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

On 8/12/05 17:14, in article , "cas"
wrote:

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


Possibly too much water or temperature changes. How warm is that room at
night, for example? And why is your nom de net that of a lethal group of
rocks? ;-))
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Sacha wrote:
On 8/12/05 17:14, in article ,
"cas" wrote:

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


Possibly too much water or temperature changes. How warm is that
room at night, for example? And why is your nom de net that of a
lethal group of rocks? ;-))

I'd lose the wet gravel tray at once, and move the tree to a 9" pot.
Sacha's right, as usual: they don't want sogginess. Don't worry if it
dries out for a short period occasionally: and you can be stingy with
water in winter. They also sometimes dislike being too hot: 70
degrees is quite enough. You say it's "near" a window: if you'd said
it was actually on the sill, I'd suspect too great a drop in
temperature when you draw the curtains in the evening -- this applies
to many house plants. I think it's sharp _changes_ in temperature
they find most difficult. Two old ones of mine are flourishing in 12"
tubs in an unheated room with rather weak light:

If you find it grows too leggy, don't be afraid to cut it down around
April. An eight-inch tip will root very easily as a cutting during
the warm months, which is good fun; and I've had success with bits of
youngish stem from lower down.

--
Mike.

"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

....

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Sacha wrote:
On 8/12/05 17:14, in article ,
"cas" wrote:

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


Possibly too much water or temperature changes. How warm is that
room at night, for example? And why is your nom de net that of a
lethal group of rocks? ;-))

I'd lose the wet gravel tray at once, and move the tree to a 9" pot.
Sacha's right, as usual: they don't want sogginess. Don't worry if it
dries out for a short period occasionally: and you can be stingy with
water in winter. They also sometimes dislike being too hot: 70
degrees is quite enough. You say it's "near" a window: if you'd said
it was actually on the sill, I'd suspect too great a drop in
temperature when you draw the curtains in the evening -- this applies
to many house plants. I think it's sharp _changes_ in temperature
they find most difficult. Two old ones of mine are flourishing in 12"
tubs in an unheated room with rather weak light:

If you find it grows too leggy, don't be afraid to cut it down around
April. An eight-inch tip will root very easily as a cutting during
the warm months, which is good fun; and I've had success with bits of
youngish stem from lower down.

--
Mike.


The fastest taking cuttings in my experience are from the
nodes - where the leaf stalk with the umbrella of leaves is left
in place, on say a two or three inch cutting off of the main stem.

This seems to work o.k. wherever there are remaining nodes and
leaf stalks. I've never tried it where the leaf stalk has already
fallen off.

Planting the individual umbrellas on around an inch of leaf stem
will produce one or two shoots from between the individual leaves
eventually with one usually becoming dominant.

They can also be arial rooted fairly easily, but it's more bother
than its worth IMO.


michael adams

....

michael adams wrote:
[...]

I'm delighted to find your cultural advice as sound as usual!

Planting the individual umbrellas on around an inch of leaf stem
will produce one or two shoots from between the individual leaves
eventually with one usually becoming dominant.

That's very interesting: I'll try it. Does seasonal light-intensity
matter for this method?

They can also be arial rooted fairly easily, but it's more bother
than its worth IMO.

Right.

--
Mike.

On Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:27:08 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

On 8/12/05 17:14, in article , "cas"
wrote:

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


Possibly too much water or temperature changes. How warm is that room at
night, for example? And why is your nom de net that of a lethal group of
rocks? ;-))


Perhaps she's mailing from the light-house there. After all, she has a
Shefflera called Trinette House......


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:
[...]

I'm delighted to find your cultural advice as sound as usual!

Planting the individual umbrellas on around an inch of leaf stem
will produce one or two shoots from between the individual leaves
eventually with one usually becoming dominant.

That's very interesting: I'll try it. Does seasonal light-intensity
matter for this method?

....

Bottom heat in a cheapo non-thermostat propogator. Cover left on, and
given plenty of humidity (despite information given for full sized plant)
Started around April\May in a south facing window , the shoots start showing
between the leaves after around 12 weeks to 16 weeks. First you get
knobbly bits and then one or two burt into growth. However by that time
a node cutting with the umbrella stalk left on, will be producing its
fourth or fifth leaf stem, and will already be out of the propogator.
These are all approximations.

The floor of the propogator was covered in gravel which was thoroughly
moistened and the individual cuttings were started in 2 and a half inch
pots with liberal application of possibly stale rooting hormone. All made
strong root growth with adventitious roots into the gravel before any top
growth was visible on most of them.

michael adams








They can also be arial rooted fairly easily, but it's more bother
than its worth IMO.

Right.

--
Mike.

correction:maybe the roots aren't especially adventitious.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:
[...]

I'm delighted to find your cultural advice as sound as usual!

Planting the individual umbrellas on around an inch of leaf stem
will produce one or two shoots from between the individual leaves
eventually with one usually becoming dominant.

That's very interesting: I'll try it. Does seasonal light-intensity
matter for this method?

....

Bottom heat in a cheapo non-thermostat propogator. Cover left on, and
given plenty of humidity (despite information given for full sized plant)
Started around April\May in a south facing window , the shoots start showing
between the leaves after around 12 weeks to 16 weeks. First you get
knobbly bits and then one or two burt into growth. However by that time
a node cutting with the umbrella stalk left on, will be producing its
fourth or fifth leaf stem, and will already be out of the propogator.
These are all approximations.

The floor of the propogator was covered in gravel which was thoroughly
moistened and the individual cuttings were started in 2 and a half inch
pots with liberal application of possibly stale rooting hormone. All made
strong root growth with adventitious roots into the gravel before any top
growth was visible on most of them.

michael adams








They can also be arial rooted fairly easily, but it's more bother
than its worth IMO.

Right.

--
Mike.

"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"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

...
Well thank you all for the quick response,some good advice there.the night
time temprature drops to about 60 F i think that you are correct about
over watering , I have even sprayed the leaves thinking it would do it
good! I will follow your advice and repot it and move from the gravel pot
tomorrow. The plant is near a window in my flat, next to the T/V .There is
a ficus pot plant the other end that has survived my abuse ..And Sacha
,yes you are right my email name is that of an island near alderney C. I.
with a lighthouse on it. Thats another story but not for this site. Merry
Christmas to you all .cas

cas wrote:
[...]
correct about over watering , I have even sprayed the leaves
thinking it would do it good! [...]

Some people do spray them, with a very fine mist. I've never
bothered, and I think I'd do it only during the summer or if the
central heating was fierce.

--
Mike.

"cas" wrote in message
...

"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"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

...
Well thank you all for the quick response,some good advice there.the
night
time temprature drops to about 60 F i think that you are correct about
over watering , I have even sprayed the leaves thinking it would do it
good!

I've got one shefflera that's over 20 years old now (just dont ask how big
it is ) plus countless offspring - that have never been sprayed. However
it's
never been near a central heating radiator either. Occasionaly - every
couple
of years or so - the leaves are wiped over to remove any dust. Which isn't
a big problem as the waxy coating on the leaves doesn't seem to attract dust
in any case. Casting my mind back - this is all true - around 10 years ago
when it was still small enough to get through the door upright it was taken
out into the back garden one summer and left out in the rain for a few
hours.
As a treat.

michael adams

....









I will follow your advice and repot it and move from the gravel pot
tomorrow. The plant is near a window in my flat, next to the T/V .There
is
a ficus pot plant the other end that has survived my abuse ..And Sacha
,yes you are right my email name is that of an island near alderney C.
I.
with a lighthouse on it. Thats another story but not for this site.
Merry
Christmas to you all .cas

On 8/12/05 21:29, in article , "cas"
wrote:

snip
Well thank you all for the quick response,some good advice there.the night
time temprature drops to about 60 F i think that you are correct about
over watering , I have even sprayed the leaves thinking it would do it
good! I will follow your advice and repot it and move from the gravel pot
tomorrow. The plant is near a window in my flat, next to the T/V .There is
a ficus pot plant the other end that has survived my abuse ..And Sacha
,yes you are right my email name is that of an island near alderney C. I.
with a lighthouse on it. Thats another story but not for this site. Merry
Christmas to you all .cas



Cas, I come from Jersey, so know the Casquets well but not intimately, I'm
happy to say. But as you say, another story! ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"cas" wrote in message
...

I have a Shefflera Trinette house plant which is shedding its leaves at
a
rate of about 6 a day.
snip
Yes I agree about the temperature changes being the most probable cause but
would still check for other possibilities such as vine weevil or red spider
mite though my schefflera has stood in the porch for at least 4 years now
and is subject to cold when the door is left open with no adverse effects
and also no insect damage ever noticed.
The only problem we encountered was our guinea pigs would eat all foliage
they could reach. They seemed to love it as a snack so they got given the
occasional leaf as a treat.

"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
I grow this variety as a garden plant outside, which tells you a bit
about its ability to withstand varying conditions. Mine gets direct
sun until just before midday and increasingly heavier shade
thereafter. It doesn't need high temperatures to succeed and will be
happy if kept just frost-free. Conversely it will grow in a
moderately warm room. It tolerates dry conditions at the root, but
happily soaks up any available moisture if healthy. In summer, mine
gets hosed every day, but gets no additional water between October and
May. It grows magnificently if fertilised regularly, but will make a
brave effort if only fertilised 'once in a blue moon'.

All in all, it is an exceptionally easy plant for most conditions in
most homes. However, Schefflera is singularly intolerant of stagnant
conditions at the root. Unfortunately, the composts used by producers
tend to lose their condition and structure in a very short time after
leaving the nursery. Considering such plants are grown 'to a price'
it is hardly surprising that economies are made wherever possible.
The loss of leaves is caused by the compost becoming stale, airless
and compacted. I wouldn't mind betting that the 50% leaf loss on
your plant has been accompanied by a similar or even greater
proportion of root death. Actually its the other way around, the
roots die first and leaf loss follows.

Rather than potting your plant on as has been suggested, you need to
repot in the proper sense of the term. Carefully remove from the pot,
tease away as much old compost and dead roots as possible. Wash the
original pot clean and repot into it using good quality compost. A
really good mixture that will encourage new root growth consists of
40% John Innes No 2 (this is loam-based, which Scheffleras love) 40%
Multi-purpose (Levington, Westlands or Arthur Bowyers are good) and
20% perlite (this ensures the structure remains open and well
aerated).

Water thoroughly and allow to drain. Subsequent watering should only
take place when the compost is nearly dry. Keep the Schefflera in a
bright, but cool airy position, well away from direct sources of heat.
Recovery will be slow, but by April there should be plenty of new
growth. When normal growth resumes, watering can be increased, but as
with many pot plants, it is better to allow the compost to become
slightly dry rather than keep it constantly moist. This soak and
dry-out routine encourages new roots to search for water - a bit like
enticing a donkey with a carrot.

Originally, the green form was introduced into this country as a 'new'
'trouble-free' 'Umbrella plant' in very early 70's by Thomas Rochford
& Sons. In those days it was known as Heptapleurum and caused quite a
stir in the trade. Rochfords grew these in J.I. based composts and
they turned out to be nearly indestructible. Later imports from
Belgium and Holland were grown in peat-shoddy and were somewhat less
than 'indestructible'.

Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November

Thank you dave and others i will take your advice...cas