A friend gave me this plant that has been poorly cared for and I want to bring it back to life. It must be repotted. Roots are growing on top of the soil. Leaves are yellow - some green but very few.
I'm an outside gardener and have not kept many house plants over the years. HELP me help this poor plant.
Thanks
Kathy
Scheflera actinophylla is the name I learned it as.
When grown as a house plant, Umbrella Tree (for the leaves)
When grown outdoors (zone 10 and warmer) Octopus Tree (for the flowers)
In zones too cold to keep it outdoors, it can still be grown indoors in the winter, and moved outside in the summer. It grows big, though, so can be quite a problem to move!
They need to go pretty dry between watering, and the yellow leaves could be from over watering.
They are not heavy feeders, but do need some fertilizer. I would try a liquid fertilizer at about half strength, see if that makes the new leaves come out a bit deeper green. Make sure the fertilizer has nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (N-P-K) and trace nutrients.
To repot, get a larger pot that is not too much larger, perhaps 2" larger diameter than the one it is in now.
Use a potting soil sold for house plants with very good drainage.
Do not bury the plant any deeper than it is now, though you could cover the exposed roots with some bark chips, sphagnum moss or Spanish Moss. Something light and airy. If there is actually soil missing from this area you could fill that much, but never add soil or mulch higher on the trunk than the plant is already accustomed to.
It looks like your plant may be chlorotic (nitrogen deficiency.) This could be from actual lack of nitrogen, or from another factor causing the roots to be unable to process nitrogen, such as the PH of the soil being too high. Repotting to fresh soil usually helps improve a chlorotic plant, regardless of the cause.
When you repot, if you find a 'pancake' of roots at the bottom, chopping that off with a shovel or saw can greatly improve your plant by giving the roots a fresh chance to grow and function vigorously. If the whole thing will come out of the pot in 1 piece, feel free to add a pic of the roots if you'd like more specific advice before tackling this job.
Once roots become exposed and are hard and woody, it could damage the plant to cover the at all. Those are usually considered an interesting architectural feature, and there's a fan-base for plants with exposed roots in general. Sometimes people adjust plants incrementally higher to expose more roots each time they repot, to manipulate/exaggerate that kind of appearance even more.
Reading the sticky post at the top of this forum should help you feel more comfortable with keeping a potted plant in general, covering the basics.
Thanks to both of you. I was always a person with lots of house plants. That was years and years ago. I've really lost touch with it after becoming a rose and clematis gardener. Then Rose Rosetta hit and I lost about 50 or 60 roses over 4 or so years. (no memory - menopause)
I will report and trim roots. I also felt it was a lack of nitrogen.
A friend has a 'snake plant/mother in laws tongue' lol and 90% of it is also yellow. Came from the same person - she took the snake plant and I took the tree. She doesn't think the snake plant will come back green - any thoughts on that? They are very yellow but alive.
Kathy
Snake plant, Sansevieria is tough. I would transplant it only if it is falling over, and lightly fertilize.
Other common reasons for yellow leaves, possible with both plants:
Too much sun. (the yellow would be the leaves bleaching out. More intense sun would burn them. Often seen at the top of the plant, but wherever the sun is the brightest)
Lack of fertilizer. (very good come back possible- the yellow leaves might turn greener, get better)
Over watering. (Plant usually dies soon after)
