Schefflera Help!!

11 years ago

I received an umbrella tree as a sympathy gift from my vet after I had my dog put to sleep. The plant seemed okay (not completely happy, but sturdy and healthy) when it got here, but it has seemed to get sadder all the time... I know NOTHING about plants, and I kill all of them that I thouch, but we consider this Reba's (the dog I had to have put to sleep) plant, and we REALLY want to keep it alive.

In all the pictures I've seen, the plant is all green, but mine, the branches are a reddish... is that normal? And the base of the Trunk (? If that's the right term) looks brown and dry. I have only had it 5 days, I've watered it once because the soil seemed completely dry when I got it. I keep it in a sunny room, but where its not getting direct sunlight.

Is there hope for my sad plant????

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Tigger3165
Original Author

10 years ago

Hi again! I just wanted to thank you guys for helping me before and let you know that my scheffy seems to have adjusted well now that I gave it some time and repotted it! There was NO ROOM for any growth at all in the old pot! It was ALL root and VERY little soil! I repotted about a month or so ago, and now it's like my plant is on steroids! It seems every day in finding the beginnings of more new growth! It's such a relief! I do not even come close to having a green thumb, but I'm trying to keep this plant happy and healthy!

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Comments (19)

Tigger3165
Original Author
11 years ago
This is what the base looks like
Tigger3165
Original Author
11 years ago
The leaves are droopy and wrinkly and the branches are brown/reddish.
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"Adding fertilizer to the mix burns any new forming roots right from the start giving the tree no chance to recover it's root system. This will only make things worse!" You seem so sure. ;o) Sorry - but you'll have much difficulty supporting this idea. There is no scientific basis for it. You CAN over-fertilize, and induce plasmolysis (fertilizer burn) but that is unrelated to this discussion because it affects plants in the same manner, whether they are newly repotted or not. Fertilizing at normal rates (normal TDS/EC levels) will not burn even the tenderest newly emerging roots. I'm very familiar with what fertilizer is/isn't, and that it is not medicine or plant food, but thanks for the primer. ;o) The simple fact is that if adequate nutrition is not available to the plant, it cannot grow (do a search for "Liebig's Law of the Minimum"). YOU may think it's growing because it is translocating (only the) mobile nutrients from plant parts it is shedding to make new leaves and extend branches, but growth is measured in the increase in biomass, and biomass cannot increase unless all the nutrients are available. Trees become 'sick' for a wide variety of reasons - not just a compromised root system. Disease, insects, drought, heat stress, nutritional deficiencies/toxicities, pollutants, herbicides .... are a few causes, making it too simplistic to simply announce that trees become sick because of damaged root systems - as if it's the only cause. You can also be assured that nutritional stress (deficiencies) affects all organs of the plant, including the roots. You might try explaining how plants that are 'sick' due to nutritional deficiencies are expected to miraculously revive if you don't fertilize them? There are a lot of inaccuracies in your suppositions. Al
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Hmm..I'm not sure what to tell you. I'm no expert on issues with plants. When you repotted did you examine the roots to look for rot or any sign of mold or fungus? I only have one scheff, but I have a clipping in soil to see if it'll root. :) So my experience is very limited. The thread "Help me to help my plant branch out" is one I started for my scheff. If you would like to experiment, I would suggest trimming it to see if the new growth will form the brown stops. Also this method is good if you want a more bushy plant. I trimmed mine about halfway down the plant and new growth started almost immediately. Since you are loosing leaves you might want to cut the plant down so that its energy is more focused on getting stronger roots and new growth. Again, I am no expert so this is merely my suggestion. I don't intend on pointing you in the wrong direction. Hope this helps! There should be more comments coming, there are very knowledgeable people here. :) Ashley
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it needs more water. you should not let it go half-dry, unless it's winter and it's kept cooler, like 65-68F. in mid to hi 70s (which is what it likes being tropical) you need to give it more water and more dappled sun (late or early sun is good) - looks like you have a good amt of perlite in soil for drainage and the pot is fairly small. water when 1" on top is dry. basically when in growth they need to be kept moist.
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They like lots of light. It sounds like "the back room" is a place where it doesn't receive much light or attention at all. If you want it to stay looking nice, you need to constantly give it the same care and light. They love full sun, however, if grown indoors, their leaves have grown adapted to much lower light and cannot handle full sun. It would need to be gradually acclimated to full sun, or you can place it outside somewhere that it recieves ambient light from the sky and no full sun. All of my ficus are placed in full sun for the summer, but I keep my Schefflera away from direct sun. It does very well like that and puts out 3 new petioles with leaves at a time. It's averaging almost a foot a month currently.
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Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years ago
HHI & welcome to GardenWeb. So sorry about your loss!

Your tree looks fine! Scheff leaves just hang at that angle. You're absolutely right to let the soil get dry (not crispy/dusty, like a desert, but to where it no longer feels moist, and the whole thing is more light-weight) before adding more water. It's normal for the trunk to turn brown and hard as it ages because it's a tree type of plant.

Step 1: Remove decorative foil.
Step 2: When dry again, take to sink, water until there is flow from the holes in the bottom of the pot. When it's finished dripping, you can put it back in the cache pot.
Step 3: That may not be enough light. If you have a window where the sun would shine on your plant in the morning, that would be super.
Step 4: Think about how your tree will need a bigger pot soon so there is enough room for more roots to grow.
Step 5: When you have a few minutes and the inclination, take a look at some of the great discussions on this forum about repotting tree-type plants, and the kinds of soil in which they grow best to get comfortable with the idea of tackling that soon.
Tigger3165
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks so much for your response!! I don't have even the slightest hint of a green thumb so any advice is welcome! I'll start doing my research now!
bedtime
11 years ago
I agree with purple. That's a healthy looking plant there. The leaves are shiny and green with hardly any blemishes and the drop is normal, especially for the lower leaves. The trunk looking brown and dry is actually a sign of maturity. As the tree grows and the green stalk stretches to accommodate the growth it cracks like that. That's cracking is the tree's bark.

I'd not recommend re-potting for a while if you're new and you've just brought this tree into a new environment. That would probably be too much stress for it. There really is no urgency for it.

I water my schefflera only when the top 1-2 inches of the soil are completely dry. I like to fair more towards the dry side then the wet side. If by accident you were to forget to water it the leaves would let you know by becoming limp, but don't let this happen intentionally.

Try to find out a little more about the plant and try not to make assumptions. This is a tropical tree and not your regular outside tree you're used to so it's bound to have it's differences.
teengardener1888
11 years ago
It is not only healthy but gorgeous
Tigger3165
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks again! I have been googling how to care for it all day... Fingers crossed that I can keep it healthy!
Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
11 years ago
Hi Tigger,

What a beautiful tree!!!

I am sorry for your loss....

Good Luck!!

Laura
bedtime
10 years ago
I forgot to add, I think this is more specifically a shefflera amate. Perhaps someone could confirm this.
Tigger3165
Original Author
10 years ago
Just wanted to let you guys know that I moved it between 2 windows (I have no idea which directions they face) so it gets more indirect sunlight, and it already seems like its perking up! Thanks for all the tips!
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years ago
Bedtime, IDK, doesn't look like S. arbicola though.

Tigger, that sounds great!
bedtime
10 years ago
purpleinopp,

I'm quite certain its a Brassaia Actinophylla but I'm debating if it's the 'Amate' version or not. The leaves do look rather large and glossy so that points to 'amate'.

This post was edited by bedtime on Fri, May 10, 13 at 8:10
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years ago
Yes, I think this is the same kind of Scheff a friend of mine had in OH. The last time I saw it, it was to the ceiling, and taking up an entire corner of her living room.
Ashtash
10 years ago
this is my poor pitiful tree. I am too am very concerned about the brown stem. The top of the tree is producing pretty new growth. It was double trunked/stemmed but one stem died. You can see it in picture Help Another pic is below
Ashtash
10 years ago
how can I streghnthen and straighten the trunk?
Tigger3165
Original Author
10 years ago
Some new growth :)
sradleye
10 years ago
tigger - pretty nice to come looking for help and be told everything is fine. tree looks great. time for more plants :)

ash - I think the trunk is really interesting looking like that, but if you want to strengthen you could pinch off some of the leaves and the plant will put more energy into the trunk. if you really want to straighten it out you could probably check out some bonsai techniques for shaping. should be the same concept
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years ago
Ashtash received some less than encouraging replies to the same question on another forum unfortunately. Hope he/she comes back to it here, where we LIKE that kind of thing.

Tigger, that's enough to bounce for joy! Your dog is strangely ambivalent, hmmmph!

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