My favorite house plant, I've had it for about 5 years now is growing far and wide. She was in a very sunny window for the first 4 years (I know that's not as directed) but she was super happy and grew slowly but healthy and full. when I moved I decided to keep her in a sunny window although it wasn't nearly as sunny as my old window, well in the last 6 months she has grown immensely but loses her old leaves very quickly :( her stem is getting kind of brown and bare because of losing leaves. Hoping someone can direct me in what to do, do I need to replant it in a bigger pot? should I move it away from the window? Hoping for some guidance, Thank you in advance!
1 Answer
Your plant is a Schefflera arboricola, common name umbrella plant. I bought one of these 34 years ago - I still have an umbrella plant, but it's not quite the original one!
Mine grew until it got way too tall (about 8 feet) and at that point,I cut off about 10 inches of stem from the top, reduced them down to about 5 inches, stripped off the lower leaves leaving just one or two, and popped them in a bottle of water on the windowsill. They produce roots within 4-6 weeks, and when they did, I potted those up. The new cuttings grew on really quickly, and the original plant became, once again, far too tall, so I repeated the process... over the years, I must have done this 4 or 5 times, either giving away the original plant or disposing of it if it was gawky or had a health problem.
I told you all that for a reason, because I am about to say do the same with yours; after you've taken your cuttings from the top, cut down what's left of your plant, reducing the two stems down to about an inch, preferably just above a node, keep it watered as necessary, fertilise with a houseplant fertilizer and wait - it should respond by putting out new growth and become a bushy plant again. And you have the insurance of the cuttings rooting and creating a whole new plant as well...