Starting Sansevieria offsets

I have 4 S. trifsciata 'Bantel's Sensation' offsets, all 4-8 inches tall, that I'm trying to start. Each had 1 or 2, 1/2 to 1 inch roots on about 1 inch of horizontal rhizome still attached. After letting them callous a few days, I planted them in a mix of about 70% pumice to 30% cactus mix. After a few days I watered very lightly to keep those little roots alive, and after another week or more, I did so again when I noticed the leaves weren't as turgid as they were before.

After a few more days, the leaves were still not as turgid as they should be, so I dug them up and found the little roots were gone. Apparently, I'd managed to over-water them. There is no sign of rot or softness in the rhizome, and no evidence of rot there at all, but I assume the little roots rotted.

I repotted them in plain pumice, and haven't watered at all since.

How will I know when to water them? Without any dampness in the potting medium, won't new roots just shrivel and die? What would be the correct way or best way to start offsets such as these? I do not have the parent plants.

Thanks for sharing any advice or experience.

if roots are attached i do not let them go callous, the light and dry air often ( exposed roots ) kills the roots. It is better to not water them at all , just mist the leaves ( lightly to moderate but not wet ) - sanseviera can go weeks if not months without water even large leaves without roots take a long time to dehydrate.

put them in a dark spot.. i put all my cuttings in shade ( except sedums ) i keep cuttings into full shade for a few days and after that i keep them a week or 2 in light shade untill i think they are rooted.

sansevieria is cuttings have small and shallow roots, repotting them too early will damage them. a good way is to plant the cuttings in small plastic transparant containers so you can see them root.

make a diagonal cutting to increase rooting surface.

This message was edited Aug 12, 2014 10:35 PM

Thank you. I have a couple more questions. What is the purpose of misting the leaves? Sansevieria can't absorb water that way, can it? Where do you make diagonal cuts? In the rhizome? How deep?

Concern over rotting the roots in the mix you described, during the heat and long sunny days of summer, should be nearly moot. I would water as often as you would your other plants for summer, when dry. It's during the cooler, shorter, dreary days of winter that Sans are most at risk of being overwatered. This CW has developed to cope with dense potting soil, which has little to no air in it while moist. Roots need oxygen while they are moist to function. So you may find your Sans also need water as often as other plants during winter in such a porous mix.

From what you described, new roots should grow when there is moisture in the pot again. Becoming too dry can damage Sans, just like root rot.

Part of moving plants to a more porous mix is watering more often. Partly because the soil dries more often from evaporation, and partly because one doesn't have to let plants dry to such an extreme degree to avoid rotting the roots.

purpose of misting is to increase air humidity around the cuttings so they do not dry out that fast, because of this you can decrease the watering a bit which prevents rot etc. doesn't really matter where you make the cuts since they are easy to root, leave cuttings are good.

if you root cuttings in shade or light shade you avoid all the problems with overwatering because in shade ( and or cool spot ) the plants do not need as much water as when they are in a sunny spot ( lower rate of photosynthesis).

overwatering is the problem with most drought tolerant plants. especially sansevieria can go without water for many weeks in winter , they can even survive many days or weeks in warmer temperatures.

Sans are from dry, arid climates, and don't need high humidity, though they don't seem to mind high humidity or temps around 100 as happens every summer here in AL near FL border.

This is what new roots and baby pup/offset/rosette looks like.

So, to recap and be sure I'm understanding correctly: as long as they're in this very porous mix, even though they don't have any roots yet, I don't have to worry about rot, and I should be watering them just like any other plant with roots, right?

For fear of losing all 4, I moved 2. One I put in pumice and granite with a spider plant, and the other I stuck in a peaty mix with a Schefflera. No sign of roots on any yet. I guess I'll go water the two I left behind.

How long before I should see some sign of roots?