Here's what I would do:

* Get the plant outdoors as soon as night temps are reliably above 55*.

* Allow the plant to gain some energy reserves as a result of that move.

* In late June, tip prune the short upward growing branch on the left. The long branch/stem coming off the fat trunk gets pruned to half it's length - it wants to be pruned at about half the distance between the ceiling and where the 2 branches on that trunk bifurcate off the trunk. The trunk on the right, because it's secondary to the thicker trunk, needs to be shorter - so truncate that about where the line formed by the mustard wall and the stairway stringer (the angled part) intersect the right trunk in the picture.

* It won't take long for the plant to back-bud. If you feel the plant needs repotting, do that first. A good soil is very important, so be sure you have that covered between now & then. After repotting (as opposed to potting up), let the roots recover to the point you're sure the plant is pushing new growth. THEN do the pruning I described.

Al

Hi & welcome to Gardenweb. That's quite a tree!

To go along with the advice above, when your plant first goes out, it could be in bright shade for a few days, then a little morning or very late afternoon sun for a few days, than a little more... Try to make a slower transition than just suddenly putting it in sun, so you don't have to deal with sunburned leaves. In preparation for putting it outside, do you have a more bright place inside where it can prepare for a couple weeks before going out?

Follow her instructions. If it was me, i would take a tip cutting and dispose the rest

It depends very much on the effect you want to achieve. They can take any amount of pruning. But although they grow well in full sun, as the others have said you need to adjust it from shade to sun very slowly.

Thank you all for responding with such specific advice. Al, I was hoping you would respond as I've seen some really good posts of yours related to this subject. It is a little scary though, this tree is basically an heirloom but I will take the plunge as there is not much to lose.

It should be repotted as it hasn't been in probably 15 years. The soil is horrible and I'm sure it is terribly root bound. A few repotting questions: 1. When? April? 2. Should I hack half the roots off and bare root it as you've described elsewhere Al?

Thanks again.

Sometimes it's not worth trying to acclimate a plant to full sun. I'm not advocating for or against anything, but with plants like schefflera, ficus, and many other trees grown as houseplants, they can be moved directly from indoors to a full sun position outdoors. The leaves do experience sunburn and fall off, but a new flush of growth immediately follows the loss of the old foliage, and the new leaves are ideally suited to the light available where the plant is sited.

I wouldn't do this with a weak tree, but plants that aren't struggling suffer no harm from the practice. It's just another approach.

Keep in mind too, that a leaf's ability to 'adjust' to changing light levels is limited. For example, lets say a light level of 1 is low light, and 10 would be high light. A tree growing indoors at a light level of 3, might only be able to adjust to an increase in light up to a level of 5 or 6. Beyond that, photo-oxidation would likely occur and the leaves would be shed. Similarly, a tree growing outdoors in a 9-10 range, might only be able to tolerate a decrease in light levels down to 6-7-8 before abscission takes place. It varies by plant; but just because a particular species of plant is capable of tolerating full sun is no indication that its current flush of growth is capable of adjusting to that level of light. It may well take a new flush of growth to achieve that end; and in some cases, the sooner that new flush of growth gets pushed, the better for the plant in the end.

I often put developing (for bonsai) scheffs and ficus directly into full sun after overwintering in the basement under lights. The leaves all fall off, or I defoliate the trees, and within a couple of weeks a fresh flush of new, healthy growth is busy making food for a perfectly happy plant.

Thanks for the kind words, Aboekman. Knowing where you live would help with figuring out the best plan, but as long as your plant doesn't take a sudden downturn, you should be able to have it back on track, easily, by summer's end. Your plant isn't the picture of health, but it's not circling the drain, either. I wouldn't move it into full sun when it warms enough, but getting it outdoors and repotted will assuredly give it a significant boost - no question about that.

Al

Thanks, Al! I let a lot of plants burn on purpose because it's just quicker for them to burn & regrow but haven't tried it with Scheff.

Aboekman, that's amazing you've kept that tree alive that long in the same soil. I wouldn't recommend anyone try that, but impressed that it happened.

I live in west Michigan (zone 5). I will keep this updated with how it goes this Spring/Summer.

I would just cut it about 4 feet up and stick the cuttung into moist soul about 6-8 inches in the same pot it will all grow and look much thicker and heathier

ps… i have a 50 year old sheffalera

Wow - a 50 year old schefflera? The trunk must be at least a foot thick! I'd REALLY like to see a picture of it.

Al