Hi bmock, my name is Natalia, nice to meet you :) Thank you for taking time to answer my post. I will do as you suggest; to water more. I guess I let my Sans too dry. I'm still learning and reading more about Sans from this forum. I'm now on page 5 :) It's fun to read and see many different Sans here. I still have a question regarding my post above: Will the leaves on the first Sans recover? Sans. ballyi 'Minnie' is one of my favorite, the picture I took above was last year picture. It's a slow grower for me :( I put my ballyi minnie outside and found that the roots rot. My neighbor was trying to help me by watering my succulents every 2-3 days. To keep my story short, I cut the rooted stem, sprinkle with cinnamon, let it dry for a few days and planted in my mix. It has been about 5 weeks, no watering yet but misting the top soil. I haven't seen a new growth but hope it survives. I think I am in love with Sans....lol, especially Sans. pinguicula, cylindrica, and the dwarf form- variegated Sans. Natalia

Melissa your observations are right on. If they have a soft tip, it will require more water, thin leaves don't hold has much water and the thick leaves species hold a great deal. This is the importance of knowing the names so you may ask about the plant, and you are on the same page when you are asking a question, I find the Juan Chahinian books easy to read for a beginner. It takes years to be knowledgeable. Do any of you belong to the San. Society, that would be a great place to learn. After a while your instincts kick in and you will not afraid to use your common sense. Observe them, feel them, notice the differences, ask a lot of questions and challanges responses, ask where did they get that information. You will not learn or know in a year what it took the rest of us who collected this species for the past 30 years. So be patient with your self, learn a fact each day. If you can't afford the books then do Goggle searches, or International Sansevieria Organization much information can be found on the computer, even reading the Ebay auctions, many growers write a small paragraphe about the species he is trying to sell.(raresan) There is a SAn Journal. Endangered species has a whole book you can download. These growers are there to help you. On my other group the members give away free plants. Norma

Most of my sans seem to be pushing new growth. I have them all about a foot away from an east-facing window. I don't water them much though. Maybe about once every 4 - 6 weeks. They don't seem to really need it much and are growing without getting it very often. I don't have as many as the rest of you. I only have about 9 pots of them. My green hahniis are growing. Variegated hahniis (one golden and the other is a hahnii jade, I think) are growing too, but slower. My moonshine was growing but seems to have stopped. My black robusta (I think that's what it is) might be growing at bit. I'm not quite sure yet. My dooneri (or parva)seems to be growing every day. It's pushing a new shoot on the other side of the container that's getting bigger and bigger. I have a variegated cylindrical sans (I don't know it's name). It's one of the common types that I bought from a grocery store that don't get more than 12 inches tall. This one seems to be asleep right now. I have one of the common green sans that are everywhere. Laurenti? It's a pup I took from my mom's plant a few months ago. It's growing slowly, but steadily right now. My subspicata is in deep hibernation. It's at a complete standstill. I recently gave it some water because the leaves were a bit "bendy". They firmed after getting the water, but it won't get any more until I see some growth or the leaves get that way again. It grew quite a bit over the summer. The javanica is growly. It's sent two shoots from it's center in the past 7 or 8 weeks. So, most are growing, and some are not. None of them are getting much water right now though. I don't know yet if my sans will always have these particular growth habits. Most are pups I received over the past 8 or 9 months. The good news is that I haven't killed them! We have an agreement that if I leave them alone, they will grow.

FYI Emily, Most Sans require similar care, so specific IDs don't matter much here. They all need very fast draining mix, best possible light (tho' can can do OK in lower light situations) & moderate water (depending on their mix). Even the less common ones such as yours, require similar care. Nice gift, you're fortunate. I'd go w/a terra cotta (clay) pot, C&S mixed 50/50 w/ perlite & importantly pot it up DRY. Wait a week to water first time. Good luck & enjoy! Lena PS another pic of the other side (or turn it upside down) would show us the other side, so if you ask how to plant it, we'll be able to tell you.