What have you tried to do to encourage branching? The plant who's tip I removed a few months ago to give someone now has a bunch of new branches, at least half a dozen. When I first did it, it left a naked stump, which you can still see at the top.

Probably best to do later in spring or summer. Personally I would wait.

Another angle of the same thing.

If mine would do that, I would be happy! Mine does appear to be the same kind as yours. What I did was to nip the growing tips off on each of the trunks. All the plant did, after a long wait (as if it had stopped to think about doing it) was to send up a new growing tip, at one node, just below where I cut it off.

Can you show a pic? I'm better with visual aids.

To give you an idea how much I chopped, 2 plants in the same pot were about twin size. You can see the difference now.

Thank you for your photos. This is exactly what I would like mine to do, though I have been hesitant to do anything radical, as it was a gift from a co-worker, from at least 25 years ago, and I don't want to kill it.

I just had a thought, though. I just cut off the tip; I did not remove a section of stem / trunk, like you did to give to someone to make a new plant. Could that be it? Perhaps I need to cut it off further down? If I were not afraid of killing it, I would cut each of the two trunks into several sections, then rooting them, and plant all of them into the original pot. It's probably 3 feet tall, though saggy.

If there's 2, I'd start with one. That leaves the other to try again if needed, like not putting all of your eggs in one basket. Yes, I think if you cut lower, it will encourage more lower branches. (I don't think giving the removed part away vs. keeping it makes any difference, but karma is powerful stuff!) Even if it just makes one "tip" again, you'll have a less leggy appearance on that one. Found someone's blog that's very encouraging also. If you google "pruned Schefflera" you'll see one of Al's plants, 2nd row, far right, getting a root pruning. Looks like the cuts usually result in 2 new main branches, going by that cool pic. It resides on that site-which-must-not-be-mentioned-here.

Didn't know (& wish to ask) what site can't be mentioned here (except the Hawaiiian Hoya people for those who know this reference)?

You don't mean 'The Garden Forum' do you (I think that's what it's called)?

It's D a v e's. Trying to find a way to post it acceptably, it keeps rejecting my message. Ok that works.

Didn't know that, just curious, thanks Purp!

linnea

I am posting a photo from a post by Al (tapla), of the pruned shefflera (Al, I hope you don't mind me copying it);
below is the thread you can read about it (pics are about halfway down; read it, someone had similar question to yours - Posted by tapla z5b-6a mid-MI (My Page) on Thu, Jan 19, 12 at 17:25:

check this link

(all his posts are really worth reading...in his first on this thread you can see his shefflera, very full - is that shape you would like yours to be in?)

Rina

This post was edited by rina_ on Fri, Jan 4, 13 at 16:03

Since I didn't want to write on the pic, I forgot I could just do that, like Rina did. Narrow focus is one of my issues...

I think this is the same plant. I don't think Al would mind unless someone claims it's their own pic. So, here's Al's pic:

There's a long story that goes with that particular plant. I posted pictures of the pruning/repot, and a guy from NY or Boston wrote me in a panic because he killed his fiance's scheff. I packed up mine & sent it to him, and she sent me a picture a few weeks later.

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Here, it's backbudding strongly after the work:
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I agree - get the tree healthy, then cut it back hard in the summer.

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Al

That's so cool and nice! I love that lady's huge smile!

October follow up:

Following AlâÂÂs instructions, I repotted my 25 year old + Schefflera arboricola early in the summer. As it has not been repotted in a long time (ever?) I was expecting it to be rootbound. I was surprised to find almost NO roots. This despite the plant looking pretty much healthy, though leggy. I did not pot up, or trim the roots, then, just changed all the potting soil for new. I left it out on the deck in filtered sun all summer to recover. It is looking healthy. I had meant to prune it back hard to induce branching after it recovered. With one thing or another, though, I never got to it.

Now it is October in Zone 5. I assume I have missed the boat for this year, and will have to wait til next spring. Am I correct? I know plants do not root easily in the fall. The primary intent was to induce branching in the main plant, but then if the top rooted successfully I was going to pot it into the same pot to get a fuller one.

I am afraid your ship has sailed, I might be wrong, but I have always gone by the rule and my plants love me, all 54 of them :>)
Christine

Linnea - If you can tolerate how your plant looks now, I'd wait until the plant has been outdoors for a while next summer before I do any significant pruning. A picture would be helpful - how healthy a plant is has a lot to do with what it will/won't readily tolerate.

BTW - plants root best when they have the most energy. After an early summer of growth extension, and a late summer of storing energy reserves, your plant probably has more stored energy in Sep than at any other part of the growth cycle - so cuttings should still root fairly quickly if you offer the cuttings appropriate conditions - which primarily means a well-aerated medium you can keep moist and not wet, some warmth (70-75*), and good light. Scheffs root easily anyway.

More questions? ;-)

Best luck!

Al

My schefflera grew at about a 45 degree angle, probably because i potted it wrong last summer. It's December in Missouri and has been in just a month. It's very healthy now but lost leaves and died back to almost nothing last winter inside. It grew out great again in the summer. My question is, can I repot it now to straighten it up or will it just add to the shock of coming in. It doesn't get enough light and thinking of a grow light for it in our northwest facing apartment. I have rocks in the tray so it doesn't get overwatered. I'd appreciate the advice. It's stable and won't fall over as is. Just looks weird. :)

linnea, I don't see a photo of your soil or the pot size relative to the plant, but I recently repotted a rather desperate leggy schefflera and found pretty much what you did: aside from a lot of thick woody roots that circled the pot and went in all kinds of less-than-useful directions, there were only a few small clumps of healthy looking roots which I pruned off, except for a few inches of a couple to support the unbalanced plant while I tired it down. I'm fairly positive that the culprit was overwatering due to a pot-full of old, collapsed, very fine soil along with mineral buildup from bottom-watering, both of which killed most of the roots.

I had pinched the growing tips of this plant's branches a few weeks before finding this site, and got even worse results--no branching or new stems, although a single little lead did emerge from the smallest branch. The inauspicious timing contributed to the lack of growth, but after repotting it seems obvious that the lack of a functioning root system was the main problem.

Now the schefflera is in 5-1-1. I can't stand not knowing what's going on in there, so I'm going to gently depot it next summer just to see what the roots look like!

FWIW, my plant died the fall after I repotted it. Whatever was wrong with it, repotting seemed to finish it off. Must have been stressed.

I was revisiting my original thread since my daughter was just gifted a cutting. It's already rooted so I wanted to give her some tips on getting hers to branch.