Here we go again! Snake plant #2 (let’s call him ‘Carl’) found himself in his new housing this week. I used the same pot I had prepped last week, with the coffee filter dirt-barrier, the cinnamon fungi-fighting layer, and the fresh scoop of cacti/succulent soil.

A few days after his water soak, Carl’s dirt mass was still quite moist and infinitely easier to break apart without simultaneously destroying all the roots. The darker soil also better displayed the web of roots wrapping around the edges. This plant is far from the worst case of pot-bound roots. I’d guesstimate that Carl is only in the beginning stages of becoming root-bound, if at all, considering snake plants love to be a good bit crowded in their environment.

Unlike Stella (as we are now calling last week’s rehomed snake plant), I was able to fully free Carl from the soil, allowing us to observe the base of the plant. I am mildly concerned about the orange coloring we see at the very bottom, but that might just be staining from the dirt, rather than a sign of overwatering. I forgot to rinse the roots to see if they might turn white, but I can verify that the roots felt firm rather than squishy, and they did not emit a funky odor. Squish and odor for orange roots can indicate overwatering-caused rot. We can additionally be reassured with the knowledge that mature snake plant roots are naturally orange in color, and mayhaps that rule applies to the stem base as well.

When repotting Carl, the soil from his prior pot was still wet, while the new soil was distinctly dry. I hoped to prevent some stress by keeping the familiarity of the old soil, but I also did not want to continue overwatering by wetting the new soil (I’ve read that overwatering is far more a result of frequency of waterings, rather than amount of water provided in a single sitting). So, we have a marbling effect in the new pot. Like cake. Fingers crossed the moisture will diffuse throughout the mass and settle on a happy medium.