How to Get a Snake Plant to Flower
These succulents have an air of subtle imposingness about them.
These plants don’t play around, as seen by the long, sword-shaped leaves of Dracaena trifasciata, the spikey columns of Dracaena angolensis, and the degree of neglect they can withstand and yet thrive.
Heck, even their common names evoke menacing images: St. George’s Sword, mother-in-law tongue, snake plant.
It makes sense that the delicate blossoms frequently catch unaware homeowners of houseplants off guard. One morning, as they stroll around their brightly lit living room while sipping coffee, they discover something new: a stem of flowers.
“Huh, I didn’t even know snake plants could flower.”
Some of us know they should blossom, of course, but we can’t manage to encourage our plant to do so.
To make matters worse, rather than us, it’s generally that friend or relative that gives their plants careless attention when they discover a surprise blossom stem. You know, the person who neglects to give their plants enough water or who doesn’t provide them new pots when necessary. The person who notes in passing that they have murdered another houseplant.
Whichever camp you belong to—still aiming for a flower stalk or unintentionally receiving a snake plant bloom—understanding the circumstances under which a snake plant blooms can enable you to accomplish your objective.
Alternatively, elucidate the reason behind your friend’s twitching eye when you tell them about your fortunate flowering snake plant.
Oddly enough, the key to a flowering snake plant reveals a hormonal link we share with our spikey little friend.
How to Get a Snake Plant to Bloom
The secret to getting a snake plant to blossom is stress—everyone’s favourite word.
Well, so it might not be a word that everyone likes. (Did you read that with your shoulders hunching a little?) However, this is what makes your spider plant bloom, which is why some owners of houseplants are a bit afraid to force their plants to bloom—trust me, it works out OK in the end.
There may even be flowers.
Stress – a Short Life Lesson & the Key to Blooming Snake Plants
Plants, like the majority of life on this enormous blue ball, are primarily concerned with two things: surviving and procreating. Stressed out and sensing even the remotest possibility of not surviving, a plant will focus its energies on proliferating.
For most plants, this entails blossoming in order to generate seeds and, ideally, the following generation. Plants, including snake plants, produce chemicals that trigger the flowering process when external pressures materialise.
Of course, for us, stress is a four-letter word.
Not all stress is harmful. It is there to protect us.
The ability to recognise potentially harmful objects is innate in our brains. And when they do, a wave of cortisol shoots through our systems, readying us to fight or run from that lion we heard skulking in the grass. However, the cortisol fades and nothing bad happens when we recognise that the rustle in the grass was simply the breeze and not a lion about to eat us.
Unfortunately, in our modern times, our brains mistake many common occurrences with deadly threats.
experiencing traffic jams when you’re already behind schedule.
Taking up your mail and observing that one of the return addresses is the Internal Revenue Service.
Hearing your phone ring and observing the unwelcome caller’s number show on the screen.
We are now dealing with a continuous and consistent supply of cortisol with little to no abatement since all these minor stresses add up to cause the release of cortisol. If we were plants, we would be long gone from producing blossoms.
So, it’s no wonder that intentionally stressing a plant to get it to flower elicits a resounding “Nope!” from so many plant enthusiasts.
However, your snake plant may blossom with very little environmental stress. (Plants exercise caution in this way.)
Actually, you only need to make three precise changes to the growth conditions of a snake plant to enable it to bloom inside. There are just two of them that are stressful to the plant: watering less regularly and allowing the plant to get root-bound.
I’ll even apply it to situations involving human stress.
It’s similar to how you feel in the evening when you forget to drink water during the day, or like putting on that little too-tight pair of pants you have hidden in the back of your drawer since all your other pairs are in the laundry.
Uncomfortable? Sure. Insurmountable? Hardly.
Not just for snake plants, but for all plants as well, one of the most crucial elements in bloom induction is light. Usually, adjusting the light on your other houseplants that are in bloom—such as your African violet or peace lily—will bring them back to bloom.
Let Your Snake Plant Wear Tight Jeans
Just enough stress will be applied to somewhat rootbound plants to encourage blossoming. Severe rootbinding, however, prevents plants from blooming and will eventually stop developing. How are the differences discernible?
Even if a plant that is somewhat rootbound will still develop, it might do so a little more slowly than in prior years. If you carefully remove the plant from the container, you should see a uniform mixture of potting material and roots. A severely rootbound plant will stop growing altogether, with roots protruding from the bottom of the pot. If you lift the plant out of the pot, you will see mostly roots, as the root ball will have displaced most of the potting media.
Water Infrequently
In the beginning, snake plants don’t require a lot of water. They would much rather dry out in between waterings than have damp feet. This corresponds to once every two weeks during their phase of vigorous development. You can extend that a little bit, though, when the plant starts to slow down in the autumn. You can even get away with watering them only once a month throughout the winter. (Observe? Tough plants.)
But if you want to induce flowering, you’ll want to water them even less frequently.
Permit the plant to expand and regain its vigour. After your snake plant heals sufficiently, you could even want to repot it.
Now that this post has come to a close, I hope you have gained some important knowledge. Live a life akin to that of a snake plant: tough but capable of delicate beauty; excessive stress can lead to your demise, but little discomfort will encourage growth, particularly if you are surrounded by light. Yes, and naturally, I hope you learned how to get your snake plant to flower.
