Hello everyone, I have recently purchased a Schefflera for the office and we are noticing that the stems of it (it is a young plant with 3 stems) are turning black from the soil all the way up and the leaves are dying. I have googled this and not found anything. This plant has fresh new potting soil so I am not sure what is wrong with it. Anyone have any ideas? Tamara
it might be a fungus .. and if they r black and soft there is nothing you can do to save it .. if you just bought it within a few days i would take it back or talk to the people you bought it from .. good luck Marn
Hi Marn, Thanks for your quick response. This is my first time in here and this is great. I love plants but have so much to learn and this looks like the place to do so. As I was reading other posts i came across one from ny3bp entitled "Is this Canker?"(located in Indoor and Greenhouse plants forum). Her plant looks exactly like what mine is doing. The stem is not soft. It is actually very dry and hard and brown. Dead. It works its way up the stem and you can see the green leaves wilting until the brownness makes it way up the whole stem. There is only 1 healthy stem left. I had cut off the other brown stems to about 2 inches above soil, should I remove them totally?
if they r brown and doing the same thing i would .. hopefully it is not on the whole plant .. and u can still save some .. scheffs are a really picky plant to grow .(in my opinion) . i had a couple and couldnt get them to grow ... so i gave up on them .. but i have about 80 other plants that i have no probs with and grow like weeds.lol.. welcome to the board and good luck Marn
Yes, that's a bad fungus. At least you still have a healthy stem. Give it good moving air which may seem to discourage fungus. If the stem starts browning too, you can cut off the tip (with unaffected stem) to make a cutting. Not that I've tried schefflera cuttings, but I've heard it may work. Using some rooting hormone helps. Good luck!
