Good day; I have what I believe is a umbrella tree and I have had it for a number of years.I need to know if I can cut some of the length off and try to restart another one.This plant has been to hell and back.We drove from the coast to a place up north and it only lost 4 leaves.Got lucky I think.My ? are ;can I trim the top and bring it down level with rest of the plant;also,how would I go about restarting a new plant from the pieces I cut off(if I can).You can see in the pictures I uploaded and there you see how there are a couple of limbs that hit the ceiling and now starting to curl over.This plant is very durable,as my cat decided to do his thing in the pot.That did not kill the plant,obviously. Also we water it every two weeks and once a month we use Miracle Grow on all the plants.I know it is a umbrella tree but apparently there are quite a bunch of different types. Any help would be appreciate it. Thankyou Al
I have rooted Schefflera arboricola (the plant in question) in damp vermiculite (proof); there may be other ways to do it, but I'd 1) get a smallish plastic cup, 2) fill the cup about half-full of vermiculite, 3) pour in some water, 4) use a second cup to squeeze out and drain off any excess water, 5) stir up the vermiculite with a pencil / chopstick / whatever, 6) poke a hole in the vermiculite, 7) stick the stem into the hole, 8) cover the whole thing (you can use a clear plastic second cup, if it'll fit, or put a clear vase upside down over the cup, or whatever), 9) keep warm, in a bright but sunless spot (you may need to check to make sure the vermiculite is still damp after 3-4 weeks, but if your cover is fairly air-tight this shouldn't be a problem), 10) check for roots after about 8 weeks, 11) and if there are roots, take the cutting out and pot it up in its own 3"- or 4"-diameter pot. You'll probably need to water more often than you've been doing with the parent plant, since a smaller pot will dry out faster.
Schefflera can be propagated with tip cuttings or by air-layering. Information can be found in the document Questions on: Schefflera and the link referenced within.
Thankyou for the reply.Since the plant has a couple of branches that extend to about 8 feet high I want to cut it back but not sure if this would harm it or not.If I can cut it back,do I cut it into short lengths or leave it long and try to get roots that way.Or as one person stated,cut pieces 4 inches long and put them in a type of moss or vermiculite.Right now my main concern is to shorten the plant to eye level.I am afraid to cut it back because I do not know what kind of effect it would have on the plant.I would hate to lose this plant because I have had it for a number of years and really like it.I looked at the link you sent,but I could not locate info on where about I can cut it back to. Thankyou
Cut the stem back to whatever height you want, then cut off 4 inches (give or take) of stem from the tip to root. (It's fairly likely that you could get new plants from other 4-inch sections of stem also, if you want to try to root them: just strip off the leaves toward the bottom of the stem, leaving a couple at the top.) Longer cuttings aren't necessarily bad, but starting a shorter cutting will give you a manageable-sized plant for longer. The old plant will sprout new growing tips from the stumps; being cut back isn't going to hurt the plant in and of itself. You will probably want to cut back a little bit on the watering afterward, depending on how much you cut off: a plant that suddenly finds itself with fewer leaves isn't going to need as much water as it used to, and will take it up slower from the soil.
Thankyou very much;you have given me the info I need.Now time to get the chain saw out and start trimming..............HA!HA! Thanks Again
Air-layering can be used to create a new plant that's much larger than a short tip cutting since it will have the benefit of developed roots at the time it is separated from the mother plant. The result can be a mature size plant. Make the incision at the point where the new plant's roots are to develop. The process can be repeated, if necessary, until successful rooting takes place.
Thanks for the info;when you mentioned about air-layering,thats something I heard about.When you say to make an incision,where and how big of one?Once the incision is made what would I have to do from that point? Thanks
The Layering section of the embedded document referenced above describes the process of air-layering. Here is another document that includes images and video. Videos demonstrating air-layering using two different types of cuts: Air Layering Houseplants Air Layering
