Question
My house plant is out of control!!! Lol. I've had this plant a few years now. It had 3 twisted together but one died! I made the mistake of pulling dead one out so now the 2 are not really twisted anymore!! I want it to grow up but it's growing sideways taking up so much space. My husband just wants me to throw it out but its the only plant I have and only one I have keep alive lol. Most plants die on me :(

Help plz
Kimberly

Answer
Hi Kimberly,

Thanks for emailing me the photos. That is very helpful.

Your Schefflera arboricola is overgrown, but very healthy. It is not uncommon for one stem of a braided plant to die. You can use a twistem to squeeze and hold the remaining stems together, if you want to. It will not affect the plant抯 health.

New growth on the stems is always at the tip ends of the stems. As the stems grow longer, gravity starts to take over and pull them downward so they are more horizontal than vertical. You can try using stakes to prop them up, but I think that looks rather ugly. The alternative is to prune back the longest stems by a couple of feet. This will make the plant less wide and new growth that comes in will be more vertical. However, eventually that new growth will also start to get pulled down by gravity.

If your tree were growing outside, it would receive stronger sun from directly overhead rather than sideways through a window and that would cause it to grow taller. But yours is indoors so you have to accept its tendency to grow more horizontally.

Pruning is neglected by most people because they are afraid they will "do it wrong" and kill the plant. In fact, pruning is like cutting hair - it will alter the appearance of the plant, but not affect its health. So you can get almost any overall shape that you want by selectively pruning certain stems. For example, yours is growing much more to one side, so I would suggest pruning back that side to create a more balanced look. If you want more growth in the center of the plant, then prune some stems back to the point where you would like to see new growth come in.

So you are in charge of determining how your Schefflera looks. Perhaps you can consult with your husband and get it to a size and shape that will make it more appealing to him.

Your overall care appears to be good. The pot is a bit bigger than ideal, so you will have to be careful to allow the top couple of inches of soil to dry out in between waterings. It also appears that there is a lot of loose soil on the surface. Any soil not in direct contact with the roots should be removed.

I have written articles on Schefflera care and on pruning that I will email to you or anyone else who sends a request to me at [email protected].

Please let me know if any of this is unclear or if you have any additional questions.

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Regards,
Will Creed, Interior Landscaper
Horticultural Help, NYC

Visit my website at: A link to HorticulturalHelp.com



I need you to post a photo so I can understand better what you mean by "not twisted anymore" and "growing sideways." With a photo that shows the entire plant, including the pot, I can better evaluate whether the plant is worth keeping.

If you have trouble posting a photo on this site, you can email the photo to me at [email protected]

~Will Creed