"JimM" wrote in message
...
One of our houseplants that's been with us for about 3 years has started
to snip

It's an umbrella plant. Mine did the same, losing leaves from the bottom
until there was about 2 ft of bare stem. Pinching out the top rarely did any
good as it usually sprouted again from the topmost node. I eventually had
success with mine when I noticed it had small aerial roots about a third of
the way down. I cut it just below these and replanted the top in the soil.
The top part started growing again although I was lucky enough to get 3 of
the top nodes growing. The bottom part has rooted well and started growing
from the top and from two nodes just above the soil. So now the replanted
top section covers the bare section of the original plant.

You could try the same and maybe just keep the replanted section to give you
a new plant.

Not sure what causes the leaves to drop but I suspect it's when it gets too
tall so next time you might prevent this by pinching out the top earlier.

Finally, I haven't tried it yet but you should be able to influence where
the branches form by cutting part way through the stem just above the node
you want to branch. This stops the flow of sap and forces your chosen node
to start growing.

Martin.