Question
I have a fairly old previously very healthy umbrella plant.  It was heavily infested with what I think was mealy bugs or spider mites (little red scaley dots with sticky stuff on the floor), which I tried to treat by wiping the leaves, then with Safer's soap, but it did not seem to help.  I did not want it to spread anymore, so I stripped off all the leaves except the healthy top ones.  I did not expect the leaves to grow again where I stripped them, but did not want to destroy the plant.  My question is, can I grow a new plant with the 3 stalks with healthy leaves on top, and if so how do I do this?  Thank you again for your help, Colleen.

Answer
Colleen,

I had a similar problem with scale wich I suspect is what you also had. Good news, if you keep the plant in the sunniest location possible it will indeed grow new leaves. You can propagate one or all three branches by using the technique of air layering so that the branches grow new roots before you cut them off the original plant. At the following website you can get complete instructions:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/ornamentals/airlayer/airlayer.html

If you do that with all 3 arms don't pitch the old trunk, it will also grow a new top, it will just take a year or two to get as large as the plant is now.

For future reference, in the future, at the first sign of insects on any houseplants I reccommend that you spray them with neem oil.  This is a completely safe product for houseplants that comes from the neem tree in South America.
It will not harm humans or pets in the home. Dilute it according to package instructions and spray the plant at least twice a week for 4 weeks to kill any eggs that hatch. Neem oil is available at most garden centers such as Lowes or Home Depot.

Good luck.
Darlene