Rescue Schefflera
 

Got a call from a friend of a friend. Apparently I have the reputation of being "that guy with all the plants". . .

Anyway, I'm picking up "Audrey" tomorrow and apparently her sister as well:


That's an 8 foot ceiling...

Obviously I'll be repotting, that pot has to be just one solid root-ball by now.

But I have a couple questions:

Can Audrey go outside on the deck and get full sun for several hours a day (for now)?

And can Audrey be pruned back severely to fit in the house later, and hopefully promote some branching and new growth?

It has been since before I was educated in my hobby that I had a Schefflera last, and it was not the large-leaf species. Mostly I just watered that one, and when I went away to college it died. So, I want to keep this one healthy!

Re: Rescue Schefflera
 

Schefflera do not like direct sunlight after being inside for a long time cause it will burn the foliage you might put it in shade where it still can get the in-direct light and it should love that
my wife always pruned hers back and it seem to love it.................hope that helps

Re: Rescue Schefflera
 

Your plant will tolerate hard prunes.
Prune now so your plant will GROW INTO it's new location.
Plant your trimmings for new plants later.
Use general pruning techniques with this plant.

Prune at the nodes on the stem...before the next leaf.
Your plant will tolerate sun once it is settled in the new home you provide it..... In a month the plant will have settled and will sort itself out.
A couple of hours of sun is ok for now.....once it is settled it will be an awesome plant.
Sheffs are used as hedges and landscape plants in the southern states(Florida)....they seem to take alot of abuse.
And they readily root in the surrounding soil or sand.

Re: Rescue Schefflera
 

I got it home after some careful prodding and squeezing in the Scion. Lost a few leaves, but it was standing tall and pretty on the deck.



Then we went out to dinner and it promptly toppled over while we were gone and snapped off. . .

After cleaning up the carnage we have a no-longer-top-heavy trunk in a new bigger pot (was completely root-bound in a 15" pot) that is about 5 1/2 feet tall at the cut end. So, we only lost about 3 feet or so, but we lost a lot of the leaves as well and it looks much less majestic now.

Not pictured, we also got a root-bound Dieffenbachia that I now have staked up so it's not snaking across the floor. So, we have a couple more nice mature plants that will see some real improvement this summer with new pots, new soil, some azomite, fertilizer, and all around TLC.