Sans plant leaf wilting - help please!

pao.dlreyes

I got a snake plant (sansevieria) about more than a month ago. When we first got it, the seller told us to water it once a week and not to overwater it. For 2-3 weeks, I would water every Sunday until I discovered one of the leaves was half brown already, but still standing. When I checked online, I learned that it's best to water the snake plant every 2-6 weeks depending on the humidity and to check how moist the soil is before deciding to water it. As such, I haven't watered the plant in around 2 weeks since then because I would feel the soil and it would still be cold and moist. It's also very humid here in the Philippines and currently the rainy season so it rains about 4-5 days of the week (the plant isn't outdoors and doesn't get wet from the rain but the air is quite humid).

This morning when I checked on the plant, the leaf that was half brown has now bent and folded on itself. The other leaves look fine though so I can't tell what the problem is. Should I water the soil under the wilted leaf? Help please!

Dovefromabove

I would get a sharp blade and very carefully cut just that rotting leaf away close to the base as it looks as if it has been damaged. Apart from that your plant looks fine.

Continue to water approximately once a month if the soil is dry and ensure that the pot drains well and doesn’t stand in any water. 

Does the pot have drainage holes?  If not you should repot the plant into a plastic pot with good drainage holes so water doesn’t collect in the base near the roots. You can place the plastic pot inside a nice china one so it looks good but when you water take it out of the China pot and allow it to drain away. 

Helix

Agree entirely with Dove!

pao.dlreyes

Dovefromabove said:

I would get a sharp blade and very carefully cut just that rotting leaf away close to the base as it looks as if it has been damaged. Apart from that your plant looks fine.

Continue to water approximately once a month if the soil is dry and ensure that the pot drains well and doesn’t stand in any water. 

Does the pot have drainage holes?  If not you should repot the plant into a plastic pot with good drainage holes so water doesn’t collect in the base near the roots. You can place the plastic pot inside a nice china one so it looks good but when you water take it out of the China pot and allow it to drain away. 

Thanks so much for the advice! When you say "close to the base", how high above the soil are you saying to cut? And will it grow again from there or is this leaf already dead forever?

PeggyTX

I have killed more than one snake plant in my time with over-watering.  They do NOT like a lot of water.  With this last one, which is now 4 years old and still alive, I check it, and if it feels dry down 1", I wait even longer and then water lightly.  That averages about once a month and that has been my approach so far. 

Dovefromabove

pao.dlreyes said:

Dovefromabove said:

I would get a sharp blade and very carefully cut just that rotting leaf away close to the base as it looks as if it has been damaged. Apart from that your plant looks fine.

Continue to water approximately once a month if the soil is dry and ensure that the pot drains well and doesn’t stand in any water. 

Does the pot have drainage holes?  If not you should repot the plant into a plastic pot with good drainage holes so water doesn’t collect in the base near the roots. You can place the plastic pot inside a nice china one so it looks good but when you water take it out of the China pot and allow it to drain away. 

Thanks so much for the advice! When you say "close to the base", how high above the soil are you saying to cut? And will it grow again from there or is this leaf already dead forever?

Cut it just above where it separates from the rest of the leaves. That leaf is gone for ever but a happy plant will grow new leaves ... it won’t happen quickly, they’re not fast growers, but when your plant is ready, new spikes of leaves will pop up from the compost around the main plant. Eventually it will fill that pot 😊 

pao.dlreyes

Dovefromabove said:

pao.dlreyes said:

Dovefromabove said:

I would get a sharp blade and very carefully cut just that rotting leaf away close to the base as it looks as if it has been damaged. Apart from that your plant looks fine.

Continue to water approximately once a month if the soil is dry and ensure that the pot drains well and doesn’t stand in any water. 

Does the pot have drainage holes?  If not you should repot the plant into a plastic pot with good drainage holes so water doesn’t collect in the base near the roots. You can place the plastic pot inside a nice china one so it looks good but when you water take it out of the China pot and allow it to drain away. 

Thanks so much for the advice! When you say "close to the base", how high above the soil are you saying to cut? And will it grow again from there or is this leaf already dead forever?

Cut it just above where it separates from the rest of the leaves. That leaf is gone for ever but a happy plant will grow new leaves ... it won’t happen quickly, they’re not fast growers, but when your plant is ready, new spikes of leaves will pop up from the compost around the main plant. Eventually it will fill that pot 😊 

Thanks! So I cut it up last night and the leaf had a really bad smell coming from inside. Could that be the disease?



Added to that, another leaf started to bend in on itself, although there's no browning or softness to it. Is that normal?

Dovefromabove

From those photos it looks as if it may be planted too deeply which may be encouraging rot ... this is how mine looks ... 

I would take yours out of the pot and repot it so that it’s higher in the compost. When you do that you can check the condition of the roots. 

You'll see that mine is in a plastic pot which sits inside the more decorative white ceramic pot. This enables me to take the plant in it’s black pot out of the white one when watering to ensure that it drains properly so the bottom of the pot doesn’t sit in water which will also encourage rot in the roots. 

Another factor that causes leaves to flop and then rot is too little light ... sansevieria need lots of light otherwise the leaves become etiolated ... drawn too tall and weak. Mine lives on a southwest facing windowsill. 

pao.dlreyes

Dovefromabove said:

From those photos it looks as if it may be planted too deeply which may be encouraging rot ... this is how mine looks ... 

I would take yours out of the pot and repot it so that it’s higher in the compost. When you do that you can check the condition of the roots. 

You'll see that mine is in a plastic pot which sits inside the more decorative white ceramic pot. This enables me to take the plant in it’s black pot out of the white one when watering to ensure that it drains properly so the bottom of the pot doesn’t sit in water which will also encourage rot in the roots. 

Another factor that causes leaves to flop and then rot is too little light ... sansevieria need lots of light otherwise the leaves become etiolated ... drawn too tall and weak. Mine lives on a southwest facing windowsill. 

Thanks again for the advice! I'll buy another pot and lessen the soil so that it's a little more elevated. Regarding light, I think this isn't a problem as my sans is right beside the window and it gets enough sunlight. Will keep you posted.

Thank you so much!

Dovefromabove

Hope it works out for you 🤞