Growing the Stunning Sansevieria Cylindrica: A Care Guide

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This increasingly popular plant is a joy to grow! It is one of my favorite Sansevieria varieties, or snake plants, out there. Like the name of the species suggests, the leaves grow in an attractive cylindrical shape, which makes it unique and unusual!

So let me tell you how I care for my Sansevieria cylindrica, and later in this post I will show you what other Sansevieria varieties I like to grow!

About Sansevieria Cylindrica

I always like to take my cue from nature in order to give me clues on plant care, and this plant is no exception!

Sansevieria cylindrica is a succulent plant that is native to Angola. It is also known as African Spear plant.

The interesting part about Sansevieria cylindrica is that it has adapted to dry, arid regions by having cylindrically shaped leaves.

This reduces the surface area of the leaves and allows it to survive harsher and drier conditions. Versus some of the softer leaved Sansevieria with broader, strap-like leaves.

Mother nature knows best!

Sansevieria Cylindrica Growing Conditions

LIGHT

Often times, when you go to the store and buy a plant, the labels are very misleading. There is SOME truth to plant labels, but many times they are misleading!

Sanseveria cylindrica, like any Sansevieria, is most often sold as a “low light” plant. This doesn’t mean that they NEED low light. It just simply means that they tolerate it more than other plants that are not labeled that way.

In fact, Sansevieria actually do best when they have some direct sun! I have 3 of these plants…ok actually 4. I can’t seem to get enough of this genus of plants. They all get at least a little bit of direct sun everyday.

Of course when the sun is out in Northern Ohio… *sigh*

My point is, if you want a truly beautiful Sansevieria cylindrica, don’t put it in a dark corner. It may tolerate those conditions, but it will not thrive and will eventually decline.

Sansevieria are not the fastest growing plants. If you have them in darker conditions, they will grow even more slowly so keep that in mind.

WATERING

For all my succulents, including Sansevieria cylindrica and other varieties of Sansevieria, this is how I water them.

I like to thoroughly soak the whole pot. Don’t fall into the trap of just adding a little bit of water because it’s a succulent. I feel so passionately about proper watering that I wrote a blog post on watering myths!

Be sure to check it out because it is one of the most important aspects of plant care!

Normally I like to take them to a sink and soak the pot throughly and let everything drain away. These plants demand excellent drainage. Never let them sit in water!

Then at this point, I will hold off on watering until the soil is completely dry. And even then, you can wait! They were designed by nature to be able to withstand dry soil. But be nice to your succulents and don’t let them suffer!

FERTILIZER

I have to admit, although I would like to fertilize my Sansevieria cylindrica plants regularly, I sometimes get lazy!

But when I do fertilize, I do like to use a special fertilizer. For all my succulent (and one cactus) at home, I like to use the Schultz Cactus fertilizer.

It uses a special low nitrogen formulation that succulents and cacti do best with. And it’s nice because you can use it every time you water! This is the way I prefer to water my houseplants. Dilutely with every watering.

This fertilizer is formulated that way. So you can fertilize with every watering.

If you forget to fertilize regularly, your plants won’t mind…but don’t completely ignore it. Just be sure to stop fertilizing during the winter months when your plant is not growing.

You don’t want to fertilize during the dreary parts of the year when plants are not growing.

SOIL BLENDS

I rarely will use any potting mix straight out of the bag anymore for any succulents or cactus. There are some good blends out there, but I like to tweak them a bit.

I like to start with either the Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm and Citrus mix or the Hoffman Cactus and Succulent mix.

To either of these mixes, for succulents like Sansevieria cylindrica, I like to add some 1/4″ pumice. You will be shocked at how much this will improve the drainage of your soil and provide more oxygen to your plant roots.

I like to use about 1 part pumice to 3 parts or so potting mix. You might end up finding your own ratio that works well for you, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

If you’re looking for an amazing potting mix that you can use straight out of the bag for your snake plant, check out the Tropical Succulent Soil Blend from Oh Happy Plants. This is an amazing mix and you will get 10% off at checkout automatically if you use my link.

REPOTTING SANSEVIERIA CYLINDRICA

If you have ever repotted a Sansevieria, you know that they can have some serious roots! The plants do like to be pot bound, but sometimes your plant will tell you when it needs to be repotted.

Sansevieria will often warp the pots that they are growing in. This is very apparent in plastic pots. But they have been known to break clay pots!

Take a look at the one below. This plant was just begging to be repotted!

In this case, I had to take a pair of scissors and cut the plastic pot off in order to repot it.

Look at those big fleshy roots! I decided to repot the plant into a terra cotta pot, and also separated one of the pups and gave it its own little pot. The pot might seem big for the pup, but there was a large piece of rhizome and I couldn’t fit it in a smaller pot.

Normally when I repot a plant, I like to loosen the rootball. With Sansevieria, you just have to be a little more gentle because you don’t want to break the big fleshy roots.

Sansevieria Varieties

Sansevieria cylindrica is one of my absolute favorite Sansevieria varieties, but there are lots of other beautiful ones!

Take a look at the Sansevieria trifasciata Hahnii below. That plant is at least 15 years old! I have never divided it and I believe I’ve only repotted it twice during that time!

Another one of my favorites is the common Sansevieria laurentii with the beautiful yellow variegated edges. Isn’t it beautiful?

And last but not least, there are two more Sansevieria varieties that I love. I really love Sansevieria ‘Moonshine’ (pictured on the right below) A friend sent me this plant and it is putting out quite a few new leaves now.

The new leaves are a lighter color and darker a bit as they age. The form is more unusual for Sansevieria and I just love the shape and color of the leaves.

Last but not least, I really love Sansevieria Bantel’s Sensation, pictured on the left in the photo above. I’m looking forward to this one growing more leaves (this was also sent to me by a friend…I have some nice plant friends!) The skinny variegated leaves are stunning.

Of course there are many more varieties of Sansevieria than this, so go and grow a few! There are few houseplants that are as tough and forgiving as this amazing genus of plants. But beware! They can be addicting!

Be sure not to miss my post on 13 beautiful snake plant varieties that you can add to your collection.

How many Sansevieria do you have? Comment below…I’d love to hear from you!