Question
I HAVE A SCHEFFELERA (S.ACTINOPHYLLA) IN THE HOUSE. THE WINDOW FACES SOUTHWEST.  IT IS REALLY GROWING TALL AND I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT TO DO TO MAKE IT FULLERAMP. HOW SHOULD I PRUNE IT, OR SHOULD I, AND WHEN?
THANKS.

Answer
Time to Prune the Scheffleras again.  Yes, it's that time of year.

First, I will have to tell you my Schefflera story.

I was living in a very small apartment in Brooklyn, New York, with my husband, years ago.  Top floor, bright Sun-flooded room, and we had a rooftop garden.  It was BEAUTIFUL.  In Spring, we had Tulips.  In Summer, the whole roof was covered with Ficus Trees and flowers.  Orchids, Plumerias, Gingers, Petunias, you name it.  And they all had to be moved indoors every Winter.

For me, this was not a problem.  I was used to stepping over pots and plants.  As far as I was concerned, everybody should live this way.

Well, he put up with it.  For a while.  A few years, in fact.

Pots would tip over.  Someone would walk to the refrigerator, and 2 or 3 would get knocked down each time, dirt would spill out, the whole thing would have to be swept up and re-potted.  I was careful, and I figured he should just be more careful.

Pots everywhere.  Windows, floor, hanging from the ceiling.  For me, this was Heaven.

One day my brother Rod came to town.

We went for a drive, in brother Rod's van.  This was a great treat for me, because it meant we could now drive way out to the suburbs.  And where did I want to go?  The Garden Center!

It was January.  So everything at the Garden Center was ON SALE.  Magic Words to me.

And there, at the Garden Center, ON SALE, was a big, beautiful, full grown, potted Orange Tree.

Not a tabletop potted tree.  But a real, HUGE, honest to goodness Tree, with little green oranges hanging from the stems.  ON SALE.  I could not wait to get home and tell my husband!

And when he came home from work, I gave him the great news.

An Orange Tree.  On sale!  We would go this weekend together to pick it up!

And yet, to my great surprise, he reeled, narrowed eyes, teeth gritted, his voice grave, and this man who adored me, who had never denied me anything before, looked ferocious.  And he declared in a very ominous tone, No.

What?

I could not believe my ears.

But it's on SALE, I told him.

'No!  NO!  No More Plants!'

Fast forwarding to my good friends the next day over lunch, I pondered the consequences of my actions.  I had purchased this beautiful, irresistable Orange Tree.  Already it was waiting in the living room window, basking in the Sun.  I knew he would be coming home way too soon, and I panicked
over salad.  What was I going to tell my husband?  After all, he had already made it clear he was going to kill me if I bought another plant.  He would be livid.  He would not understand that I could not ignore an Orange Tree, on sale, in January, in bud.  What, I asked my friends, was I going to do?

'Tell him,' said Russell, 'Tell him it's a Schefflera.'

It was a perfect solution.  I ran home and removed all the little green Oranges and lovely white flowers, and prepared dinner.

When he came home, I was watching television.

'What's that?' he asked.

'Oh, that's a Schefflera,' I wistfully replied.  Feigning sadness.  Completely nonchalant.  'It's very easy to grow.  I thought it would look nice.  Since we can't get the Orange Tree.'

A noble compromise, I suggested.

Now, any gardener knows an Orange Tree looks NOTHING like a Schefflera.

But most of the rest of the world - lucky for me, he being a New Yorker, he had never seen an Orange Tree.  For all he knew, these would look like Pine Trees or Oak Trees.

Friends Connie and Dave came for dinner a few weeks later.

'Danny, what's that?' asked Dave.

'Oh, That's a Schefflera!' Dan replied.

I breathed with relief.

When we divorced, I got the plants.

Back to your Schefflera.  And incidentally, we already had a
Schefflera.  He did not know it.

The Garden Opus website 'Pruning Your Hawaiian Schefflera' gives illustrated instructions on how to prune your Schefflera specimen to keep it from taking over the house:

http://www.gardenopus.com/PruningHawaiianSchefflera.htm

They advise: 'One technique with the lank, unbranched multiple plant specimens sold at discount stores (such as the one in my photo) is to cut alternate stems, say 2 of your 5 (I only have three so I won't go there quite yet) back half way or more in Spring or Summer to promote branching from below the cut.  The following Spring, cut the remaining three stems below the level of the fresh new branches which have appeared.'

So you see, this is an ongoing problem for Schefflera-lovers.  And they all worry about it at this time of year.

If you are ambitious enough to consider taking cuttings, you can get thorough instructions here for your Schefflera:

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-37.pdf

They make a lovely gift.

Thanks for writing.