Need help with a Schefflera plant please.

I have a varigated schefflera that was very tiny and grew to about 16 inches in height. It seemed very healthy until recently when the leaves started to turn yellow and drop. It has always been in a sunny window, and I thought I was over watering but the soil, if you stick your finger in comes out dry. I love this little guy, they were throwing him out when I took him home. When he out grew his tiny pot I transplanted him into a clay pot. Any help would be so appreciated. Thank you Teddyjae

The list of possible causes of yellowing/shedding foliage is pretty extensive. The most probable causes are a drought response resultant of a high level of soluble salts in the soil, under-watering or over-watering. Also suspect might be a decrease in photo-period or photo-intensity (reduced light), tight roots, nutritional deficiencies, insect infestations ....

There are generally two ways to approach problems like yours. You can start a dialog and we can eliminate things that aren't likely problems so we can concentrate on isolating and correcting things that ARE; or, you can just start with the fundamentals, the key usually being your soil, and make sure you're doing things in a manner the plant would look upon as favorable, if it was allowed to voice its perspective. The more you lean toward the later and the less tendency you have to place 'grower convenience' at the fore, the more likely the results of your efforts will yield happy plants.

Al

Thanks for answering. Well, I have to go with the dialog because I am just attempting to earn my green thumb. I repotted Scheffy in May, I live in RI and April was cold. I moved him to my front porch because it was as sunny as my hall window and he grew very well. Not at all bushy like yours but up, tree like. I used a potting mix from my local green house shop, telling her I needed to repot house plants. I had pictures in case I needed different soils. She told me what this was. It has been in that soil since May. In early October I brought all my plants in because it was starting to get cool during the day. The only other thing I could say is that I didn't shake the old soil off, I just cut the plastic pot away and loosened it up a bit before putting it in the new pot, but it still had its old pot shape. The new pot is clay and I washed it out with dishsoap and a spot of bleach before I used it and I rinsed it out really really well. It has good drainage, and the plant seems always dry when I check to see if it needs water. I used rain water in the summer, I have a rain barrel but now I full jugs with tap water and let them sit about a week. Does that help?

Yes - that's helpful. Was the new pot larger? how much? When is the last time you fertilized? with what? Are you familiar enough with identifying scale, mealybug and mites to be able to say the plant is free of these pests?

Al

Hi Al,
It's a pleasure to meet and speak with you. This is my first forum and I spent the day browsing Dave's Garden yesterday, wow what a site. I have always wanted a green thumb and I might have gone about it the wrong way. About two years ago, I started collecting plants that the local super market was throwing out. These plants were not yet dead and I couldn't see them be tossed in the trash so I took them home. I haven't really lost many, some I rerooted and started over, one or two were beyond hope but I tried. That's where Scheffy came from. He was two thin stalks in a 2 1/2 in pot. When he started to do well, and his roots were growing out the bottom I repotted him into this pot which is about 6 maybe 7 inches measured on the inside. I have new growth, a branch at the top and some stalkes at the bottom. Some of the small new leaves, have just turned brown and dropped but others look well. There is nothing on the plant that I can see, no white cottony stuff or little black spots. I wiped some leaves with a cotton swap, there was a little dust but not much.
From April thru September with every watering I put 7 drops of Schultz 10-15-10 fertilizer in the gallon of rain water. I may not be able to spot pest so if you can tell me what to look for, I will. I did notice, what looked like a root on top of the soil, the soil is loose and seems very dry. I stuck a dry, clean chopstick in and it came out dry, no dirt clung, but it did have a dirt coloring to it but was dry to the touch.
I have pictures. Thank you for your time.

This is a picture of the leaves that have recently yellowed. I am a little worried about watering, in case the challenge was me over watering him. It's very hard to get the watering down, it's my biggest concern, if you have any tips, I would appreciate them.

Scheffleras tolerate dry soil well, and wet soils poorly, though they prefer a soil that is damp (but not wet or soggy). It creates a considerable problem when/if you strive to keep the soil at that 'ideal' water retention level w/o taking steps to ensure that soluble salts levels don't steadily increase in the soil. If you're not watering so that you're flushing the soil when you water, or can't, because you risk root rot as the result of soils remaining soggy for extended periods, you're in a way that ensures high concentrations of soluble salts in the soil. As salt levels in the soil solution from fertilizers and tap water increase, the plants ability to move water across cell membranes decreases, until finally, high levels of salts can actually PULL water from plant cells in the same way that curing salts used on ham or bacon pull water from animal cells.

In addition to this issue, there are no plants that use more P than N. Left to their own devices, plants use, on average, about 6x more N than P, but your 10-15-10 supplies 1.5x more P than N. Not only does this contribute unnecessarily to the TDS/EC (salt level) of the soil solution, but excess P in the soil solution has other ill effects as well. It can cause antagonistic deficiencies of several other nutrients, iron, manganese, potassium, and nitrogen among them. Fertilizers with a 3:1:2 RATIO (different than NPK %s) are probably best at supplying nutrients in the ratio closest to what plants actually use. My favorite, by far, is Dyna-Gro's Foliage-Pro 9-3-6, but any of the soluble 24-8-16s or Miracle-Gro 12-4-8 are other 3:1:2 ratios that would serve you well.

So far, you haven't said anything that points directly to a probable cause. Check carefully for mites (do you know how to do that?) and scale. There is nothing sticky on the plant or on the surface it's sitting on?

If you've been watering in sips (let me know) you should probably thoroughly flush the soil. I learned a long time ago how to make a soil that allows a very wide margin for error in the areas of watering and fertilizing. My suggestion to you would be to start there. The soil is the foundation of every conventional container planting. You can fight the symptoms of a poor soil interminably, and most hobby growers do, but it makes no sense. You don't save any effort or convenience by using a commercially prepared, peat-based soil when you have to deal with multiple issues down the road. It's always made much more sense to me to put forth a little effort BEFORE I plant/transplant anything and have wonderfully healthy plants, than to take the easy path in the beginning and then deal with the results later.

Don't mistake what I just said as an admonishment or belittlement of you - it's not that at all. ;o) I just think that based on the thousands that have been helped through their adopting the concept of using well-aerated and durable soils as opposed to commercial, peat-based soils, there's no reason to think it wouldn't serve you equally well.

Coming full circle to the two approaches I mentioned upthread, I'll draw a parallel. A person goes to the Dr with signs of heat trouble & high cholesterol. The Dr approaches the problem on two fronts, doing the best he/she can to isolate the actual issue, but also putting the patient on a 'heart smart' diet so the issues become non-issues. Putting your plants in a soil that is conducive to excellent root health (roots are the heart of the plant) and adopting a favorable watering/fertilizing regimen will go a long, long way toward making all the other issues disappear. If you can add good light to the combination, your plants will have it made. ;o)

Some reading for you, if you have interest:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/796311/?hl=soil+discussion

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1073399/

Al

No offence taking here sir, can't learn unless someone teaches me and I appreciate it. No, no sticky stuff, nothing on the plant at all. I even looked with a magnifying glass to be sure. I checked out the pictures of common house plant pests before I looked so that I would have an idea of what I was looking for. No webs, no white cottony stuff, no little black specs. I will change my fertilizer to your favorite if I can find it this weekend or one of the others if I am unsuccessful in locating dyna-gro. Should I be fertilizing now because I only did it from April thru Sept. Also could you tell me what I need to get to make the right potting mix and is this mix good for everything or just this plant? Can I repot now, or do I have to wait til spring??

I water them by putting them in my tub, I slowly pour a 16 oz bottle of water in the pot and let it drain out the bottom. I wait about 15 maybe 20 minutes and do another pour. I have quite a few plants and this takes me awhile to do, I use the tub, 2 sinks and the loo! I have to find a better way but it is not possible to water them where they are because of drainage. Al, could temperature be a factor, I keep the thermostat at about 65. If salt is an issue, what can I do, boil my tap water?

Hi Al, again thanks... I am going to print the two links you gave me so that I can read them carefully. Will my local greenshop have those ingredients to make the soil. I have to be honest with you I would have to ask someone for help in getting the right stuff, it's all a little greek to me right now ! :)

It will take some research to find the ingredients, but I'm not trying to sell you on a soil recipe. I'm pushing a concept that has the potential to increase the satisfaction you get from growing tremendously. For a long time, I wouldn't allow myself to say that, even though I knew it, but soo many others have already offered the testimony that I'm not feeling pretty comfortable telling you that the idea works, and works very well. Take your time gaining an understanding of WHY it works, and it will help you in ALL your container gardening endeavors.

In the meanwhile, you should think about whether or not you feel salts have been accumulating in your soil. If you come up w/a 'yes', then lets flush the soil & figure out the best way to get you through until early summer when a full repot won't be quite as traumatic.

Al

No selling needed, I would love to make my own soil. It would fit my lifestyle, I'm not big on chemicals, I try organic or natural ways whenever I can. Fertilizer for plants, well, I wanted to earn my green thumb before trying to find a better way for me. I will flush out Scheffy and keep you posted. The upnote is that none of these plants look as bad or as small as when I brought them home and I did noticed something was a muck. It's a start. Any reading material you can recommend would be appreciated, I have repotting and prunning fears. I saved an almost dead jade and it is huge but everyone always says the same thing about her, "wow, she's gorgeous, she needs a shaping" What's that supposed to mean.... :) I told them all she was a flower child, but I can't hide behind that forever.

Can you post a picture of your jade? It would probably be fairly simple to prune to shape. Might have to be done gradually. You can root the prunings to make new plants too. Wouldn't that be cool? Try to relax a little about the Scheffie... I had one for years, it grew up to the ceiling. It had a trunk, like a tree.

Sure, I will take one tomorrow morning. This jade was in a two inch clay pot in the trash, the pot wouldn't stand up and she was all bent over to one side. The majority of her leaves were shriveled up and thin. Some were squishy. I didn't know if it was over watered or under watered but at the time she was bone dry. I had to break the pot to get her out. She made a full recovery but I still don't know the signs to over watering or under watering. I have read about them but there are conflicting statements, some say the leaves shrivel when over watered and some say they store water in their leaves so when they don't get enough, they shrivel. She is in a huge clay pot, but she is all to one side. I have tried getting her to reach over to the light, but she has, instead, giving me new leaves. If she grows tall, we will have the same challenge as she is over to one side of the pot even though I put her as far as I could toward the other side. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Tia is my miracle plant because there didn't seem to be hope for her, she was just a bent over stalk, and now her stalks are covered in green. She is definitely a south paw, she leans left!

Unfortunately the symptoms of over and under-watering can often be similar to each other. If you make up some of Al's potting mix recipes then you don't need to worry as much, but if you use a regular type of potting mix the best thing to do is stick your finger down a few inches into the pot before you're getting ready to water and see how wet it feels. Since jade is a succulent, if the soil's still feeling wet then you need to hold off on watering.

Tip - I usually wait to water jades and mini-jades (Portulacaria) until they start to lose water pressure ;-) (turgidity) and their leaves start to wrinkle. Ecrane is right, of course. Both under and over-watering cause a drought response, as does a build-up of soluble salts in the soil.

Al