How to Propagate Snake Plant

The plant Dracaena Trifasciata which is commonly known as Snake Plant belongs to the family Asparagaceae, monocot angiosperm plants. This plant is usually found in regions of West Africa and countries like Congo and Nigeria.

This plant is known to us by several common names such as Saint George’s Sword, Viper’s Bowstring Hemp, and most interestingly it is also called Mother-in-Law’s Tongue.

Read everything about Snake Plant Propagation, Types, Cares, Harms, and Benefits

Snake Plant Propagation

Today we’ll have a look at propagating snake plants by three methods.

1. Propagation by Leaf Cutting

This method is usually used to root snake plants in water. For this purpose, you need to take a healthy leaf of a snake plant and a sharp plant cutting knives or sharp shears to cut that young, healthy, and clean plant leaf.

After a clean and quick V shape cutting of that certain leaf put its cutting edge into clear water in such a way that the lower one-third part of the leaves is dipped into that water.

When you will use a transparent glass container you will be able to see the growing little root below the end in a few days. This technique of cutting plant leaves has its pros in growing new plants in water.

This method takes much time to make its roots well-grown for doing soil plantation. For achieving healthy a quick growth by the former method we need such soil having proper drainage. Because leaves can rot in more wet soil.

So we need to be careful about the moisture content of the pot when we have planted leaf cutting of snake plant^[1]Sarmast, M., M. Salehi, and H. Salehi, The potential of different parts of Sansevieria trifasciata L. leaf for meristemoids production. Aust J Basic Appl Sci, 2009. 3: p. 2506-2509..

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2. Propagation by Root Clump Cutting

For this method of propagation, a healthy plant with a properly grown rhizome, the thick soil organ, is to be selected. Uproot the plant with great care and gently without breaking it.

Cut the rhizome having root clumps with sharp shears and scissors and place it in wet soil and in an area receiving good sunlight^[2]Hematharshini, A. and T. Seran, IN VITRO SHOOT ORGANOGEN trifasciata L.) AS INFLUENCED B SUCROSE CONCENTRATION..

Proper mineralized and moist soil with sunlight can trigger fast regrowth of root clumps into new rhizomes and plants.

This can help create a large number of relatively quick-growing plants in bulk. A good-sized plant with a large root clump is to be used for this propagation method^[3]Sarmast, M.K., H. Salehi, and M. Khosh-Khui, Seismomorphogenesis: a novel approach to acclimatization of tissue culture regenerated plants. 3 Biotech, 2014. 4(6): p. 599-604..

This process is also important because it helps to keep the parental variegation intact^[4]Joyner, J.F., E.O. Gangstad, and C.C. Seale, The Vegetative Propagation of Sansevieria 1. Agronomy Journal, 1951. 43(3): p. 128-130..

3. Micropropagation of Snake Plant

The above-mentioned procedures are slow and less efficient for mass production concerns. The technique of micropropagation is an emerging and advancing process by which we can enhance the speed of propagation as well as the number of plants per propagation process.

In-vitro preparation of snake plant organoids called meristemoids are grown on Petri-plates having artificially prepared culture medium for at least 15 to 21 days^[5]Kaur, J. and G. MUDGAL, An Efficient And Quick Protocol For In Vitro Multiplication Of Snake Plant, Sansevieria Trifasciata Var. Laurentii [Prain]. 2021..

Medium is designed in such a way that supports root development first. When the roots are developed medium for shoot growth promotion is given to those meristemoids and thus roots are developed^[6]Tchegnitegni, B.T., et al., A dihydrochalcone derivative and further steroidal saponins from Sansevieria trifasciata Prain. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C, 2017. 72(11-12): p. 477-482..