Question
Hello.  I have a schefflera plant that I purchased from a flower shop about 2 1/2 years ago. It's probably five feet tall now.  I usually water it, once a week, in the summer maybe twice a week.  We haven't had any problems with it until recently, we moved from Northern Virginia to Vermont about a week ago.  In just that  one week of time, about 90& of the leaves have fallen from the plant.  Some of them, the texture was hard and withered and others looked great but still fell off. We have city water in Vermont and we did in Virginia also.
I repotted the plant the other day in a 15" pot(the first time since I purchased it).  Before that it was in still in the original black plastic pot that it came in. The pot was almost 12" wide. It had a clear plastic bucket over that and a basket over that.  Over the weekend, I took the advice of a gentlemen at home depot.  I placed those very small pebbles/rocks in a pan, then I put the new pot on top of it, put the new soil in along with two Aqua Globes.  This was all per his recommendation. In Virginia, the plant was facing a window that received afternoon sun and once a week I would let it sit outside on our deck for about an hour.  However, in Vermont, we haven't had very many sun shining days and the plant is facing a window that gets morning sun.   I can count how may leaves are left on my schefflera, about 19. Can I still save this plant and our count my losses.

Answer
Shana,

Get the water globes out of it! He was just trying to sell you water globes. The sheff needs to dry out well between waterings, it will not do that with water globes feeding it water constantly. Water it then wait till it is very dry and water it again. Increasing the humidity around it is good. Filling a spray bottle with water and spraying it a couple of times a day would also be good.

My big question is how was it moved from Virginia to Vermont? Is there any chance it was allowed to freeze or nearly freeze during the move? That's what it sounds like to me. Sheffs are generally very sturdy plants and for it to be doing this this suddenly it has to have suffered a major trauma like freezing or a major attack of scale insects. Look at the backs of the leaves you have left and let me know if you find fuzzy white things or little flat circles that you can scrape off with a knife tip. If you find either they are insects and let me know and I will tell you what to do about it. My first suspicion is freezing though and the only cure for that is time and keeping it warm and in the sunniest possible place. Repotting a plant that is in a traumatic situation is not the thing to do because that further traumatizes it when the days are short but you have already done that and can't change it. In the future only repot plants between April 1st and June 30th when the days are longer and the plants recuperate fastest. Be very careful not to overwter it and do not leave it with a lot of water in the drain tray. Let me know if you find insects. Good luck.

Darlene