We grow snake plants because we love their rich green leaves. But brown leaves affect the plants' beauty and health. We should address the issues and cure them as early as possible so that the disease does not spread to the other parts of the leaves. In this article, I will talk about why snake plant leaves are turning brown and drying out and guide you on how to cure them.
Of all the indoor plants I've grown, the snake plant has been the one with the fewest issues or none at all. Almost 6 months back, I found that the tips of my snake plant leaves are drying out and turning brown as well. Not only the tips, but the side of the leaves started to turn brown. But hopefully, I found the reason why this is happening to my snake plants and how to cure them.
Note: Similar symptoms can be shown due to multiple issues, thus it's almost impossible to figure out the exact issue by just looking at the symptoms. However, we can predict a few possible reasons behind them and we can cure them accordingly.
Reasons and treatment of brown leaves of snake plant
I will talk about the most possible reasons and their solutions here.
These are the most common reasons:
- Watering issues.
- Not maintaining proper light.
- Fertilizing issues or chemical damage ( This is something serious )
- If the damage is from scratch on the leaves, do nothing. You can't fix that mark. It will turn the spot brown but not that much harmful at all.
Watering issues and the solution
If you overwater your snake plant, the leaves will turn brown and mushy. Just water your plant once when the top two inches of your soil is dry. It may look like the soil is dry, but please consider using your finger to check the moisture in the soil if you don't have a moisture meter with you.
In case of overwatering, the leaves might get brown but will not dry out. Here's a picture of an overwatered snake plant:
If you leave your plant without taking any care for a long time, this can happen.
If the climate is too dry then misting water on the leaves will help you to cure this quickly.
Lighting issues
snake plants don't like direct sunlight and they can perform really well in indirect sunlight.
Tip: Artificial light, and low light both are good for them. Just avoid direct sunlight.
My plant was left in the sunlight for 3 days. (It was the window from where I was getting direct sunlight) And my snake plant's leaves started to turn brown and dry within a week.
I do propagation and I was out of station for a few days. This was the time I faced the issue.
Over-fertilizing or chemical damage
Do not feed your snake plants frequently. Especially chemical fertilizer. I love experimenting and I witnessed how an excessive amount of fertilizer affects a snake plant. The leaves will dry, even the new leaves can dry out completely. The leaves will start to curl upwards. (inwards you can say)
Just use slow-releasing fertilizer infrequently.
Never leave your plant exposed to heavy winds or storms. (Wind burn's symptoms are similar to this)
You can check here: Wind Burn - How to cure
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