Re: schefflera

> From: Barbara  Tandy <sundrops@earthlink.net>
> .Does anyone know what will happen if I top a large Schefflera
(house plant)
> that has only one large stem about 3 feet tall?  Will it branch
out?  Will
> it die?  Is the top cutting rootable?  The bottom part is becoming
woody but
> the top is green with many leaves close together but on a single
stem.
----------

Barb, it will leaf out and branch out again.  The stem will have a
bump in it where you decapitated it.   I have to whack mine back
again this year.  It's 3 big stems (like 2" in diameter or so) and 3
small ones and  pretty near 15 feet tall; just about reaching the
ceiling of the conference room where it winters.  Have cut mine back
3 or 4 times in the 25 years or so I've had it.  First time I did it,
thought for sure I'd killed it, but it leafed out in a few weeks and
grew on and on and on.

My poor child is going to get repotted this spring as well as
whacked...it's been in the same pot for about 10 years and I am going
to have to break it to get it out, but finally got a new, larger pot,
so it ought to be happy once I do it:-)

I do not know about rooting the top part - maybe Jim does.

When you whack it back, keep it watered and when it starts to leaf
out, feed it.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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