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[SANS] repotting

 Sansevierias are all about planning for the future.  That plant that you
bought with its mature growth is history.   That growth has finished its
work.  Its produced its maximum foliage and finally bloomed.  So, while it
may look very nice and appropriately and decoratively potted, its future is
a long slow decline.  I always recommend when growing Sansevierias to grow
your plant for its next offset.  That is the future of your plant.  If
properly grown it will be bigger, better formed, with younger more striking
markings.  If the rhizome for that growth is stunted or deformed by growing
through the drainage hole then your new growth will never achieve its
potential.  So when repotting always I always arrange my plants so that the
new rhizome and potential new growth comes up away from the edge of the pot,
with plenty of room to grow.  Frequently this means that a freshly repotted
plant is quite unattractive.  My S. Horwoodii for example looked pretty good
in its 6" pot.  The plant was just beginning to push itself out of the pot
indicating that a rhizome was pushing against the pot's bottom.  In order to
position the new growth so that it would grow up in a good position I had to
repot into a large bulb pan with the old growths hanging over the edge of
the pot while the buried rhizome stretched across to near the other side.
When the new growth has grown for several months to a year I will repot
again, cutting the rhizome and attractively arranging the plant.  I always
keep the new growth while the oldest growths are removed for propagation or
passed on to another collector.

Of course, frequently I don't follow my own advise and a rhizome grows
through a drainage hole.  When this happens I either carefully cut out the
drain to enlarge it so that I can save the entire rhizome and new plant
intact.  But if that's not possible then I will place the pot on top of a
larger bulb pan with soil so that the new growth can put down good roots
before I cut it at the drainhole.

With the species that grow from above soil stolons I wait until the new
growths produce root stubs and then cut them off and pot up in a small pot.
The easiest species to work with are the ones that produce new growths from
short rhizomes like S. trifasciata or S. kirkii v. pulchra.  These plants
can be just potted up with the oldest dullest growths removed.  With the
silver variegated forms like S. t. 'silver moon' (same as 'moonshine' ?) the
new growths are really beautiful while the old growths are much darker and
dull.  A pot of this variety looks best if the older growths are frequently
removed so that the pots are almost all new maturing growths.  If you have
the room the old growths can be kept for years as propagating stock (a
frugal tip which I do not recommend--these plants will take over your home.
!).

Jon Dixon
Woodside Ca.
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