Beginner Gardening: Advice for repotting a baby Schefflera, 1 by courtarfaust

courtarfaust wrote:
I just bought a little scheff from a local nursery; his name is Simon (I name everything. I think things, animate and inanimate alike, respond to you better if it's personal). I want to repot him but I have a few questions.

1.) It's currently in a 4 in pot. Would it be too much for him to handle if I put him in an 8 in pot right away? I know not to plant him deeper into the ground and would be careful to fill of the bottom with soil and such until he's at the right level.

2.) Do I need to be aware of any special soil needs for this guy? I've never worried about this before but after reading several of the threads here, I'm kinda scared that I've stunted and starved all my house plants using the wrong soil. I've been using the specialty mix made and used by the nursery in town from whom I buy all my plants but maybe I should look into more specific mixes for my specific plants?

3.) If it's not a big deal to put him in the larger pot, would I need to space the individual plants further apart? My particular plant consists of four separate plants and when I was shopping around, I noticed all the potted scheffs seemed to have the individual plants spaced near the edge of the pots and not in the middle. I'm not sure if this is important and if it is, how to go about untangling the plants and spacing them appropriately.

I really appreciate any and all help that can be given. Like I said, I've been reading a lot of the old threads and the information I've garnered is just unbelievable. I can't wait for the snow to be gone so I can start my outdoor planters with a seemingly endless fount of information at my fingertips!