Beginners Care Guide for Sansevieria Silver Hahnii

Sansevieria Silver Hahnii is a rare white snake plant with an ethereal shimmer to its leaves – a beautiful site to behold.

Sansevieria Silver Hahnii Care Summary

Getting to Know Sansevieria Silver Hahnii

As plant owners, we feel it is our responsibility to find out as much as possible about the origins of our plants. Get to know their roots (pun intended😉) if you know what we mean.

By learning about their origins, we can hope to introduce these conditions into our homes to allow them to thrive.

Name

Scientific Name: Sansevieria Trifasciata ‘Hahnii’

Common Name(s): Golden Bird’s Nest

Origin

The Sansevieria Silver Hahnii is a snake plant cultivar created in a nursery in the United States of America – like the Sansevieria Silver Queen. It is a close descendant of the common Sansevieria Trifasciata, which is easy to see with the shape and size of the leaves.

Even though it has been bred into existence, we can still infer the qualities and properties it will inherit from the originating snake plants.

The Trifasciata originates in dry areas of Africa, where rainfall is unpredictable, and the soil is sandy. From this, we can conclude the Silver Hahnii will also thrive in similar conditions.

Appearance and Flowers

As we mentioned at the beginning, this beautiful cultivar’s main attraction is the foliage’s shimmery aesthetics.

In terms of shape and appearance, they are very similar to their originating parent plants, the Sansevieria Trifasciata. However, they are considered dwarf snake plants, only growing up to 8-10 inches in length (20-25 centimeters).

The base color underneath the shimmer is a dulled light green with variegated patterns running horizontally across the foliage.

The Silver Hahnii can produce flowers. However, like other snake plants, they only show when under ideal conditions. Snake plant flowers do not necessarily develop annually. The flowers look like little bushels of fireworks in suspended animation and develop on stalks that grow from the base of the snake plant. The flowers generally take on a cream to off-white color.

Sansevieria Silver Hahnii Detailed Care Instructions

Now for the detailed care instructions.

In this section, we’ll explore the care requirements of the Sansevieria Silver Hahnii more closely.

We’ll also provide helpful links to more in-depth articles on the topics of snake plant care.

Water Requirements

Allow the soil to dry before adding more water to your Sansevieria Silver Hahnii.

Sounds simple right? The most challenging part is determining when the soil is dry.

The easiest way to determine when the soil is dry is to use a finger soil moisture test or a soil moisture meter from your nursery or online at Amazon.

As you care for your Silver Hahnii, you will begin to understand their water needs intimately. The watering frequency changes each season.

To make things easier, we’ve put together a guide on water frequencies in different seasons. Check out our article HERE.

Lighting Requirements

Sansevieria Silver Hahnii require plenty of bright indirect sunlight to thrive.

Indoor Silver Hahnii can tolerate sunlight. However, only in short doses. Midday and afternoon sun is too intense for indoor snake plants and will quickly dehydrate the leaves, causing leaf burn.

When grown outdoors, the Sansevieria Silver Hahnii becomes hardened to the weather elements and has higher tolerances for direct sunlight.

Read more HERE for tips on lighting conditions for snake plants.

Temperature Requirements

As succulents originate from African climates, your Sansevieria Silver Hahnii will thrive in warm weather.

The recommended indoor temperature for Silver Hahnii is between 60-85° Fahrenheit (15-29° Celsius).

We caution all snake plant owners to be careful of extreme temperatures. At freezing temperatures, water expands when frozen. This means the water reserves in the Silver Hahnii leaves can freeze, causing irreparable damage to the leaf cells.

If your area is susceptible to freezing temperatures during winter, we recommend bringing your snake plants inside the house, where the temperature is at more acceptable levels.

Humidity Requirements

Keep your Sansevieria Silver Hahnii in between 30 and 50% relative humidity.

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 Silver Hahnii will suffocate.

We have written an in-depth article discussing how humidity affects snake plants.

Soil & Fertilizer Requirements

The properties of the soil you use for your Sansevieria Silver Hahnii can have profound effects on the health of your houseplant.

Choosing the best soil for your Sansevieria Silver Hahnii can significantly impact your plant parent experience. Quality soil will reduce the frequency of your watering, facilitate the uptake of nutrients by your snake plant, 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 Silver Hahnii, 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 Silver Hahnii. 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 and become an infestation.

You can read more about symptoms of pest infestation HERE.

Pot Size

Like other snake plants, Sansevieria Silver Hahnii 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 Silver Hahnii root system.

Sansevieria Silver Hahnii Propagation Techniques

To preserve the stunning variegated patterns and colors, we recommend only propagating your Silver Hahnii using the propagation method by plant division or by splitting snake plant pups.

Propagating your Silver Hahnii 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:

1. Remove the root ball – lift the mother snake plant root ball out of its container.
2. Clean and prepare the root ball – rinse your snake plant’s roots under warm water to clear the soil away.
3. Identify the rhizome – find the rhizome attached to the baby Silver Hahnii 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.
4. 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.