardening soil, just make sure you also have some perlite, sand, and some compost that you can combine with those.

Other items that are handy are:

• Knife– this is optional, but if you see that your houseplant has gotten big and are ready for a transplant or a division, then have one handy.
• Mesh tape or cloth– this may be placed at the base of the pot. The purpose of this will be discussed later on.

Step-by-step Directions on How to Repot Snake Plant

It’s actually very easy to transplant your sansevieria plant, so even if you’re doing this for the first time from home, don’t worry; it will be easy.

Remove the Plant from The old Pot

Step 1 is to remove your snake plant from the old pot. This is literally the next thing you should do once you have all of your materials prepared. It’s simple and easy.

It’s good to wet the soil first before you extract your houseplants from the old pots. Moist soil may be easier to remove, especially from the base of the pot.

Try to remove half of the potting soil first in your pots and see if the plant is already ready to part with it.

If not, keep on removing more potting soil making sure you go all the way around the pot.

This way, you will notice the roots and root ball as you make your way down to the base of the pot.

Don’t be scared of damaging the roots of your houseplant.

Since your houseplant has overgrown the old pot, the root ball may be large compared to the pot.

Most of the time, damaging the roots may happen – don’t worry.

This is especially because the roots will be relatively large compared to the pot.

What’s important is that you keep your sansevieria’s root ball close to the snake plant itself remain intact and still in a root ball.

You should also be careful when it comes to handling the plant itself to avoid damaging its leaves.

Examine the soil

You can simultaneously do this with the extraction of your sansevieria plant from its old pot.

It’s great to check the gardening or potting soil for snake plants so that you can see if it’s still in good condition or just really needs to be refreshed.

A good sign that the soil is still good or healthy is seeing its ability to drain well.

This particular organic potting soil is an excellent choice of potting mix that drains well. We have used it in the past and our plants seem to thrive in it.

Healthy soil may still be used to transplant, but it doesn’t mean that bad soil is already hopeless.

Generally speaking, bad soil is very dry and can easily crack.

If the soil around the top shows that sign, you can still use it but not much of it when it’s repotted.

It would serve as a filler, but it’s the best way to add organic matter to it so it would still allow drainage.

Examine the roots

After you’ve decided whether to reuse the soil your sansevieria plant was in or not, you should also check how your plant’s rhizomes and roots are doing.

Again, sansevieria plants are susceptible to root rot when the soil has too much moisture due to overwatering. The best way is to check for any signs of this.

A sansevieria plant with root rot will have dark or black mushy spots on its root.

If you find some on your sansevieria plant’s roots, this can be easily remedied with your knife or scissors.

If you’re looking for some gardening shears that won’t let you down, we highly recommend these gardening shears.

They are super sharp and are easy on your hands. We actually have three pairs lying around because they are so useful.

You can simply cut or slice the rotted roots away. This is the only way to get rid of the root rot.

If you already have a tall sansevieria plant with bulgy roots, you can also get rid of these types of rhizomes and roots.

You can cut a bit of the root ball out from the root ball to avoid overgrowth in the bigger pot.

However, if you aim to continuously grow your sansevieria plant, only cut small portions of the root ball as much as possible.

Remember, with good roots, dividing your Sansevieria plant will be more successful.

Prepare your New pots

Take your new larger pot and check the drainage hole at the base of the pot. Check that the holes are not blocked and are completely open.

To prepare your larger pot, mesh tape or cloth will be needed. The mesh may serve as a safety net for your soil.

This will verify that the soil will not escape through the drainage hole at the underside of the pot.

It’s also good to confirm that your larger pot is dry when you transfer a plant.

This way, it will make it easier for you to adjust the soil all the way around the larger pot when you have to do so.

Transfer sansevierias Into a New Pot

Because sansevieria trifasciata (mother-in-law’s tongue) is a great container plant, one of the keys to a successful repotted snake plant is to have mesh at the foundation of the new pot.

This will allow the roots to bind as snake plants prefer to bury their roots into the pot.

If you are looking to buy some mesh to use on at the bottom of your pot, try this plant pot mesh. For most of our pots, we put them at the bottom so that traps soil from draining out and keeps bugs from coming in.

Place the sansevieria plant in your pot and hold it with just one hand. It’s really up to you if you’d like its roots to touch the pot or not.

To keep things clean, you may want to use a newspaper or plastic sheet to cover your workspace.

However, I suggest that you leave about an inch of space between the top of the soil and the roots and add a little space from the pot’s base.

As you hold onto your sansevieria plant in place, you may start filling your pot with gardening or potting soil you may have.

Again, make sure you give about one inch or two from the top of the soil to the root ball. You may use regular soil as sansevieria typically thrive in any soil.

Just check that you add in sand or perlite with it after a few inches of a soil layer.

This will allow better drainage to get rid of the excess moisture and avoid overwatering the plant.

You can also use some cactus or succulent mix that you have, and usually, this kind of mixture already has perlites, peat moss, and sand.

Cactus potting mixes are specifically made for a sansevieria plant that requires well-draining soil, so you won’t have to add other ingredients to it.

It’s also up to you if you’d like to add decoration to the top layer of your soil with attractive rocks or pebbles. This creates a way to enhance your garden.

Just check that you place a thin layer of worm compost on top of your soil before you add anything. Worm composting is a simple process.

A little compost will go a long way in helping nourish and is good snake plant care.

A great topping to your soil is these lava rock pebbles that completely drain out the water to ensure your snake plant is not overwatered.

So those are the five easy and simple steps you can follow to repot a snake plant.

Propagating versus Repotting Snake Plants

It will be slightly different if you are trying to divide or propagate your plant, but it is pretty straightforward to propagate your sansevieria.

If you want to propagate by dividing your plant to regrow a new sansevieria plant, one thing to note is to confirm that all houseplants still have their rhizomes and roots.

Place them into a separate new pot so that they have room to grow when they start dividing.

One tip is to use one new pot to propagate by dividing your cuttings or leaf cuttings. Afterward, take care to transfer cuttings when you are dividing them.

Related post: 64 Different Types Of Succulents To Identify What Types You Own

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