as i understand it ... you bought these pre-planted ... which to me means OVER planted ... for fast sale and immediate gratification ... if they are flopping every night after being in the blistering sun during the high heat of the day ... that means the roots are too jammed in what little potting media there is ... there isnt enough media.. to hold the water they need the ONLY solution.. FOR NEXT YEAR ... is bigger permanent pots ... with enough media ... to sustain the plants for the season ... and just enough plants to grow in such .... but you will have to wait a month or two.. for them to fill up the pot ... i would bet my shiny nickle... if you took the pot apart.. and tipped out the root mass.. you would be hard pressed to find any media.. to hold water.. for the whole day ... these pots need to go in shade.. during the heat of the day.. and you will probably find.. that they can actually making it thru the day ... without looking like a bunch of wilted cut flowers ... yes.. i know.. that defeats the purpose you bought them for... but them dying does also ... put them in the patio in the yard in the shade.. and you can enjoy them for the rest of summer ... ken

You can be quite sure that if the plant desperately needs to have its visible parts pruned, the parts you can't see, the roots, are in a state of need even more dire. If I had to outline a plan for you, this is what I would suggest: A) If the plant is severely root bound & suffering because of it, I would pot up now as a temporary measure to help a little with vitality. B) Move the plant outdoors as soon as temperatures allow. That is, as soon as night temps are reliably above 55* - sooner if you have the wherewithal to move the plant in and out to avoid temps below 55". This will help the plant gain strength. C) Repot/root prune around Father's day. D) Prune the top in mid-July. It's also possible your plant would benefit from a thorough flushing of the soil; this, especially if you've been watering in sips and not flushing the soil at every watering. This is just a very general recommendation. I'll provide more details if you'd like, after you decide if you wish to move forward with a major rejuvenation effort that is planned around the plant's energy/growth cycle. While Scheffleras are pretty bullet proof, there is little sense in moving forward and tempting fate or extending the length of recovery because of less than ideal timing. I think you'll find the thread I'm linking you to below of value. Al Here is a link that might be useful: More to consider here

When I think about it, this one was difficult to root. I got it as a bonus of 3 cuttings with an order, and only one cutting survived, whereas all of my other "paid for" cuttings survived. Maybe that's why he was giving it away. I'm going to get some perlite tomorrow, because I need it for other things. I'll try that with some rooting hormone. I have four cuttings, so at least one should take, don't you think? I'll buy some fresh rooting hormone, just in case.

Sorry for my absence- way too busy this year. Wow, drought stress does look a lot like it. I guess I went too far in the opposite direction with drainage... now that I think about it, it got worse after I was away and relying on a drip hose on a timer for a little while, too. They died relatively slowly- I don't think I actually pulled them out until October, at which point they looked extremely sad but still weren't 100% dead. I was going to just use new bagged potting mix this year, mostly due to time but also to keep things from drying out too much (mostly using fabric pots now), but after planting half my transplants it's alarming how compacted it looks. I think mixing it evenly with pink bark mulch should give me roughly 5-1-1-ish proportions, and then I'll just keep a closer eye on the watering?