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California Gardening

Houseplant Schefflera unleashed!

stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area

16 years ago

S.arboricola in Hayward,in ground. Nice patio tree. This was recently pruned,it had a canopy all the way to the right branch...was an attractive dome shape.

These are so easy to grow,they don't ask for much. Hardy to the mid 20'sF.

Now you know what to do with that dish garden plant with mealy's indoors..set it free!

{{gwi:528418}}

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Comments (9)

jakkom
16 years ago
Very pretty! I love variegated plants of any sort and that's a real beauty.

I planted a tiny indoor palm just for the fun of it, in one of my garden beds. It's becoming a multi-trunked bully that I may have to take out soon. Ain't it great to garden in CA?
catankgirl
16 years ago
I have one in the ground too that came with our house. I love it, so easy to care for, and evergreeen, nice barrier, grows by a fence, and taller and blocks a neighbor's shed.

I have an indoor one too with the same variegated leaves as yours. It's not doing as well as I don't think I'm as good of a gardener as good ol Mother Nature. ;)

I'm thinking of trying to propogate them for house-warming gifts and such. Anyone tried this and know the best way? I stuck one cutting in water to see if it will root, if not, I'll try rooting hormone and potting soil next.
Related Discussions
Pruning a Schefflera...
Q
Comments (12)
How and when you prune requires a little bit of a judgment call on your part. Scheffs are endowed with very good genetic vigor, and will tolerate LOTS of abuse if they are healthy and growing robustly. You can tip prune, or remove the growing ends of branches almost anytime, as long as the plant isn't clinging to life by a cobweb. ;o) Hard pruning in your zone should be undertaken in the summer - late Jun or early Jul is probably best. Here is a funeral plant that was brought to me. I kept it in my LR by a window for a couple of months until I could get it acclimated to outdoor conditions. I probably pruned it in Jul some time. It was a radical reduction, but it gives you an idea of what the plant will tolerate if you time things right and have a vital volunteer. ;o) Click on the thumbnails to enlarge. It's a pretty ugly mess. Note the long branches and the lack of branching on the low part of the plant. With some basic tools that you really won't need: the plant is reduced to this: You can see I also did a complete repot with root-work. After the repot, 2-3 weeks in the sun, a little fertilizer .... the plant has begun to back-bud, with new branches and leaves where there obviously were none before: Admittedly, the plant is still not very attractive, but considering what it looked like after the reduction and what it looks like 3 weeks later, you can see the plant is well on its way to being rejuvenated. I gave/shipped this plant to a guy in NY who had seen other pictures of this process on this forum. He had killed (it was dead - he just didn't know it yet) his fiancÃ©'s scheff and was frantic. I asked him to ask her if she thought it would be cool to have the plant. It was yes, so I shipped it. She emailed me this pic showing her @ home in NY with the plant, which was a little further along the road to recovery than shown above: As noted, this plant went through a radical transformation, but soon would have looked like this one (different plant than the one I posted a few days ago - this one is supposed to be variegated, but light levels have diminished the variegation) A picture of your plant would be helpful. If you are concerned about horizontal branching, you can tip prune the annoying branches now, which will force back-budding, & either selectively prune or remove later when you do the rest of the work. Got all that? ;o) Al
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Can this unwatered Schefflera be saved?
Q
Comments (19)
A plant's vitality often suffers due to a deficiency of one or more nutrients or a general lack of adequate nutrition. In that case, the advice to "NEVER fertilize a stressed plant" is a death sentence. There are times when the ONLY thing that will reverse the course of a plant already in decline is fertilizer. Also, it's not a good practice to allow the plant to sit in the effluent that's been flushed from the soil while watering. The idea is to flush salts out of the soil and into a collection saucer where they cannot make their way back into the soil. This requires the grower to ensure there is no pathway for water once flushed from the soil to make its way back into the soil - otherwise, flushing the soil does very little good. The easiest way to ensure the salts can't get back into the soil is by raising the pot above the saucer bottom by using some sort of blocks to lift the pot. In the same way it's not necessary to wait until danger of frost has passed before planting your tender annuals and not necessary to have money enough to cover any checks you might write in your checking account, it's not necessary to wait until Summer or late Spring (like around Father's Day - early spring is not a good time to repot houseplants, though there are a few exceptions) to repot; but it IS a good idea. You can pot up any time you get the urge, though it's still better to pot up when the plant is in or is entering the most active part of the growth cycle. Repotting is more involved, and consideration given to the plant's natural rhythms pays off in the form of faster recovery times and less chance that diseases and/or insect infestations will take advantage of a plant weakened for an extended period due to poor timing. Al
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Schefflera plant losing leaves
Q
Comments (16)
What you're seeing is likely slow release fertilizer. Not eggs. Regular Miracle Gro really isn't a whole lot better than the moisture control type. Both are made of up very small particles that hold onto water for a long time. I would mix the soil you currently have 50/50 with perlite. Thatll greatly help and make the mix drain much faster. Inspect the roots when you do this. They should all be tan to white and firm. Any that are mushy or have a bad odor are rotting and need to be removed. This scheff I've had for a year and a half. It was 2 feet when I got it, now it's 6. It hasn't shed any leaves in that time. Also, I've added a photo of the soil mix I use. It's a homemade mix called 5:1:1. Its make up of mostly pine bark. It holds very little perched water and let's the roots breathe.
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Schefflera (Umbrella) Plant needs help!!
Q
Comments (3)
Yes it has good drainage, and wasn't overwatered. I was actually watering it with a terracotta spike and wine bottle, so if anything I think I was underwatering and heard from another forum that tropical plants prefer a deep watering and then to dry out. Someone else had said it could be salt injury due to the fact that I hadn't prewashed my top dressing of gravel, When I removed the gravel and hosed it down, it did definitely seem to be covered in a lot of some sort of residue. I flushed the plant with water to get rid of remaining salt, and am going to try some Gypsum to help it recover from the previous damage. Hope it works!
...See More
ltecato
16 years ago
Stem cuttings will root but be sure you get a stem or branch rather than a leaf petiole. I took one once and put it in water. It soon rooted but when I planted it, nothing happened. So the leaves by themselves can root, but they won't grow.

I had to toss out a plant similar to the one in the photo but not variegated a couple months ago. It had been taken over by some darn scale bugs. I tried spraying with two organic bug-killers, but I couldn't get rid of them.
softmentor
16 years ago
My folks had some of these growing beside the house when I was growing up. They were near the pool so they got lots of extra water that we splashed and in those days the gardener washed the walk down with water. Then it became unacceptable to wash down with water anymore and the poor things died for lack of water. What a shame too. They were the biggest I have ever seen and we could actually climb them to get to the second story of the house where there was a little balcony! Each "umbrella" of leaves would have 20 or more giant leaves. It was a remarkable plant.
Keep the roots a little on the wet side all summer and it will really thrive.
sputnikfarm
16 years ago
Stan how long ago did you plant that? It looks fantastic.

I bought three 1-gal variegated Arboricolas and planted them in a sunny border spring of 2007. I am hoping to form a hedge. I bought a 1-gal green Arboricola and planted it in a container at roughly the same time. The green one is already 4-5 ft, while the variegated are 18" in the same exposure??? I also noticed that I am getting some leaf curl on the variegated ones. I am hoping that they will take off now that it is starting to warm up.
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
Original Author
16 years ago
Thats not my plant,but a neighbors.I do though have one nearly as large. Mine is covered or blocked by the other front yard plants for a good picture. The variegated can take alot of sun but,full sun might be too much sun.The one pictured as you can see is shaded a good amount of the time by the Condo's. But they do need quite a bit of light to grow big and dense.It's a balance you have to work on. I think light shade would be the best exposure.
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
Original Author
16 years ago
Filtered sun is the description that fit's best.
I wish edit was a feature...
pattieparker_gmail_com
14 years ago
My friend cut off one leaf with stem for me about 15 years ago. I stuck it in a pot of dirt, and it has grown several feet tall several times. When it reaches the ceiling I cut it off, put that part in the dirt in the pot, and it keeps growing! I do not have a green thumb, so it must be an easy plant to keep around.
socal23
14 years ago
I wish edit was a feature...

That AND each post in its own frame so that one large picture didn't screw up the entire thread (I have a small screen that I sit well back from and have to hit ctrl+ several times to make text legible on most websites).

I really get a kick out of watching plants considered houseplants in much of the rest of the country grow into good sized trees or shrubs (schefflera, norfolk island pine, rubber trees, etc.).

Ryan

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