Our neighbor brought home a shefflera. The poor plant is scraggly looking with long woody stems...five of them. It appears it was allowed to simply grow wild and I don't know what to do for the poor thing. Can this plant be cut back to the base of the trunk? How does one propagate a shefflera just in case that seems to be the only thing to do? I've never seen a shffelera that looked like this. If necessary I will post a pic but it may be a day or two if my camera batteries need charging. Update: I just found out that this plant is 30+ years old. So that may account for the way it looks. It *is* healthy. Barbara
Here in Florida, if just allowed to grow, those guys will climb to over twenty feet. What you do then, is (judgement call) pick a height from which you want new growth to start, chop off the stem above a node, and watch from one to three new stems start growing. You can really fill them out over time. Through this new growth spurt, I would recommend a judicious use of a 'balanced' fertilizer. Taking the 'cut-off' and removing the leaves while not damaging the tip, you can stick that in the ground and start a new one. Here in Florida these guys are so invasive that the Department of Agriculture has placed them on the 'no-no' list. In several Counties, it is illegal to sell them.