Question
Hi- I have a gold cappella schefflera.  I believe it is the umbrella kind.  It has one trunk which is nearly 2 ft. tall between the soil and the lowest leaves.  I bought it at Home depot about a month ago and repotted it into a terra cotta pot which is 1 foot tall and about 13 in. wide. It faces a south window about 10-12 ft. from the window.  We have tall Doug firs in the back so we don't get a ton of light even from the south.  I watered (city water) it after repotting it and then a week+ later.  I've since stopped watering it once a week after many leaves started to drop.  THe leaves that are dropping have brown spots on them.  THe spots are generally in the yellow part of the leaf.  Also, we have a grow light (red and blue lights-LED I think) that I hung on the wall right next to the plant and there are many new shoots now but leaves are still dropping.  Is this just a typical thing with this type of plant?  thanks.

Answer
Jennifer,

You should never repot a plant until it has been in your home for at least a few months and has acclimated to your home. Repotting shocks a plant. When you repot a plant you should only move it to a pot that has a diameter 2 inches larger than the pot it came out of so unless the pot it was in was at least a 10 inch wide pot you overpotted it. The only time of year you should be repotting tropical plants is betwen March 15th and June 30th. That is whe the roots are actively growing and the plant will quickly acclimate to it's new pot.

You started out with not enough sun and too much water but now it could also be too dry. I suggest that you move it and the light over by the south window. Scheffs are sun worshippers, especially variegated ones. It needs as much light as you can possibly give it. Put it next to the window and leave the drapes open from dawn to dusk and move the light to directly above it and put it on a timer and set it to be on for 14 hours a day.

As for watering, pick up some bamboo skewers that you would use for shish kabobs at the grocery store, the long ones. Insert one in the soil as far as it wil go, leave it for a few minutes, then pull it out. if it is wet more than 2 inches up do not water. If it is dry it is time to water immediately. After watering you can imediately put the skewer back in the soil and pull it out after about 5 days and start checking it daily until it is dry enough to need watered again. If you have more questions feel free to write again. Good luck.

Darlene