Sansevieria are all light lovers. It could be that you are not able to give it the light it needs up there in BC. In the winters you might need florescent light to supplement lack of daylight. In the summers when it gets above 50 degrees F, then leave it outside in the open shade. I would be careful about direct sunlight up there. See that the soil has some moisture. Many people like Osmocote 14-14-14 fertilizers commonly found in garden centers. Depth of pot is not a significant factor in growing sansevieria except that soils are slower to dry out and there is more root room.
One last thing, depot your plant and look for root problems, especially little cotton-like fluffs clinging to roots; this is bad. Wash 'em off.
Michaela

Sasnseviera don't have pest proglems, end of conversation.
and do not take coaxing to grow. The worst problem is too much water in the winter starting Oct 1 in North America. They are slow and your patience is short. Water weekly during your summer months. They do well with low indirect light will flower with a bit more light, make good houseplants, undemanding. Whats not to love? Feed of course, they like food. Norma

By all means, if you like the way your plants are performing, you should follow the lead of the previous poster.

Michaela,

That's just the point - I don't. I should have already done as you've suggested (depotting the plant).

Norma,

My patience isn't short at all - if that were the case, the plant would have been in the compost pile months ago. I know how to grow them for the most part, but this particular one is challenging. Please remember I don't have your growing conditions and Micheala's point about pests is germane to many of us.

Hi Cactusmcharris (^_^) though our climate are quite different,
I could show you my 2 years same age Sans. patens, one in a 10" pot with 2 big offsets
while other in 2" pot that look much smaller in size.

Stephania,

You know how to break a boy's heart, don't you? Those are wonderfully grown! TFS and I'll use it as an incentive to grow mine even half as well as you are growing yours.

Sorry my friend :^)) I'm unable to keep from breaking your heart, again! LOL

Sansevieria patens, variegated.

This is also a striking one. The plant was displayed in a tray garden.

Darnit.....another one to add to my want list. Darn Sans for being so awesome!

Resurrecting this long-dormant thread...Michaela, are you saying too dry in winter can cause sanses to just sit there during the summer?

Jeff,
Far be it from me to give you advise. I have had the same problem with some of my sans. All of a sudden, they take off. I do believe it has to do with tempature more than any one thing. When we hit the mid 90's a few weeks ago, most if not all my sans started to take off. Some I thought I might loose then new growth and in only a few weeks. I would put that thing in a 1/2 day sun and somewhere warm. What do you got to loose. Let us know what happens.
Stush

I've noticed that I was keeping the Sanses WAY too dry in the winter. Indeed, they just sit there, doing little in the summer.

As an example, the hallii would barely open its leaves until summer's end. Then it had little time to grow. This year, it got much more regular watering during the winter, had open leaves when it went out and now has a better chance of increasing in size. Same for the patens and it now have 2 pups forming already.

...too dry in winter can cause sanses to just sit there during the summer?

I don't believe in this cause-effect theory as a general rule for all Sans. I don't know many different Sans but I've had one around for decades. If your Sans is just sitting there, consider repotting it (with root trim) and putting it in more sun, deep drinks of water, allowed to dry between.

My S. trifasciata had been completely neglected and it hadn't done much for about 20 years. I never water Sans inside unless the pot feels extremely lightweight. And this plant has made a flower and has grown about 8 pups this year. I've repotted it twice this year. Between the first and second time was about 2 months and the new soil was already completely full of roots and there was a 2nd crop of new pups looking for somewhere to emerge. The 2nd repot was into a 5-gallon bucket a couple weeks ago.

The plant on the left is the one that made the flower. This is it before that, in April.

{{gwi:112502}}

Pics from today:

This pic wouldn't take more clearly, but the yellow thing in the middle is one of the new pups I noticed was up yesterday.

I bought this little Sans earlier this spring and repotted it.

{{gwi:112497}}

Today:

Oh purple... I mean REALLY dry - WAY too dry - like no water for months - dry. I got much better and the whole thing. My plants look great this year. Many of my caudiciforms really need to be that dry during dormancy. I think the species sans from dry areas should be dry, just not as dry as I was keeping them. This does indeed, keep them alive, but growing extremely slowly - more water last winter, careful attention to soils, root systems, and pots = much better growth this year.

Michael

To give you an idea of how little water these plants had after coming inside, they sat on the carpet with no saucers. They got a few spritzes on the soil surface with a spray bottle 2 or 3 times. Both sound very dry to me. The leaves on mine were always turgid though. Did you find that to be true of yours?

There's another thread here about a plant that didn't get a drink for a year. I'm anxious to see pics of that one!

Here is a link that might be useful: He was a survivor

Next week (I'm running behind and don't have a lot of time right now) I will post on water, turgidity, movement in leaves. There are some interesting things I'm seeing right now.

Leaves can remain fairly turgid, but are not as "full" as they are when actively growing. Everything "looked" normal, it just wasn't.

Like you said before, there are different species involved. I really don't have any trifasciata types, but more than 40 species.

Interesting!

And I wonder how much humidity (or lack thereof) is a factor? We use radiant heat that does not remove humidity in the air. That's got to be huge if you're a plant, I know it is to me.

When you've made the transition from winter growing to summer growing (indoor/outdoor?) do you then start watering a lot more? Plants do a lot of illogical things because they aren't rational by human standards so it doesn't mean much if I say it's illogical that a thirsty plant (but not thirsty to the point of dying) would have lingering difficulties with growth after a significant drenching. But that's how I feel since I've never seen an example of the proposed theory, just many opposing examples. What would it be waiting for? Shouldn't it know, "Now's my chance!?" But I'm sure we've all had a plant that didn't do what "all of the others always do" according to the rules of that plant.

My mind is open to science of course, and opposing anecdotes, so I will keep visiting this thread to see what I might learn.

Isn't S. trifasciata the "everywhere plant" of the Sans world? I've always assumed it was since it's, well, everywhere. So it may be wrong (and possibly boring to many) to even make many comparisons. I do know that since I've realized these plants actually DO SOMETHING, I want more, as long as they look different, and would like to know more about them. I'm learning about my plant (which is now in several pots) in retrospect, just glad he's not holding a grudge for previous grievances. I think the common name should be "forgiver." About anything you do to it will be forgiven.

Jeff,
About your plant, It may very well need fed. Like Norma said. If it lacks it's basic elements it will stunt and slow grow. I feed mine with a concoction of compost tea. I pure in the fertilizer let it seep though the grass clippings in my 32 gallon can and collect the waist water below to feed my plants. I get great results. Don't let it collect too long, it begins to smell like a barn. Also a great link to read;
http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/foliage/folnotes/sansevie.htm
Stush