Schefflera dropping healthy branches
Romy
Posts: 3
Hi to all green thumbs. In August I bought a healthy looking schefflera with a thick trunk. Growing it indoors in my apartment, in a bright room by a window with the shade drawn. Every once in a while a healthy looking leaf would drop. I think I overwatered it in the beginning, but after buying a moisture meter, I reduced to watering about once every 10 days or 2 weeks. The moisture meter still read "moist".
Last week, a healthy looking branch of leaves dropped. Then, over last weekend, almost all the branches dropped and my poor tree looks sickly.
After reading the internet about it, I pulled it out of the container this morning to check out the roots. The dirt is dry. Roots look thin and dry. No sign of bug infestation. My question is, can she be saved
Im a beginner gardener, so your advice will be gratefully received. Many thanks.
Posts
Schefflera make good house plants but you need to get their light levels and watering right. They need bright, but indirect light so try lifting the shade but make sure it's not in direct sun.
Watering is best done by the dunking method. Wait till the compost feels dry then dunk in a bucket of water till no air bubbles appear and then let it drain completely before putting it back in its cache-pot. They don't like to be moist all the time.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!
This tree is big and heavy so I was initially hesitant to take it out of the pot, I will definitely use that method going forward. Also, the label on the plant says "schefflera" but it doesn't really look like any of the photos of scheffleras I've seen online. Above is a photo of the tree a few weeks ago. It's a schefflera, right?
Below are photos of the very sad tree this weekend. You can see the dropping of seemingly healthy leaves and stems. I also took a photo of the root system once i pulled it out of the pot. Can she come back to life?
It's suffering from big plant in tiny pot syndrome
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Looks like there's very little soil there, just a mass of potbound roots.
The poor thing's probably starving to death. Get it in a bigger pot with fresh compost asap.
I agree Kitty ... and what little compost there is there is so compacted by the roots that no water can penetrate ... I bet it just runs out of the bottom of the pot.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Crikey - yes, it's starving and cramped. Soak that root ball in a bucket and tease out som eof teh roots so they head out into the fresh compost. Make sure it is planted at the same depth as before but give it extra width and depth. Water again once done then go to the dunking method. Come spring, give it some occasional feeds for leafy houseplants. You can usually find these in better supermarkets.
Thank you SO MUCH!!!
This is really helpful and I appreciate your feedback. I knew some seasoned pros would be able to spot the issue. Will replant and report back.