The Umbrella Plant Who Gets Homesick

I have a love hate relationship with my Umbrella plant.  I have had this plant for over four years now and it has been growing happily ever since.  Growing so much in fact that it is completely taking over my small yard.

Umbrella Plant - 2010

Umbrella Plant - 2012

I have tried various methods to keep this plant under control.  The first attempt was to prune off almost one third of the plant, and brought it back to its original size.  This was an easy job, and I was quite happy with the result.  I did, however, do one mistake.  I placed the plant indoors thinking it will make a fine indoor plant.

In general Umbrella plants make good indoor plants, they are also beneficial as they absorb a lot of toxins from the air, and release clean oxygen.  I placed my plant next to a big window in the living room, where it got lots of natural light but no direct sunlight.  

Umbrella Plant Indoors after Pruning

After a couple of weeks I started seeing signs of decline.  The leaves were going yellow and dropping off.  Then I realized that the remaining leaves had a sticky substance on them, it almost looked as if the plant was sweating.  I feared bugs, but there were none to be seen.  Eventually, after about four months I gave up and placed the plant outside in its original spot.

Almost immediately I saw an improvement.  The plant started growing new healthy leaves, the old leaves were no longer sticky and I can honestly say it actually looked happy!  Needless to say in about a year the plant was back to its enormous size, so I decided to try a new tactic.

Instead of trying to control the plant's growth I was going to set it free and place it on my roof.  The plant was so big it hardly passed through the doorways of my house, but finally I set it in place, in a sheltered spot.  I changed the pot to a bigger one so that the roots had space to grow, thinking that this plant was going to become a monster, and I left it alone.

Umbrella Plant New Leaves

A few weeks went by and once again the plant went in decline.  I saw the same series of events occurring, the leaves started yellowing and dropping, and the plant looked miserable.  I persisted and after a few more weeks, one of the branches was almost without any leaves.  There was sign of new growth, however, so I decided to leave it, and wait a bit more.  The plant started growing new leaves but there were nothing like the original large and dark foliage.  They were small and shriveled leaves. I thought maybe this plant needs a bit of time to adapt to its new climate so I left the plant out on the roof for over six months.

Umbrella Plant on Rooftop after 6 months

This afternoon I couldn't bear to see it anymore.  I brought the plant back down to my small yard where it belongs.  I will give it a few weeks to recover, I am sure that it will jump back in no time at all.  I plan to propagate this plant with layering.  I will try to get the leaning branch to root, and make a new plant out of it.  Then I will trim the remaining plant into shape, and keep it in my yard, in its proper place forever.

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Schefflera Yellow Leaves and Sticky Leaves!

Image Source

The Schefflera hasn't been doing so well lately.  I have been noticing that it is looking rather depressed, hardly requiring any water, the leaves are turning yellow and dropping occasionally, and no new growth is showing. I used to think this plant was very hardy, and required very little maintenance, but I guess this is only true when the right conditions are met.

When I moved my plant indoors in September of last year I placed right next to a big window, so it could get as much light as possible.  About one month later I noticed that the leaves were turning yellow, and at first I attributed this to the fact that I wasn't giving it enough water.  Scheffleras, however, give out opposite signals when it comes to water requirements, if the leaves turn yellow or have yellow spots it means too much water, whereas leaves that turn blackish in color means that it is not getting enough.  

Another thing I noticed was that the leaves at the bottom started falling off.  This was definitely a sign of over watering, so I stopped watering the plant altogether.  This had little effect, and over time more leaves started going yellow.  I was now beginning to panic.  This plant was huge and healthy, the only thing I ever did to it was give it a good pruning, and I was starting to fear that I may have over done it.  

If this wasn't enough, I then noticed that the green leaves had this shiny coat on them, and were sticky to the touch.  Upon further investigation, the floor area around the pot was also sticky.  I had noticed this almost immediately, but I didn't think it was the plant that was producing sap.

I did some research, and I found out that the sap could actually be a scale insect infestation.  These insects suck the juices from the plant, and then secrete a form of sap on the leaves. Scale insects are brown stubs, like small buttons, that attach themselves to the stems of the plant.  Their bodies are quite hard and they can be seen easily with the naked eye.  As far as I can tell, my plant is clear. Aphids also produce a sticky substance called honeydew, but I found none on the plant.

Eventually I decided that the best course of action was to take it back outside.  I had this plant outside for three years, and it was quite healthy.  The moment I took it inside it started growing weaker.  A couple of weeks went by and the plant started showing signs of recovery.  It dropped the leaves that were too far gone, but those that remained started turning green again.  I did not water it at all during this time.

A few weeks later I started seeing new leaves starting to grow, and by now the plant was full of green leaves, and all the sticky substance was gone.  It rained a few times, and water seems to have given new life to the Schefflera.  I never saw any insects or brown spots that made me suspect that the plant was infested.

I now believe that the problem with the Schefflera was lack of light, and ventilation.  We hardly ever open the window where I placed it, and even though it was right next to a big window, the curtains, which are sheers, were still blocking too much light.  I'm glad that's all it was, I got a good scare with the results returned online, but you never can be too careful.

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How To Prune The Schefflera Arboricola

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

My new indoor plant

Update - May 2012

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 :)

Little Baby Leaves

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Schefflera - Doubled in Size over Summer

Schefflera - August 2011

I must say the Schefflera is becoming a monster.  It is now August and the Scefflera has been growing almost every day since last spring.  The plant has almost doubled in size since we first got it.  It is such an easy plant to care for, I rarely give it any fertiliser, it's growing enough as it is and I only water it when the soil has gone completely dry.

The next step for this plant is repotting.  I don't want to increase the pot size but I want to replace the soil.  I believe it has gotten every possible nutrient that soil had to offer by now so I intend to remove it from the pot, remove the soil carefully from the roots and pot and replace with new soil. The plant was originally planted in normal peat and it did very well so it shouldn't be an issue. 

My biggest issue is size.  We are now nearing the end of summer so the plant should go dormant again but if it grows like this next year I will have no space for it in my yard.  On the other hand if I cut it down it will only grow bigger.  Hmm.... decisions, decisions.

Check out this site on how to re-pot a Schefflera. I will be posting my own experience when I get down to it.

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Schefflera - New Growth for Spring

Little baby umbrellas

The Schefflera gave me a bit of a fright last Winter becasue it's so low maintenance that I didn't know if I was doing anything wrong by neglecting it completely or if I should bring it inside to shelter it from the rain and cold.


I learnt eventually that the Schefflera is a tropical plant and loves the rain well, thank God for that because we got quite a lot last year.  The one thing that it hates is the cold but it never gets that cold here, the minimum temperature at night goes down to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celcius) and the plant did not seem to be affected by this.

The plant went dormant thoughout the Winter months and I did not see any growth at all.  This got me a little worried at first as I thought that the plant was getting too much water and was dying on me but I saw no difference in leaf coloration or the stems so I monitored it occasionally and let it be.


Now it's Spring and finally I am seeing new leaves coming out.  The plant went in full bloom as the months started getting warmer again around the end of February and it is now showing small leaves (they are not exactly buds) all over the place.  It looks like it's going to go into a growth surge pretty soon.


I also started noticing that it's requiring more water than normal.  I never gave the plant any fertiliser, only watering occasionally when needed.  Now it seems that it requires water every three to four days.  That's another indication that the plant is getting ready to grow some more.

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Schefflera - An Introduction



Schefflera - September 2010

Light: Indoors in a sunny location but not in direct sunlight

Moisture: Water when the soil is dry at least 2 inches deep. Do not allow pot to sit in the access, give it one hour and then remove, as it may lead to root rot. Black leaves mean too much water, yellow leaves mean too little water.

Pests: Black spots under the leaves or in the stems is an indication of spider mites. The leaves will begin to turn yellow, then brown. There may also be wedding under the leaves or when the leaves meet the stem. Control with organic pesticide.

Care: Fertilise the plant once a month with normal houseplant fertiliser. In summer the plant can be set outside in a shady location, best to be brought in during the winter, the plant will go dormant and the growth will slow. If the plant is left without water and cold it may start losing its leaves, re-position plant and water.

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