"cas" wrote in message
...

I have a Shefflera Trinette house plant which is shedding its leaves at a
rate of about 6 a day. It stands about 2ft high in a 7" plastic pot which
is
then placed in a 9" glazed container which has gravel in the bottom which
I
keep moist.I have had it for about seven months and brought it from B/Q
and
it has done very well up to now.the room temp is about 70 F and it is
placed
near a window but not in direct light.It has lost about 1/2 it,s leaves
and
is looking very threadbare.can anyone help please ,thank you ...cas



This is for sheffeleras in general.

Why the gravel? Sheffleras - al that I know anyway don't need particularly
moist conditions. In fact precisely the opposite. You can let the soil dry
out
between watering and feeding. Also they don't require high temperatures. It
would do just as well in an unheated room. Whether it would actually suffer
from too high a temperature I don't know. Also they can even do well, close
to a North facing window with hardly any direct sunlight. However the
distance
a plant is away from the window, makes a disproportionate difference to the
amount of light it receives. Stand outside and look in through the window
and you'll see the difference. It looks much darker inside.

Forget the gravel. The plant doesn't need a humid atmosphere. Lift it
gently out of its pot, if it's at all waterlogged. Leave the pot shaped
rootball on a sheet of newspaper with the plant supported somehow for a
few days to let the rootball dry out. But whatever you do don't squeeze
the stem too hard. Alternatively, you can shake off the compost -if you
can support the plant and let the actual roots dry off for few days. The
problem is most probably with the roots. They're not getting any air at
a guess.
Cut away any damaged black mouldy roots, they'll fall away once the
rootball has dried out, repot it in a pot with good drainage holes, and
only water it sparingly. Sheffeleras have waxy leaves but the leaves
will go a bit limp when the plant needs watering. Give it a good soak and
let it drain. Feed it with phostrogen, baby bio or whatever in the water
around once a month between say March and September.



michael adams

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