Dwarf Schefflera Plants How to Care and Grow Tips

Who would have thought that there would be a plant that can take over the shape of an umbrella? The umbrella plant, also known as Schefflera arboricola is one of the most common favorite houseplants - this is because it just looks gorgeous. With its leaves forming the top of the umbrella, not to mention their variegation as well. If you are gonna ask me, I’d totally want to keep one around the house. 

Because of their beautiful foliage, these plants are commonly grown as ornamental houseplants. They can grow up to 3' to 4' which can be higher than the usual houseplant but what’s great with these plants is that you can prune them to however small you want them to be. 

Aside from the beauty that this plant exhibits, Umbrella plants are also known to bring luck to homes, in fact, they are used as Feng Shui plants in China, the leaves of the plant are known to attract positive energy while the plant itself attracts wealthiness to their plant owners.  

In China, the Umbrella plant is also known for its healing properties, the stems, leaves, and roots of the plant are used to make a healing drink. It is believed that when these plants are ingested, they could help make blood circulation better and relieve pain. 

Aside from all the benefits that this plant gives off, another good thing about this plant is that they are quite easy to take care of. 

When it comes to watering these plants, they are not that quite sensitive whenever they are not watered immediately for umbrella plants do not mind being a little dry for they are quite one of the drought-tolerant plants. This does not mean that you treat these plants like a cactus but just a little like keeping it dry in between watering should be fine. One of the bad things that you can do to these plants is overwatering them one sign that you will notice is when the leaves start turning black and falling off from the main plant. 

Umbrella plants do not require soil that has a special potting mix, a common potting soil is enough for these plants as long as they have good drainage that retains enough moisture for the plants. If you feel that your plant needs more aeration, what you can do is add more peat moss or hummus. 

Just like all the other plants, these umbrella plants will also be needing some fertilizers and they will be happy when they receive it at least once a week or every other week. It is recommended that the fertilizers of these plants are a good liquid fertilizer or a fertilizer mixed in the soil will be fine as well while the amount depends on what season you’ll give them, we should avoid fertilizing them during winter.

Umbrella plants tolerate temperatures that go between 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. They can be grown indoors. The more green types of the umbrella plant like lower end temperatures while the variegated ones like being placed on the higher scale temperatures. If the variegated umbrella plants are placed in too cold places, there may be a possibility that the leaves will fall of. 

When it comes to sunlight needs, you want to ensure that the Umbrella plants are placed in an area that is not getting direct sunlight but rather gets bright indirect sunlight. This will give you healthier growth. Although these plants can still thrive in lower light conditions, although their growth rate will be quite slow and their appearance will be leggier and the leaves will be spaced out. Also, they will be needing constant turning for if they are grown indoors, they do have the tendency to grow and bend towards the light. 

Umbrella plants are fine to grow in small plants but it is always important to repot them when they get too big for them. It can be done every two to three years even after they have reached the plants’ maturity.