I had a friend whose Sans. inside his home in a pot on the floor were reaching his ceilings which I assumed to be at least 8 ft. tall.

Did you actually touch those plants or see them up close? Any chance they're artificial? Especially in Vegas?

Pirategirl - I couldn't resist touching them. I couldn't get over how big they were. They were real and they were spectacular.

The picture below is not mine, but from Tom Rulkens, of Sansevieria fischeri growing in the wild in Mozambique. This is a species we usually see in its juvenile form, as a small rosette of thick leaves!

Sansevieria stuckyi is another species that can grow tall, at ZSS (the collection of succulent plants of the city of Zurich, Switzerland) they have it planted in one of the beds, and the biggest leaves were two and half meters (over eight feet) tall.

An then there are the arborescent Sansevieria species like S. arborescens, S. powysii, S. bagamoyensis, S. powellii etc. that can also grow stems over two meters tall, given time and plenty of space!

Regards,

Marlon Machado.

His own comments: "Leaves are spoon-shaped with an erect growth habit and very tall - up to 185 cm !! Mostly 1 and sometimes 2 leaves per growth. Here with Obet Jose Baptista who measures 170 cm."

Regards,

Marlon Machado.

Regards,

Marlon Machado.

Cool pix, thanks for posting pix which we would ordinarily not otherwise get to see. So cool to see that in situ they can easily reach the height of a man & more. Obrigado.

I am lucky I live in a climate where I can grow plants like they do in Thailand, although at the moment most of my plants are still juvenile forms, since I only started growing Sansevieria more seriously in the past two years.

Regards,

Marlon.

There is no longer a way to contact you through GardenWeb here & I have forgotten your email address (there used to be such a link).

Please DO NOT invite perfect strangers to stay at your home, this is a foolish & unwise policy, you need to please stop doing this! (Does Cookie know that you do this? Bet she wouldn't be thrilled if she did!)

Lest any readers think I've got my nerve telling Norma this, I know her personally, have stayed over at her home, & have known her to be (unfortunately) far too generous including to folks she does not know. This unfortunately, is an invitation to be taken advantage of, which has happened to her already.

Hans,

Very cool photo, am guessing those are about 4 ft. tall (about 1 meter or so, maybe a bit more). TFS

You are so right. When we talk to each other here we tend to get the feeling that we know each other. We don't and some people like Norma is a trusting kind. I feel like I know both of you but I don't. If she gets any takers I hope some one will be with Norma during their stay. Most all gardeners I have ever met turned out to be great people. But with today's world, just can't take a chance.

The Sans. stuckyii in Hans' picture have leaves the size of a person and taller. I used to work at the succulent collection of Zurich, it was one of the many plants there that amazed me whenever I looked at them.

Regards,

Marlon Machado.

Thanks for clarifying about their height, especially since they are twice as tall as I thought. I guess I was judging by the placard on the stand in front of the Exhibit. Here they put them (at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden) in a display like that about hip to waist high on me (I'm 5 ft. 3", 160 cm (I think)).

I'm amazed to see growth like that, so simple yet stunning too.

Hi Marlon,

How fortunate you must have been to work at such a facility in Zurich. I too would gave been fascinated, you must have learned a great deal!

The recipe for big plants is simple: give them good growing conditions (good well drained compost, good light, warmth, fertilizer), plenty of root space, and do not divide the plants when you repot. Each new growth will be bigger than the previous one.

Regards,

Marlon Machado

All growths in a Sansevieria are connected, in fact it is just a single plant with several shoots, and the energy produced by all leaves go into one or a few new shoots, so these get strength and grow bigger. When you divide the plant, there are fewer leaves to feed the growth of a new shoot, and thus although it will probably still be the same size or bigger than the other growths, it will not be as big as a plant with several growths connected. The more growths the plant have the more energy it will produce and then the new shoots will be bigger, also the plant will make more growths. Of course each species has a maximum size it can achieve, it is programmed in their DNA.

The opposite is also true: if you keep dividing a plant, removing each new growth as soon as it is mature, then the plants will never get much big, no mater what - simply a single growth will not have the same energy as several growths connected. There is nothing wrong in dividing a Sansevieria to propagate it or keep its size in check, but one must be aware that by diving the plant it will never grow to its potential size.

The size of the pot also matters. It is not good to overpot the plant because this increase the chance of the compost remaining too wet for too long, what might lead to rot of the rhizomes. But underpotting is also not good, it will dwarf the plant. Although a potbound Sansevieria might look nice and healthy, full of growths, it is only downhill from there as the plant exhausts all the compost and the resources it has to offer. It is best to repot your plants every year or every couple of years, depending how fast it grows. And to place it in a pot only a little bigger than the previous one. When I repot my plants I remove all the old compost (easy because it is very open and airy), then I remove any dead or very old roots, then I repot the plant in the new pot (sometimes it is the same pot) using new compost (I wash the old compost, sieve it again, sterilize and reuse its materials to prepare new compost). The size of the pot will vary with species. Some species make a lot of roots that soon fill the pot, for example Sansevieria trifasciata. Some species make much fewer roots, and over-potting can then be a problem, one example is Sansevieria kirkii. You need to get to know your plants in order to care better for them, and the only way of doing this is observing them, handling them, repoting them with regularity.

As I said, the maximum size of each species is programmed in their DNA. But it can also vary with growing conditions. Plants that receive more light do not elongate as much as plants grown in shadier areas. Sansevierias can tolerate low light conditions, but there is a lower limit of how much light is necessary to sustain the growth of a plant. Below the threshold the plant will slowly lose vitality, weaken, and eventually die. Above the threshold the plant will thrive, but if the light levels are low, depending on the species it will be growing in less than ideal conditions. Then the plants might make long tall leaves, but these leaves are etiolated - they are feeble, darker green than usual, the cross-banding will be at a minimum or will disappear, the leaves might get floppy. The Sansevieria with cylindrical leaves suffer the most if grown in low light conditions.

Excess light is also a problem for many species, in special those species with thinner, flat leaves. The plant will become stressed if the ligth levels are too high, they will develop a yellow or burnt appearance, and growth will be impaired as well. To find the best light levels for a plant to look good and grow well is not difficult, but it is a matter of careful observation of your plants and promptly adjusting the conditions if these change, before the plant can get affected. I grow all my sansevierias next to the wall of the house, they receive sun in early morning but they are in the shade from mid morning and for the rest of the day, and thus they get only bright indirect light most of the time. My plants grow well in these conditions, and I grow both flat leaved and cylindrical leaved species side by side, without any problems.

Regarding compost, sansevierias are succulents and really hate having their roots wet all the time, what can lead to rot. They are also relatively slow growers, so they do not need a lot of water. Although they will grow in almost any compost with the proper care, the compost best suited to grow them is one that is more open and free-draining. What I use is a mixture of crushed bricks (sieved so that the granules are between 3 and 10 mm), coarse gravel (granules of 2 to 5 mm), and humus (basically composted leaf litter), in the proportion of two parts of gravel to one part of humus, then one part of this mixture to two parts of the crushed bricks. It is rather free draining but retains humidity because the brick gravel is porous. Crushed bricks is what is available to me, but it can easily be substituted by other similar materials, such as pumice, diatomaceous earth, cat litter ( the fired clay types, see: http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicscatlitter.htm ). I fertilize with slow release fertilizer (osmocote) twice a year.

I water my plants when I feel the compost is dry, not on a regular basis. It can be anything from every week in summer to once a month in the winter (the rainy season here, when there is a lot of humidity in the air and thus evaporation is slower). The temperature here where I live is always above 20 deg. Celsius, most of the time near or above 30 deg. Celsius during the day, the temperature falling a bit during the night.

Well, I hope the above will be helpful to you.

Best regards,

Marlon Machado.

I have been growing succulent plants for over 20 years, including some Sansevieria. But it was only three years ago I got more interested in the genus and started to build a collection of the different species. So most of my plants are still juvenile, the only species I have which are full size are trifasciata, cylindrica and some of the smaller types (parva, trifasciata 'Hahnii', ballyi).

Below are some pictures of full grown Sansevieria cylindrica:

Besides being a plant lover, I am also a botanist working at a University here in Brazil.

Regards,

Marlon Machado.

Sansevieria cylindrica is a species readily available in the US. Look for it, you will surely find a plant.

I live in Brazil, in the northeastern region, state of Bahia, city Feira de Santana.

Regards,

Marlon Machado.

Yes, the leaves are quite rounded as they look. The name of this species is Sansevieria cylindrica, and the leaves are really cylindrical. Others here may help you to find a source for it.

Regards,

Marlon Machado

I love my sans so much, I water it 2-3 times a month, I couldn't ask for a more carefree plant.

That last sentence says it all and succinctly, too!

Norma,
How good to here from you. Staying busy at the Huntington. Good to keep busy. Since I retired, I have slow down tremendously.

Mike,
My house is over a hundred years old. I know what it is to keep up with a large house. I would love to give up all the crap and live out like you do.

Stush