Care Guide for Sansevieria Silver Queen for Beginners
Unlike any other snake plant, Sansevieria Silver Queen earns her name with brilliant silver foliage. The Silver Queen is hardy and is befitting of any indoor plant collection.
TL;DR
Sansevieria Silver Queen:
- a medium-sized snake plant with long unique silver leaves
- drought-tolerant and a perfect beginning plant for new or busy enthusiasts
- low-maintenance and easy to propagate from cuttings or by division
Sansevieria Silver Queen Care Summary
| Description | Recommendations |
|---|---|
| Watering | Only water when soil is dry |
| Lighting | A position that receives plenty of bright indirect light |
| Temperature | 60-90° Fahrenheit (15-32° Celsius) |
| Humidity | Low–Med Humidity |
| Feeding | All-purpose houseplant fertilizer at the beginning of Spring |
| Soil | Loamy well-draining soil |
Images of Sansevieria Silver Queen
Getting to Know Sansevieria Silver Queen
As responsible snake plant owners, we must understand our plants’ origins and get to know their roots if you know what we mean😉 (Pun intended).
This section aims to learn where the Silver Queen originates, with the intention of mimicking the conditions in your home.
Name
Scientific Name: Dracaena Trifasciata ‘Silver Queen’
Common Name(s): Sansevieria Silver Queen, Silver Queen Snake Plant, Silver Mother-in-law’s tongue
Origin
It may surprise you that the Sansevieria Silver Queen is actually a snake plant hybrid created in a nursery (also known as a cultivar). 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 parent 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 Queen will also thrive in similar conditions.
Appearance & Flowers
The biggest appeal of the Silver Queen, is as the name suggests, the brilliant silver colorations on the long sword-shaped leaves. If you have the opportunity to see any new leaves or Silver Queen pups growing, you’ll understand just how silvery-white the colors can be.
Besides their silver coloration, the leaves also develop light green variegated patterns running perpendicularly across the leaf.
Sansevieria Silver Queen grows to approximately 3 feet (90 centimeters) in height outdoors. However, indoor Silver Queen snake plants generally grow smaller.
The Silver Queen can produce flowers. However, like other snake plants, they only show when under ideal conditions. Snake plant flowers do not necessarily develop annually. It can be many years between each bloom, so take plenty of pictures if you are lucky enough to witness a blooming snake plant.
The Sansevieria Silver Queen 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 Queen Detailed Care Instructions
This section will build upon the care summary at the beginning of the guide. We’ll explore why the Sansevieria Silver Queen requires these specific care requirements and provide links to more detailed resources.
Water Requirements
Allow the soil to dry before adding more water to your Sansevieria Silver Queen.
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 Queen, you will begin to understand their water needs intimately. The watering frequency changes each season. For guidance on seasonal water frequency, check out our article HERE.
Lighting Requirements
Provide your Sansevieria Silver Queen with plenty of bright indirect sunlight.
Indoor Silver Queens 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 Queen 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 Queen will thrive in warm weather.
The recommended indoor temperature for Silver Queen is between 60-90° Fahrenheit (15-32° Celsius).
We caution all snake plant owners to be careful of extreme temperatures. Water expands when frozen. This means the water reserves in the Silver Queen leaves can freeze, causing irreparable damage to the leaf cells.
Suppose your area is susceptible to frost or freezing temperatures in winter. In that case, we recommend bringing your snake plants inside the house, where the temperatures remain in a safe zone.
Humidity Requirements
Keep your Sansevieria Silver Queen 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 Queen 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 Queen can have profound effects on the health of your houseplant.
Choosing the best soil for your Sansevieria Silver Queen 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 Queen, 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 Queen. 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 Silver Queen 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 Queen’s root system.
Sansevieria Silver Queen Propagation Techniques
To preserve the stunning variegated patterns and colors, we recommend only propagating your Silver Queen using the propagation method by plant division or by splitting snake plant pups.
Propagating your Silver Queen 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 Silver Queen 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.