Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Can I just lop off Schefflera actinophylla/pueckleri tops? , 2 by mstenzel

mstenzel wrote:
I've had fun developing my poolside tropical scheme here in SoCal's San Gabriel Valley. The anchors for my tropical look has been my big and wild scheffleras. Looking to expand my tropical section, I bought some more scheffleras thinking I would get the same results. Turns out, I have 2 different kinds (species? cultivars?) and the newer ones are growing quite differently than my successful ones.

Not sure if my healthy ones are the octopus plant variety (Queensland umbrella tree/s. actinophylla, I think). I'm wondering if my tall and shriveled new ones are s. pueckleri or maybe the Amate variant of s. actinophylla. But I will ask that question in the Plant ID section later.

My new tall plants have grown a few feet straight up from their height at the time of purchase. But all the new growth is compact and scrunched up. You can see the distinct line between the healthy height (up to about 6') and then all the compacted growths above that in the photos (below). They get direct sun and some pretty high temps during the summer so I'm thinking that the shriveled new growth is a result of the heat.

This variety of the plant has had virtually zero horizontal growth, which is disappointing. I've read that scheffleras welcome hard pruning, so I'm thinking of just lopping off the top, unhealthy parts with the hopes that action may encourage horizontal broadening. I had hoped they would blend together in this landscaping, so I'm hoping that my pruning efforts may widen the tall guys so all blends together better visually.

Is this a good plan?

Thanks.