Scheffler flower: pruning, home care. Proper care and reproduction of shefflers (sheflera) at home Sheffler flower care and reproduction

Latin name: Schefflera

Family: araliaceae

Homeland: subtropics and tropics of America

Schefflera unique umbrella for office and home

Schefflera is the most numerous genus of plants in the tropics, more than two hundred species of which adorn the Araliaceae family with their decorative effect.

By the name of her sheffler, she is grateful to Carl Linnaeus, who glorified the name of his friend, the famous German phytologist of the eighteenth century Scheffler Jacob Christian.

Native places can be considered tropical forest areas of Asia, its South-Eastern part, the Australian continent, the islands of New Guinea, Java, Taiwan, Hawaii. Here, the southern miracle of nature is represented by evergreen trees, shrubs, sometimes even lianas, reaching six meters in height. They are covered with inconspicuous, small, white flowers, collected in complex paniculate inflorescences resembling an umbrella.

No less charming is the sheffler flower in room conditions. This exotic, evergreen, sprawling bush with flexible branches and unusually shaped leaves can bring originality and comfort to any interior, especially spacious and bright rooms. Of the many types of sheffler create beautiful bonsai.

The amazing and unique structure of shefflera leaves, resembling a palm with fingers spread wide apart, attracts the attention of flower lovers. Each leaf consists of 6-12 ovate bright green, flexible, dissected leaflets that emerge from one central point, imitating an open umbrella. Thanks to this analogy, the sheffler got its middle name - the umbrella tree.

Scheffler types

Schefflera tree (Schefflera arboricola)

A flowering evergreen shrub that came to our area from the islands of Hainan and Taiwan. In its homeland, a plant with an upright, branching trunk reaches a height of four meters. The leaves are complex, palmate, having up to nine leaf plates with dimensions up to 20 cm long and up to 10 cm wide. The young shoots of the sheffler tree are light green, and become light brown with age.

Based on this species, new varieties have been bred: Amate - has very beautiful shiny waxy leaves, is less damaged by pests and is less demanding on lighting; the Gold Capella variety has an incredible resemblance to a palm tree, in which green leaves are painted with small yellow spots.

Schefflera radiant or star-leaved (Schefflera actinophylla)

It is also called the "green star". One of the most common types. Under natural conditions, this single-stem or double-stem plant reaches a height of fifteen meters. This ornamental tree grows well in gardens and greenhouses, subject to a warm, mild climate.

At home, it can reach a height of 2.5 m. On a gray-brown upright trunk, red-brown long petioles majestically bearing bright green, shiny, large leaves are located. They consist of 8 - 15 independent leaf blades. The length of elegant jagged leaves reaches 60 cm. Small bright red flowers form inflorescences, the result is clusters of purple fruits.

Schefflera octophylla (Schefflera octophylla)

Tropicanka from wet mixed Indian, Japanese and Chinese forests. Here trees or shrubs of the eight-leaved sheffler reach a height of 15 m.

Original light green rosettes of 8-11 glossy, leathery, oval leaf plates are located on drooping creamy thirty-centimeter petioles. The reverse side of the leaves is dull green. In late autumn, the plant is decorated with inflorescences of white flowers, and by December, fruits appear.

Matches made from softwood plants are in demand. Traditional medicine treats colds, bruises, injuries with the help of infusion of leaves and root bark of shefflera eight-leaf.

Schefflera Janine (Schefflera Janine)

The variegated beauty has gained popularity due to its unpretentiousness when grown. It grows well in the shade, retaining bright green leaves and dark, chaotically arranged contrast stains and blotches.

Sheffler Nora

Elegant foliage and not fastidious care of Nora's shefflers are more and more popular with flower growers. A lush crown of long, narrow, light olive leaves with yellow spots can create coziness and a positive atmosphere in the house.

Scheffler Luzean

A very graceful shefflera Louisiana is absolutely not demanding in care. By following only the general rules of cultivation, you can tirelessly admire its decorative openwork leaves. When the plant is located in a sunny room, its leathery, shiny leaves will become even more variegated with yellow or white patches.

Sheffler Gerd

This variety does not require special care. In diffused lighting, it will feel great and is able to reach up to 2.5 m in height. Variegated Tropicanka, from white-green to yellow-green colors, will be grateful for moderate soil moisture and normal room temperature in the range of 16-20 ° C.

Sheffler Charlotte

More recently, breeders have bred the Sheffler Charlotte variety. Landscape designers plant trees and shrubs with this beauty in office and residential premises.

The light leaves of the Charlotte shefflers on the outside have a dark green edge. On the other hand, the leaf has a darker and more saturated color.

Schefflera digitata (Schefflera digitata)

Sheffler is native to the tropical forests of New Zealand, where it can reach a height of eight meters. The leaves of the plant, divided into 7-10 palmate, soft and thin plates with pointed tips, are very similar to palm ones. Large flowers form a paniculate inflorescence, as a result, edible purple fruits are formed - a favorite delicacy of birds and insects.

Local with the help of flower juice treat skin ulcers and ringworm. In ancient times, shefflers used wood of this type for making fire. Now the indigenous people massively sell souvenirs and crafts from the plant to numerous travelers, so the sheffler is on the verge of extinction.

Scheffler home care

Schefflera - a plant of the rainforest zone. This beautiful, unpretentious, thermophilic, picturesque, abundantly branching plant needs to be patronized no more than the rest of the green inhabitants of the windowsill. This beauty will decorate any interior. Young shefflers will feel good next to other indoor plants, and adults look especially majestic in splendid isolation.

Scheffler, caring for her is not at all difficult, but in order to contemplate this beauty, you need to work a little and fulfill the following growing conditions.

Location selection

Shefflera's permanent place of residence should be well lit, direct rays of the bright sun, drafts and sudden changes in temperature should be excluded.

The normal limit of temperature fluctuations is 16 -25 ˚С, in winter it is not lower than 12˚С, and the ideal temperature will be 18˚С.

The territories on the western and eastern sides are most suitable, the main thing is away from central heating batteries. Variegated forms require bright light, while greens are suitable for a northern room.

In summer, the plant will be more pleasant outdoors in the garden or on the balcony.

Schefflera loves high humidity, wants regular spraying with warm, soft water.

Watering

In summer, when shefflera grows intensively, the soil should be kept moist, but without stagnant water, in order to prevent root rot. Sufficient watering 2-3 times a week, the topsoil should be slightly dried. In winter, watering is significantly reduced to once a week. If the room is cold, water the plant even less frequently. Soft, warm water should be used.

The soil

It will grow in any fertile soil, but you need to choose slightly acidic, light, which passes air and water well.

You can buy ready-made soil. Suitable mixture for palm trees, decorative flowers.

It grows well in a mixture: soddy land, coarse sand, peat, humus, leafy soil - all ingredients in equal amounts. Drainage required.

top dressing

Intensive plant growth requires the application of liquid fertilizer, half diluted, every two weeks. You can set the order of organic and mineral fertilizers. Crushed eggshells will also only benefit the sheffler. During rest, top dressing is not needed.

Scheffler transplant

Repot every three years. The main indicator for transplanting will be the filling of the pot with roots and their appearance in the pot hole. For transplantation, a flowerpot of a larger diameter by five or six centimeters of the previous one is needed.

Scheffler breeding

Shefflers can be propagated by cuttings, air layering and seeds. The easiest way to propagate the plant is cuttings. It is necessary to cut off a fifteen-centimeter apical stalk, treat it with root formation stimulants root or heteroauxin. Can be rooted in a damp mixture of perlite and peat or sand. Rooting is also possible in water.

Reproduction by seeds is a more laborious process. Seeds should be sown in a mini-greenhouse and kept in a dark place until germination. The seeds will germinate in about a month. They need to provide diffused light and a temperature of at least 18 ° C. Next, we plant them in separate flowerpots for a permanent place of growth.

Diseases and pests

Schefflera can be affected by: scale insects, spider mites, thrips, mealybugs, aphids. Uninvited guests can be immediately seen on the trunk and leaf plates of the flower. We immediately take measures to eliminate insects. First of all, we apply a soapy solution, wiping the plant with a cloth. If this procedure is not enough, we move on to more stringent measures. Actellic solution will help.

Possible difficulties in growing shefflers

Sheffler sheds leaves, and no harmful insects were found. Why do sheflers fall leaves? Certainly not comfortable growing conditions for the plant. In the winter months, there is a lower temperature and, for sure, the soil is waterlogged. In the summer months - intense heat, drafts.
The edges of the leaves turned black - the plant is in a draft, insufficient watering.
The leaves are covered with white or yellow spots - an excess of sunlight.
Pale dull color of leaves, elongated stems - insufficient lighting and nutrients.
The edges of the leaves dry up, the color is dull - increased temperature and low humidity, increase watering and spraying frequency.
Roots rot - excessive watering, low temperature content.

Schefflera is an air purifier - it absorbs benzene, saturates the air with oxygen and increases its humidity. It is necessary to reduce contact with shefflera of children and animals in the same way as a plant poisonously . is toxic philodendron .

Take care of your sheffler with love, which will absorb negative energy, help you cope with anxieties and neuroses, and instill a state of cheerfulness and peace.

The shefler flower is considered tropical, so it grows well on a bright windowsill and indoors. It is not recommended to put it in the sun so that the leaves do not lose their decorative appearance from sunburn. In summer, the chefler can be taken out into the street or placed on the balcony. In winter, you should leave it alone, so it is better to rearrange the pot with it in a cool room and reduce watering.

Like all tropical plants, sheflera prefers moist air. In this regard, it becomes necessary to spray it more often in the summer. In winter, radiators dry the air very much, so wet pebbles should be placed near the plant.

Caring for a cheflera is not particularly difficult, as it looks at first glance. Such a flower will be an excellent decoration of the room, if you follow simple rules:

do not pour water during watering;

do not allow the complete drying of the earth;

do not keep it in a dark corner;

create room for growth.

Sheflera propagation methods: cuttings and seeds

There are several ways to propagate a plant. The most common is with the help of cuttings. It is not easy to achieve the appearance of roots, so the cutting is about 6 hours in the root growth stimulator. At this time, it is necessary to prepare a pot, on the bottom of which it is desirable to put a thin layer of drainage and soil consisting of a mixture of peat and river sand. After the time has elapsed, the stalk is planted in a pot and covered with a glass.

The container with the plant must be placed on a warm and bright windowsill, where the air temperature should not fall below 22-25 degrees Celsius. Sometimes it is advisable to open the jar to ventilate the shefler flower, the photo of which is located below. And you can also spray it with a spray bottle. The water must be warm.

It is considered in another way. To do this, they are purchased at a flower shop, treated with epin or potassium permanganate. They are planted in soil consisting of peat and sand, to a depth of about 15 centimeters in moist soil, covered with glass on top. After the emergence of seedlings, they are looked after, just like cuttings. Wherein:

ventilate;

watered;

loosen the earth;

sprayed.

As soon as the sprouts grow about 10 centimeters, they are transplanted into separate containers.

Transfer

As the flower grows, it is necessary to transplant into a larger pot. How to care for a cheflera during a transplant? To do this, it is necessary to take it out along with a clod of earth and transplant it into a container that is 3 cm larger in diameter. Such transshipment must be done every 2 or 3 years. After transplanting, it is advisable to water the plant well.

Pests and diseases

Florists often have a question, why does shefler shed leaves? Like most plants, this flower is subject to various diseases. When the chefler sheds leaves, the cause of such troubles is indoors with increased humidity and excessive watering, which leads to root rot. An indicator will be the resulting dark spots on the leaves. With a decrease in watering, the plant again becomes saturated green. But just in case, you need to check the condition of the roots.

In addition, harmful insects attack the plant: thrips, spider mites, scale insects. What to do if the chefler drops leaves due to a pest attack? To combat them, it is necessary to use various chemicals: karbofos, fitoverm and others.

If the chefler sheds the leaves and they begin to turn yellow, there may be several reasons for this. One of them is poor lighting. Therefore, it is advisable to rearrange the plant to another place where there is more light. Another reason why sheflers have mites, which usually hide under the leaves.

Scheffler in the house: signs

This flower is considered a symbol of prosperity and wealth. Often it is bought to attract the energy of money into the house.

Charges with positive energy the room in which it is located.

The plant brings good luck in business to the fire signs of the Zodiac: Sagittarius, Leo and Aries. It becomes their kind of amulet.

Among lovers of ornamental plants, a small "rosette" tree - shefler is popular. Caring for this flower at home does not require special skills, but in order to maintain its appearance, it is important to follow a number of simple rules.

Sheffler's indoor flower belongs to the Aralievs. In nature, its representatives settle in Australia, Japan, China. Among the genus Scheffler, which has about 600 species, there are mainly low trees, shrubs, and sometimes lianas. Wild species can reach 2 m, indoor ones are much lower. The leaves are of decorative value: complex, divided into several lobes, sitting on long petioles. Because of their shape, the sheffler is popularly called the "umbrella tree". The trunk of young plants is leafy, becoming bare with age.

Blooms only in natural conditions. The inflorescences are elongated, racemose, reminiscent of tentacles. That is why natural varieties are called "octopus tree". All parts of the shefflera are poisonous.

Species and varieties

Among the many types of shefflers in indoor floriculture, the following are cultivated:

Radiant. The trunk is erect, strong, grayish-brown, grows up to 80 cm. Petioles are brownish-reddish; leaves are green, may have up to 16 lobes. Based on it, the "Compact" variety was developed with variegated leaves and sizes more suitable for home conditions.
Tree-like, which is sometimes called "Abricola" (schefflera arboricola). A compact plant, shaped like a branched tree. The leaves are large, up to 20 cm long, bright green. Variegated varieties have been bred, for example, Janine: its leaves are creamy, with chaotic dark green spots.
Schefflera is the most elegant. Compact, up to 50 cm, plant with serrated leaves, sometimes decorated with cream edging.

On the basis of natural species (mainly variegated shefflers), varieties designed specifically for indoor floriculture have been bred. The most popular among them are:

Scheffler Melanie. The leaves are medium-sized, golden in color, sometimes with green patches.
Scheffler Gold Capella. The leaves are glossy, fleshy, golden olive in color, sometimes green at the edges. To maintain variegation, it needs bright diffused light all year round.
Sheffler Nora. It differs in the original form of dark green leaves: the lobes are long, narrow, with large, unequal teeth. A yellow edging stands out along the edges; vein is lighter in color. Unpretentious, densely leafy and elegant variety.
Scheffler Bianca. The shape of the leaves is similar to the previous variety, but they are shorter, with a white border around the edge.
Scheffler Louisiana. An elegant plant with leathery shiny leaves of bright green color with yellow or white speckles. The central vein is clearly visible. The variety is undemanding to the conditions of detention.

How to care for a shefflera at home

Caring for a sheflera at home requires compliance with the rules of agricultural technology aimed at recreating "native" tropical conditions.

Lighting and temperature conditions

The need for light depends on the type of shefflera. In variegated forms, it is higher; window sills of western or eastern orientation will be optimal for them. Plants with plain leaves feel great even on northern windows. Excess light, and even more so direct sunlight, harm the sheffler. In the warm season, you can take the tree out into the fresh air, choosing a shaded place for it. In winter, it is desirable to have artificial lighting. If it is not there, the pot is moved to the southern window sills.

The optimum temperature for an umbrella tree is 18-25 degrees. It is easier for him to endure the summer heat in the open air. In winter, the temperature can drop to 15 degrees. During this period, the sheffler is placed away from the batteries and protected from cold drafts.

Air humidity

Like all araliaceae, shefflera needs high humidity. In summer, the leaves are sprayed daily. You can place the pot on a pallet with wet sand, expanded clay or sphagnum, which will preserve the beauty of the leaves throughout the hot period. With a decrease in temperature, the number of sprays is reduced; if in winter the sheffler is kept at 15-18 degrees, then they stop completely.

Watering and fertilizing

Sheffler is watered moderately, allowing the top layer of soil to dry out. The plant responds negatively to both excess and lack of moisture. Soft rain or spring water is used, in extreme cases, tap water can be defended. Before use, it must be heated to 30-35 degrees.

Sheffler is fed from March to October twice a month. It is advisable to alternate mineral and organic fertilizers. The dosage is reduced by half of the recommended.

In winter, watering is reduced, without bringing the earthen coma to complete drying. Top dressing is stopped altogether, as is spraying. Flower care in winter is no different. Sheffler pruning is not needed.

reproduction

If care does not cause problems, then the reproduction of shefflers may be beyond the strength of novice flower growers. It propagates in several ways: cuttings, layering and seeds.

To successfully root cuttings, you need:

Cut off strong healthy tops 7-10 cm long with a sharp knife.
Soak them in a solution of any stimulant (Heteroauxin, Epin, Succinic acid) for several hours.
Prepare small containers with drainage holes, lay a layer of expanded clay on the bottom.
Fill containers with a mixture of sand and peat (1:1).
Plant cuttings, carefully water the soil.

After planting, the containers are placed in greenhouse conditions. It is important to air the seedlings daily. The temperature in greenhouses should be kept within 20-23 degrees. For successful rooting, it is desirable to provide seedlings with bottom heating. Central heating batteries are not suitable for this purpose. Sheflera leaf does not reproduce.

Roots appear in about a month. After the young plants grow a pair of new leaves, they can be transplanted into cramped pots (0.25-0.35 l) and placed in a permanent place. Experienced flower growers are advised to plant several cuttings in one pot; they can even be intertwined.

Growing roots on cuttings is similar to propagating by cuttings, with the difference that the young plant does not separate from the mother until it grows its own roots.

To get layering, a shallow incision is made on the trunk of an adult plant 7-10 cm below the top. Then it is wrapped in wet sphagnum and wrapped in a plastic bag. The package is fixed at the top and bottom with a thread or wire. This is done to create a greenhouse effect. Moss is constantly kept moist. After the appearance of air roots, the cutting is cut off, planted in a sand-peat mixture and placed in a greenhouse for several weeks.

Sheffler from seeds is one of the easiest, albeit requiring patience, methods of reproduction. Seed material can be purchased at specialized flower shops. It is problematic to get it on your own, since the umbrella tree does not bloom in room conditions.

Before planting, the seeds are soaked for several hours in a solution of Epin, Zircon or any other stimulant. Landing tanks should be deep. A layer of drainage is laid in them, covered with a mixture of peat and sand, moistened. Seeds are planted in holes 0.5 cm deep. The containers are placed in greenhouse conditions. Preferably with underfloor heating.

After the emergence of seedlings, greenhouses begin to air daily. After the appearance of 2-3 leaves, the seedlings dive into separate containers using the same soil mixture that was used during planting. Seedlings are kept in greenhouse conditions, sprayed and aired daily, until they are strong and ready to be transplanted into permanent pots.

Transfer

Young plants are transplanted annually, as they grow intensively. Adult shefflers do not tolerate this procedure well, so they are transferred to large containers only as needed, that is, once every 2-3 years.

The optimal soil for sheflera should contain 2 parts of sod land and 1 part of peat and sand. You can purchase the appropriate mixture in flower shops. The first pot is selected so that 3-4 cm remain from the trunk to the sides. Each next container should be 2-3 cm larger.

Sheflera transplantation is carried out as follows:

a layer of drainage and fresh soil is laid in a new container;
the plant is removed along with an earthen clod, trying not to violate its integrity;
set in a prepared pot so that the trunk does not have to be buried;
pour soil on the sides, lightly tamping it;
watered abundantly.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to transplant the chefler "out of time", for example, if she began to rot. In this case, the root system is completely freed from the soil. Rotted areas are cut off, sprinkling cuts with crushed charcoal or activated charcoal; you can withstand the roots in a weak solution of potassium permanganate or Fundazole.

The plant is planted in a container that is closer than the previous one. In the composition of the soil, the proportion of sand is increased. After planting, be sure to place the sheffler in a greenhouse, treating her like a cutting.

Growing problems

Schefflera can be affected by scale insects, mealybugs and spider mites. The scale insect is easy to recognize at the initial stage of infection by sticky spots on the leaves. Soon the foliage begins to turn yellow, and only then adult females appear on the plant - small brownish tubercles. Shchitovka is a dangerous and "tenacious" pest that can quickly occupy not only the infected, but also neighboring plants. Do not start the fight by washing the leaves with soap, alcohol - these tips are only good as a concomitant remedy. The main one should be repeated spraying with systemic insecticides.

A tick infestation can be judged by a thin cobweb on the leaves. The upper leaves begin to lag behind in development, the growth point is oppressed. When the first signs appear, treat the sheffler several times with any acaricide, for example, Neoron. It is important to observe an interval of 7 days between sprayings.

Common sheflera diseases are stem and root rot. They appear with excessive watering, especially in the cool season. Transplantation will help to reanimate the plant with the removal of all rotten parts. It is important to treat sections with crushed coal or fungicides. In advanced cases, they try to save at least the upper part by re-rooting it.

Sometimes the condition of shefflera worsens due to violations of agricultural technology.

External manifestations	Likely Causes	Solutions
Sheflers darken and leaves fall	the plant sheds its leaves when it is cold or hot	Keep your sheffler at the right temperature
Leaves turn pale and yellow	Most often this indicates a lack of nutrition.	Do not forget to regularly feed the sheffler
Leaves fade, lose their variegated color	Scheffler little light	Move the pot to a more lit area.
Dark spots appear on the leaves	This symptom indicates excessive watering in the cool season.	Water moderately: in winter, waterlogging the earthy coma can lead to the death of the plant
Leaves dry, brown at the edges	There may be several reasons: insufficient watering, dry air or drafts	Observe agricultural technology, do not forget to spray the plant daily in the summer

Sheflera is a tropical plant from the Araliaceae family, which grows up to 4 meters in height in the wild, and can reach 1.5 meters in width. All parts of this flower are poisonous. Its juice is very irritating to the skin, and this can cause contact dermatitis.

Sheflera is not only a houseplant, but also a tropical tree that can reach 4 meters in height.

In a pot, sheflera is grown in the form of a bush or a small tree. It attracts the attention of flower growers with leaves that have an unusual shape, reminiscent of a savage skirt or an umbrella.

At home, they grow an eight-leaved shrub shefler, which has an elegant appearance. Its lowered petioles are painted in a cream shade. They hold shiny dark green leaves in the shape of a lancet. Their length reaches 40 cm. The plant is photophilous, and for flowering on the windowsill it does not have enough color day. Under artificial lighting, a flower appears that resembles a light green sea mollusk in shape.

For lovers of bonsai, a tree-like shefler is suitable. You can grow the Amate variety with green leaves or the Gold Capella variety. This kind of sheflera looks like a miniature palm tree with variegated leaves, the length of which is about 20 cm.

Sheflera radiant (or star-leaved) has a brown trunk, elongated shiny leaves of green color. Variety Nova is distinguished by its leaf, similar in shape to oak leaves.

How to grow a plant

Reproduction of sheflera occurs with the help of seeds, cuttings or layering.

On a note! For a good development of the plant, you need to choose pots with large holes at the bottom.

Expanded clay, broken brick or pebbles are laid down. Nutrient soil with sand is poured from above so that the water quickly leaves the tank.

For planting seeds, you need a peat-sand mixture. They are sown in early February, deepening the seeds in moist soil. The pot is covered with a film and placed on the south window until shoots appear. Seeds germinate at temperatures above 20°C.

The film is removed when the first shoots appear. Sprouts and the soil under them are constantly irrigated with a spray gun.

When three leaves appear, the sprouts dive into small pots with a substrate, which consists of equal parts of soddy soil, leaf humus and sand. There they can stay for a year, after which they are transplanted into large pots.

To get layering, the lower branches of the cheflers are slightly incised and sprinkled with earth, which is treated with a solution of a root formation stimulator. If the ground is constantly wet, in a month the branches will give roots. Layers are carefully removed and planted in the ground. For several days, the plant is kept in a warm, dark place so that the root system takes root. Then the pot is found a permanent place and the flower is taken care of as usual.

Cuttings are obtained during the trimming of the tops. The cut points are dusted with a root formation stimulator and the planting material is placed in a wet mixture of peat and sand, where the cuttings take root for 2 months. The plant can be transplanted when it begins to actively grow. 2 plants can be planted in one container so that the young flower looks decorative.

A flower needs a transplant once every 2 years. During this time, the roots braid the entire earthen ball, and their number must be reduced. The roots are cut to half the volume. The pot is cleaned of old soil, washed, disinfected, dried. Drainage and fresh soil are poured to the bottom, in which the plant is placed.

While the flower takes root, it should stand in the shade. The pot can be put under the table for several days until the roots begin to fully work. For a while, it can be placed in a closet on the top shelf. This is done when there are small children or cats in the house who like to examine flower pots.

How to care for a plant

All varieties require special care. They prefer diffused light, moist air, abundant watering.

Attention! Shoots do best on the windowsill of a west-facing window.

Sheflera loves to swim. To make its leaves shine, they must be sprayed regularly. In summer, the plant is watered frequently and plentifully, using water at room temperature. In winter, watering should be moderate.

To form a crown, you need to trim. Do this in the spring, on the new moon, when the plants are actively growing. To give the shape of a ball, cut off the top of the plant. It will start up side shoots, which are then pinched so that the crown is thick and beautiful.

For a pyramidal shape, cut off the tops of the side branches. After pinching the tops, the plant is watered and fed abundantly.

Shefler is fertilized with a universal mixture intended for indoor plants. During active growth, this is done after 2 weeks, starting in February. From October to January, the flower is at rest. During this period, he does not need food.

Diseases and how to deal with them

The plant can be attacked by common scale insects, spider mites, thrips, which damage the stems and leaves of the plant, inhibiting its growth. Insecticidal treatment with any drug to which pests are sensitive will get rid of them. Spraying dichlorvos or karbofos helps.

Scheffler (Shefler) is a unique tropical plant discovered in the 18th century by Jacob Christian Scheffler, after whom the name came. This plant will decorate any room. It is placed in office buildings, offices, houses and apartments. But before such an acquisition, you need to study well not only the characteristics of the plant, but also the signs associated with it.

Description of Schefflera

This homemade tree can grow up to 3 meters in height and have a crown diameter of up to 1.5 meters. So he needs a lot of space, although the size can be controlled if desired by pruning and shaping a seedling from an early age. Shefler grows as a bush on a medium-length and thin stem. Leaves are the hallmark of culture. They are large, like a palm with spread fingers. Only "fingers" are not 5, like a person, but from 4 to 15 - depending on the type and age of the culture.

Schefflera flowers are something amazing. They are inflorescences in the form of panicles. Each panicle consists of a large number of small flowers of a green-yellow color. After the plant fades, berries with seeds appear in place of the flowers. Unfortunately, in captivity, this tropical miracle almost never blooms.

plant species

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In nature, more than 200 species of cheflera are known. But no more than 10 are decorative. This gives a certain choice, because each of the indoor views has external unique features.

The radiant or star-shaped shefflera has small leaves, up to 15 cm long and 5 cm wide. Each sheet consists of 8-15 leaf plates. It grows up to 3 meters in height, the leaves are green, the crown is massive.
Tree sheflera gives complex leaves, each of which has 7-9 "fingers" on long petioles. The leaves are leathery, fleshy, with a shiny surface. Plant height 1.2 meters. The color is green or variegated.
The palmate shefflera has 7-10 "fingers" on an elliptical leaf. The color of the tree is green with bright veins on the leaves. Grows in a compact bush.
The eight-leaf chefler is a rare but popular species. Gives 8-11 "fingers" per sheet. The leaves are large, up to 10 cm wide and up to 30 cm long. The leaf color is green with light veins.

In addition, domestic, decorative species include such species as: "Janine", "Nora", "Charlotte", "Luseana" and "Gerda".

How to care for Schefflera at home?

Tropical plants always need special care. How to achieve active growth, rich color and at least rare, but regular flowering from shefflers? It's not as difficult as it might seem. First you need to provide her with the right conditions for life, and then follow the regular rules of care.

Chefler grows well in the southern part of the house, near the window, where there is a lot of light. But keep in mind that direct sunlight can harm delicate leaves, so it needs to be darkened from bright light in the middle of the day. To do this, just push the curtain to create diffused light.
For shefflers, the temperature is within + 16 ... + 22 degrees in summer and + 14 ... + 16 degrees in winter. And only species with variegated leaves need higher temperature conditions. For them, the thermometer should not fall below +18 degrees, regardless of the season.
The preferred humidity is moderate. If it is higher, lower or fluctuates frequently, then most likely it will sooner or later provoke the development of diseases.
Irrigation rates depend on the season. In summer, you need to water the tree 2-3 times a week - the hotter, the more often so that the earth does not dry out. In winter, the plant needs 2 times less water, so the tree is watered about once a week.

It is advisable to grow a chefler in a pot with a large, capacious pallet. After watering, the next day, all the water that the glass in the pan must be drained so that it does not stagnate!

Spraying is usually carried out in summer, if the air is dry, there is a lot of dust. And if there is no sprayer, you can wipe the shefler leaves with a wet cloth.
Care at home involves frequent airing of the room (2 times a day you need to open the window for 30 minutes). If there is not enough fresh air, the sheffler will start to hurt, but drafts should not be allowed.
Pruning can be done to control growth. Such a simple procedure allows you to form a beautiful crown of a tree and make sure that it does not grow very quickly.
From April to September, the chefler develops the most. So that it does not begin to wither from a lack of nutrients in the ground, it is necessary to feed it with complex mineral or organic fertilizers for indoor plants. Top dressing is carried out 1-2 times in 2 weeks.

As you can see, home care for a shefflera is not very laborious, but it needs to be done regularly.

How to transplant Sheffler?

Once a year - in the spring, a young shefler is transplanted into a new pot, or at least into a new land. But an adult tree needs to be transplanted every 3 years. If the plant is already very large and difficult to transplant, you can simply replace the topsoil.

Care at home for a cheflera involves a regular transplant, which cannot be neglected even if timely feeding is carried out!

If the pot changes, it is usually for a larger one. The pan should be deep so that it is convenient to water the plant and then drain all excess water. The soil is taken new, slightly acidic, fertile. You can buy it (the one for palm trees is suitable) or make it yourself from 40% turf, 30% leaf soil, 20% humus, 10% sand.

Before transplanting, drainage is laid on the bottom of the new pot (broken brick, charcoal, crushed stone, gravel), and then a small layer of earth. After that, the shefler is taken out of the pot, the old soil is removed from the roots, but not much so as not to harm the plant, and placed in a new pot. The roots are straightened on all sides, and then sprinkled with layers of earth. It remains only to water the plant, wait until the earth settles and add the right amount of soil.

Interesting!

In order for the sprouts to have something to rely on, 2-3 plants are usually planted in one pot. As they grow, they are intertwined with stems, if they themselves do not. So it turns out a strong, center stem, on which a lush crown rests. But when the plant is alone, it is better to install a support next to it so that the flower does not fall under the weight of the leaves.

Propagation by cuttings and seeds

Shefler is propagated by only two methods at home: cuttings and seeds.

Cuttings are a simple and affordable option if you have a mother plant (from which you can take a cutting). Not any process can become a cutting - a half-stiffened branch is selected. It is cut off, treated with root growth stimulants (if you need to get a young plant as soon as possible), and placed in a substrate of sand and peat.

It is better to choose a transparent container (glass or plastic cup) so that the growth of the roots can be seen. The temperature for normal rooting and development is + 20 ... + 22 degrees. When the plant is rooted, you can lower the temperature to +18 degrees. Transplanting into a normal pot is carried out when it is noticeable that the roots have braided the ground and have developed sufficiently.

The second propagation option is by seeds. It is more troublesome, but gives a good result. Seeds are purchased at the store or collected from berries (if there was flowering). They are sown from the middle of winter in a substrate of sand and peat to a depth of 2 times greater than the size of the seed. After that, the soil is moistened (their spray gun), covered with a film and placed in a room with a temperature of + 22 ... + 24 degrees.

Once every 1-2 days, you need to ventilate the box with crops and irrigate as needed. After the appearance of 2 leaves on the sprouts, you can dive them into separate plastic cups and reduce the temperature in the room to +19 ... +20 degrees. When the roots braid the ground in a cup, you can transplant the sprout into a permanent pot for the next year, before the spring transplant.

Diseases and pests Schefflera

Sheflera rarely gets sick, but if you take care of her incorrectly, problems will not keep you waiting.

The dried edges of the leaves indicate a lack of watering, and if the leaves are completely dry, then the humidity in the room is underestimated - you need to increase the number of waterings and sprayings.
Roots of cheflers usually rot only with an abundance of moisture and cold in the room. In this case, in addition to rotting leaves, spots on the leaves can also be observed.
Shedding of leaves is observed when the room is hot or cold.
When a plant has little light, it will begin to lose its natural, saturated color.

Determining the appearance of pests on the chefler is quite simple. For this, it is not necessary to look out for harmful insects. As a rule, when thrips, scale insects, and spider mites appear, the plant releases harmful substances - touching the leaves causes irritation on the skin, a rash. After such a reaction, it is necessary to identify which pest has inhabited the plant, and use the appropriate insecticides against it ("Golden Iskra", "Fitoverm", "Aktellik", etc.).

Many interesting signs are associated with the sheflera, superstition, because the state of the plant can be displayed on the lives of people living in the house.

Sheflera is a strong energy vampire. She feeds on the energy of the house and all household members. But this should not be feared, because the tree consumes only negative energy. So when a person is overwhelmed with negative feelings, fatigue, he should just sit next to the plant in silence and the lost strength will be restored, and the mood will rise.
Sheffler in the bedroom has a positive effect on family relationships. It strengthens love bonds and helps to get rid of sleep disorders.
Since ancient times, the chef has checked the chosen one. If 2 days after the visit of the young man, the sheffler began to drop leaves, then the choice should be reconsidered, and if it grows or grows without changes, then the person is good.
When a tree quickly and for no reason loses leaves, one of the household members can expect a serious illness.
The unexpectedly active growth of cheflera portends imminent guests or replenishment in the family.
When a plant begins to give buds, and then drops them abruptly, this promises imminent trouble in the family.
Sheffler has a positive effect on the material well-being of the family. It is better to put it in the office or in the room where money, precious jewelry is stored.
Stopping the development of the plant (even with active feeding) portends stagnation in business and relationships, as well as minor problems.
If the leaves darken or curl for no reason, then great disagreements are expected in marriage. The reason for this reaction of the flower is the abundance of negative energy in the house, which the shefler simply cannot cope with.
Scheffler in the children's room has a positive effect on the mental and physical development of the child.

Interestingly, not all astrological signs are strongly influenced by the chefler. Astrologers recommend that representatives of the fire element acquire this tree. The reason for this is the irascibility of fire signs - their frequent mood swings, activity. All this creates a strong energy in the house, although not always positive, and therefore a nutrient medium for this tropical, energy vampire.