What to do if I watered a Schefflera arboricola too much by accident?

Question

I recently bought a Schefflera arboricola and accidentally watered it too much before leaving it for a while. When I came back after a few days, the plant had sit in its water for far too long and has been losing leaves everyday since. I have stopped watering it and it is in a very sunny location but I am afraid that the leaves will continue dying until the whole plant is gone.

Should I try using cuttings and starting a new one or will the plant survive this mistake and eventually stop losing leaves?

Answer 1

If you've got green, healthy growth at the top of the stem/s, I'd cut off about 6 to 8 inches, depending on how close the leaflets are to each other, strip the lower leaves, leaving just about 4 at the top, pop them into a bottle of water on a windowsill and let them root.

Your plant might recover - depends whether its got root rot or not. You could also turn it out of its pot, remove as much compost as possible, then repot with fresh compost, to give it a good chance if rot has not set in already.