Sansevieria Bantels Sensation: Beginners Care Guide
Sansevieria Bantels Sensation is a unique-looking member of the snake plant family that provides beautiful contrasting variegated foliage.
TL;DR
Sansevieria Bantels Sensation:
- beautiful white variegated patterns make this snake plant look almost white in appearance
- hardy and drought tolerant, it is the perfect indoor or outdoor plant to add to your collection
- easy to propagate via division from rhizome or snake plant pups to maintain unique coloration
Sansevieria Bantels Sensation Care Summary
| Description | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Watering | Only water when soil is dry |
| Lighting | A position that receives plenty of bright indirect light |
| Temperature | 55-85° Fahrenheit (12-29° Celsius) |
| Humidity | Low–Med Humidity |
| Feeding | All-purpose houseplant fertilizer at the beginning of Spring |
| Soil | Loamy well-draining soil |
Images of Sansevieria Bantels Sensation
Getting to Know Sansevieria Bantels Sensation
As responsible snake plant owners, we feel understanding your plant’s origins dramatically improves your understanding of their care requirements. Appreciating their natural environment will help you mimic it in the home, allowing them to thrive.
Name
Scientific Name: Sansevieria cv. Bantel’s Sensation
Common Name(s): mother-in-law’s tongue, White snake plant, white striped sansevieria
Origin
The Sansevieria Bantels Sensation originates in the western parts of Africa, close to Congo.
It was discovered by Gustav Bantel (hence the name), who patented it in 1948.
Like other snake plants, the Sansevieria Bantels Sensation grows in warm conditions with sporadic rainfall. To survive the unpredictable rain, the Sansevieria stores water in its fleshy leaves to draw down upon when required. This makes them drought tolerant, which is ideal for all plant owners.
In their natural environment, they can be exposed to natural direct sunlight. However, indoor plants are not as hardy and should only be exposed to different light intensities – we’ll discuss more in the care section.
Appearance & Flowers
The Bantel Sensation is best known for its contrasting white stripes that proceed the length of the leaves. It delivers a unique zebra-like appearance, befitting their African origins.
The shape and length of the leaves look similar in appearance to the more commonly known Sansevieria Trifasciata. The renowned sword-shaped leaves sport deep bottle green contrasted against white or light green stripes.
The length of foliage can grow up to 4 feet (122 centimeters) in length, although it is usually shorter when grown indoors.
Like other snake plants, the Sansevieria Bantels Sensation can produce flowers that grow on long stalks with bushels of flowers that look like fireworks exploding.
However, seeing a snake plant blooming is rare and only usually occurs when conditions are perfect.
Sansevieria Bantels Sensation Detailed Care Instructions
This section will expand on the care summary we provided earlier in the guide. We’ll look deeper into the care regiment required to get these beautiful plants flourishing at home.
Water Requirements
Sanseveria Bantels Sensation prefers its soil to dry between each watering.
The challenging part is knowing when the soil is dry.
Using a finger soil moisture test is the budget-friendly and convenient way to tell when the soil is dry.
However, a more accurate way to tell when the soil is dry is to use a soil moisture meter from your nursery or online at Amazon.
We are confident as time progresses, you will begin to pick up your Bantels Sensation’s water absorption habits and instinctively know when it needs more water.
The watering frequency changes each season. For guidance on seasonal water frequency, check out our article HERE.
Lighting Requirements
Indoor Sansevieria Bantels Sensation plants thrive in bright indirect sunlight.
Position your indoor Sansevieria Bantels Sensation in a position that receives plenty of indirect light. Direct sunlight can be tolerated by your indoor snake plant, however, only in small doses. Midday and afternoon sun is too intense for indoor snake plants and will quickly dehydrate the leaves, causing leaf burn.
Outdoor Sansevieria Bantels Sensation, however, is more tolerant of direct sunlight. Similar to their natural environment in Africa, they become hardened to the weather elements and have higher tolerances for direct sunlight.
Read more HERE for tips on lighting conditions for snake plants.
Temperature Requirements Sansevieria Bantels Sensation
As succulents from Africa, your Bantels Sensation will thrive in warm weather.
The recommended indoor temperature for Bantels Sensation is between 55-85° Fahrenheit (12-29° Celsius).
We caution all snake plant owners to be careful of extreme temperatures. Water expands when frozen. This means the water reserves in the Bantels Sensation’s leaves can freeze, causing irreparable damage to the leaf cells.
We recommend bringing all snake plants indoors for the winter. It will protect them from the harsh cold temperatures and ensure they don’t experience frost damage.
Humidity Requirements
Keep your Sansevieria Bantels Sensation in between 30 and 50% relative humidity.
Short-term fluctuations won’t bother your Bantels Sensation. However, check the relative humidity with a hygrometer if your Sansevieria is beginning to suffer.
Humidity can be challenging to control. However, it is essential for regulating your snake plant’s internal processes, like transpiration.
Not enough moisture in the air (low humidity) accelerates the transpiration process, quickly dehydrates your plant, and causes water stress.
Too much moisture (high humidity) will prevent transpiration at the other extreme, and your Sansevieria Bantels Sensation will suffocate.
We have written an in-depth article discussing how humidity affects snake plants.
Soil & Fertilizer Requirements
The soil quality you use for your Sansevieria Bantels Sensation can profoundly affect your houseplant’s health.
Quality soil will reduce the frequency of your watering, facilitate the uptake of nutrients by your Bantels Sensation, and reduce its susceptibility to pests and disease.
To be effective, your snake plant soil must be:
- well-draining,
- a sandy loam consistency (light and airy), and
- contain some organic materials with water absorption properties.
We have devised a recipe for the perfect snake plant potting mix. You can also watch our video on making snake plant soil below.
Pest and Diseases
If there is one disease that you should familiarise yourself with for your Sansevieria Bantels Sensation, it is root rot.
Root rot is a fungal disease that can develop when your snake plant has been sitting in waterlogged soil from being overwatered. The process of eliminating root rot is straightforward. However, it is onerous. You can read our step-by-step guide for removing root rot in snake plants HERE.
Some leaf-borne fungal diseases, such as mildew and leaf spot, can infect your Bantels Sensation. We explore these diseases and (more importantly) treatments HERE.
Snake plants are most susceptible to sap-sucking insects like mealybugs, spider mites, and thrips. These pests have the equipment to penetrate the tough outer layer of the foliage and access the nutrient-rich sap.
The best way to detect any signs of pests (or disease, for that matter) is to regularly inspect your potted plants and manually remove any pests you see. The key is not letting their population get out of hand, becoming an infestation.
You can read more about symptoms of pest infestation HERE.
Pot Size
Like other snake plants, Sansevieria Bantels Sensation requires a tight root system to support its large leaves.
When placed in a container too large for their root system, they will refocus their energy on developing the roots rather than growing new leaves. While they are still growing (under the soil), they will appear to be experiencing stunted growth.
Your snake plant pot should also have adequate drainage with plenty of drainage holes. As we pointed out earlier, constantly wet soil rots your Bantels Sensation’s root system.
Sansevieria Bantels Sensation Propagation Techniques
To preserve the stunning variegated patterns and colors, we recommend only propagating your Bantels Sensation using the propagation method by plant division or by splitting snake plant pups.
Propagating your Bantels Sensation with a cutting in water or soil risks the new plant reverting to a regular pattern on the foliage, similar to the Sansevieria Trifasciata.
To propagate by plant division, follow these steps:
- Remove the root ball – lift the mother snake plant root ball out of its container.
- Clean and prepare the root ball – rinse your snake plant’s roots under warm water to clear the soil away.
- Identify the rhizome – find the rhizome attached to the baby Bantels Sensation snake pup. Cut the rhizome as close to the main root ball of the mother plant as possible. You want to retain as many thin roots as possible with the rhizome.
- Re-pot your Plants – re-pot your mother snake plant into the original pot with some fresh potting mix. At the same time, fill your propagation containers a third up with a good-quality potting mix (discussed above). Place each pup into the pot and backfill with quality potting mix until the soil level covers the white parts of the rhizome and pups. Give all your plants good watering and ensure all excess water drains out.
You can find step-by-step instructions HERE if you prefer to propagate using cuttings.