Yesterday I decided to take another leap of faith. Well not really, since I watched a 'how to' video on you tube before, but nonetheless, it was a first for me; I pruned the Schefflera. I have put this off for nearly a whole year, and the plant grew to a point where it got completely root bound, and couldn't possibly grow any more. Not that it could grow any more, it took over half the yard!
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| Schefflera Before Pruning Apr 2012 |
As you can see from this rather hazy picture (it was evening so apologies for the low quality), the plant had nowhere else to go. So I took a deep breath, got the shears, and cut off three stems. I cut them rather low and tried to keep a ball like shape, which meant that almost half the plant was gone in three little snips.
I tried to keep the cuts as clean as possible, but as you can see I think I did a good job. Next I trimmed off some leaves, again, trying to make clean cuts, so as to give a better shape to the plant. I immediately placed the stems into new pots, with the hope that they will grow into new plants very soon. I have four Scheffleras now, they will make nice gifts.
The next job was to repot the plant. The plant was in the same soil for over three years, and it had taken all that it could out of the soil. I removed the plant from the pot, and removed all the surrounding soil from the roots being extra careful so as not to damage any of the roots.
This was not as easy as it sounds. As I said earlier the plant was completely root bound. It took the best part of half an hour to remove as much soil as I could so that I could replace it with new soil. Now came the big decision. The plant had long roots but was now small. I did not want the plant to grow any more so I did not buy a larger container for it. The plan was only to replace the soil but not the pot. I loosened the roots enough so as to expose the smaller roots at the tips.
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| Schefflera Roots |
With another deep breath, I took the shears, and cut off the thin roots. The roots will grow back as the plant grows, and they will have enough room in their old pot.
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| Schefflera Roots Cut Off |
The final step was repotting. I filled up the old pot with a mixture of soil and compost. Placed the plant, gave it a good watering and it was as good as new.
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| Repotted Plant with Old Soil and Roots |
As you can see the plant is about half the size it was before. I heard it say that rule of thumb is to never cut off more than one third of a plant when pruning. I believe that this is such a resilient plant it will get over the shock in no time at all. I gave it some all purpose fertiliser as well, assuming that it will help it to grow and recover sooner.
I have also decided to move the plant indoors, so dual shock for the plant. The Schefflera is a very good air purifier. I removes CO2 from the air and replaces it with oxygen. It was wasted outside all this time, and if I keep it in check I am sure it will make a lovely addition to my living room, and we can benefit from it as well. I have placed it next to a bay window in order to get as much light as possible. We'll see how it goes, if I see this was too much for it, it goes out to it's usual spot in the yard.
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| My new indoor plant |
I am happy to report that following a month of suspense, the Schefflera has adjusted to its new surroundings and has sprouted the first baby leaves for Spring. Looks like everything is going to be all right :)
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| Little Baby Leaves |
Thank you so much for posting this! I was given a very large, tall, Schefflera by a friend. It only had two stalks, and was very very tall with no fullness. After it got over 6 feet tall, I decided to hack it down to just over 4 feet. This was about a month ago, and after reading this I know it will be okay. I will also try re-potting and trimming the roots as you have done to ry to encourage a fuller growth..
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
Hi there, thanks for the lovely comment. Please be careful when trimming the roots, the only reason I did that was because I was going to plant it in the same pot and I didn't want it to get any bigger. The fuller growth comes from pruning.
ReplyDeleteI have been putting off this job for more than a month. I now have more confidence that my plan can be succesful. Maybe my 3 older plants are a bit ugglier around the stems above soil level, but hey I will give it a go and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, my rule of thumb is better to cut a bit less than cut too much and risk damaging the plant, so perhaps you can start slow this year and then next year when it re-grows and you are more confident try a bit more. Never cut off more than half the plant.
ReplyDeleteHi Louis,
ReplyDeletethanks for stopping by. Three plants! No wonder it got so big, I can just imagine the size of it. I have since moved the plant back outside as it loves the rain in Winter. It has doubled it's size in about a year. They just don't stop growing.
It must look great with the stems braided, the stems on my Schefflera have hardened over time and they are not that flexible.
ReplyDeleteFrom the sound of it, you' didn't do much damage to the roots, you trimmed off the excess growth but you still have 10 new growth stems, I think it should be fine. I try not to trim off more than a third of a plant, but some of them are quite hardy and they can take it. Give it sometime to recover, depending on where you live, it's growing season here in the northern hemisphere so it should bounce back in no time. If it starts turning yellow and dropping leaves, perhaps it is not getting enough air circulation, happened to me once, perhaps you could take it outside. I am not an expert so if you see that the plant is deteriorating you could ask at the nursery or shop where you got it from, they should be able to help you out.
ReplyDeleteHi Louis,
ReplyDeleteI don't think you should be worried, the fact that you have new growth is a good sign. The trimming should actually encourage new growth and strengthen the plant. Keep an eye on it, I was also worried that I pruned too much, then I saw new growth about two weeks after, so it doesn't take long. If you see new stems, which I think you will, then it's a good sign that the plant is fine.
HI Louis,
ReplyDeletefeel free to send me any pictures via my profile email. Good luck with your Schefflera.