Umbrella Plant Care for Optimal Growth Indoors

In my experience, Schefflera (aka Umbrella Plants) can thrive in less-than-perfect conditions, but they won’t look their best or last long without proper care. In this guide, I’ll take you through everything I do to care for my Umbrella plants at home, including how to plant, water, fertilize, prune, and propagate your Schefflera.

How to Grow Umbrella Plants at Home

Growth Expectations Indoors

Even the dwarf Umbrella tree can grow up to 25 feet when planted outdoors in the right climate, while other Schefflera species can reach 80 feet or more. Indoor Umbrella plants stay much more compact naturally, reaching a maximum height of 4 to 6 feet in most cases. It can reach 2 to 3 feet in width, depending on how it’s pruned and allowed to spread. It is one of the larger indoor shrubs or trees, but it’ll easily fit in most homes and offices.

Small Umbrella plants that are only a foot or two tall will take five or six years to reach their full height. This should provide you with enough time to find the final placement for the full-sized plant.

What to Do to Prepare For Planting

Make sure the spot you choose for the plant can handle its mature height of up to 6 feet. Umbrella plants need loose and well-draining soil to keep them from developing root rot.

Tailor the pot to the size of the plant’s root ball, aiming to give it just about an inch or two of space on all sides. Oversized pots may seem like saving you time, but the Umbrella plant won’t grow as well when buried in a huge amount of soil.

The Best Soil Mix

Since Umbrella plants grow in lush tropical forests and jungles in their native habitats, they prefer rich and well-draining soil mixes. Yet at the same time, the mixture needs to hold plenty of moisture in-between watering.

Look for a mix that is at least two parts peat moss to one part perlite. Feel free to mix in up to one part of well-rotted compost, fully aged manure, or another source of natural nutrients. Aim for the texture of rich forest loam that is fluffy and quick draining.

Umbrella plants generally prefer a relatively balanced pH level. However, a slightly acidic balance due to the use of peat moss will encourage strong growth and a bushy habit.

How to Plant

Make sure the pot or vessel you use has plenty of drainage holes. There’s no benefit to putting rocks or other materials in the bottom of the pot, but use a mix of at least 1/3rd perlite for good drainage.

Look for the spot where each stem flares out just a bit and turns into roots. Aim to keep the soil right at this flare level, and don’t bury the stems deeper since they can’t root that way.

Light Preferences

Umbrella plants prefer indirect and medium light levels when grown indoors. They can handle direct sunlight outdoors, but indoor plants will quickly become burned and discolored if left too close to a window.

Try either a 75-watt equivalent plant light pointing indirectly at the plant or placement within a few feet of eastern or northern windows. A sheer curtain in front of the window can prevent accidental sunburn as the sun moves. If you place the plant too close to bright light, move it to a dark area after 3 to 4 hours of exposure.

Temperature and Humidity Preferences

As tropical plants that only survive outdoors in USDA zones ten and up, Umbrella plants prefer warm temperatures. The plant doesn’t appreciate temperatures below 60F and will have a detrimental impact on its overall health and well-being.

Freezing temperatures are dangerous. Aim to keep the plant around 70F for healthy growth and disease resistance if possible. Don’t keep the plant too close to a heater or vent since dry air damages the leaves. Spray the plant a few times weekly to keep it humid, especially in the winter.

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Umbrella Plant Care

How To Water

Umbrella plants need plenty of water, yet they need to dry out thoroughly between waterings. Stick a finger into the pot and make sure the top two inches of soil are dry before soaking the plant until water runs freely through the holes.

Umbrella plants will generally need less water in the winter, but only if you regularly use a humidity tray and a gentle mist. Rainwater or distilled water is best to avoid mineral accumulation and salinity that’s often present in water sourced directly from the faucet.

How, When and Why to Fertilize

Umbrella plants don’t need a lot of fertilizer, but they do benefit from a weak dose of general houseplant food every 4 to 6 weeks during the growing season of spring and summer.

Skip every other month for fertilization over the winter since the plant will naturally grow slower. Liquid fertilizers are the easiest to dilute and apply to potted house plants, but slow-release granules or spikes can also work. Without occasional fertilizing, the Umbrella plant will fail to grow new leaves or put on height.

Pruning

These houseplants don’t strictly require pruning. If the plant stretches out too much and gets leggy from a lack of light or low humidity, try cutting back the stretched-out growth and leaving at least two to three healthy clusters of leaves lower on the plant.

This encourages bushy growth to emerge from what’s left of the stems. Spring and summer is the best time for pruning your Umbrella tree.

How to Propagate

Making new Umbrella plants is tricky, but it is possible if you take cuttings in the spring or summer during the strongest growth.

Cut an entire stem near the base where it meets the soil and dip the last half-inch in rooting hormone. Put it in a pot of peat moss mixed with perlite and cover it with a loose plastic bag to keep humidity high.

Keep it in indirect light and warmer than 70F, and give it a few weeks to root. When you see fresh growth on the top of the cutting, you have a newly rooted Umbrella tree to report.

When and How to Repot

Aside from potting up a new cutting or plant, Umbrella plants only need repotting when they’ve truly filled the current vessel. Look for roots growing visibly at the drainage holes or along the edges of the pot. Use a pot that’s only about 1 inch larger so that the plant feels a little crowded at all times and use the right potting soil.

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Common Problems, Pests and Diseases, and How to Treat Them

Signs of Umbrella Plant Problems

• Underwatered: Leaves drooping, drying out, and falling off soft or bending stems
• Overwatered: Leaf drop without drooping or drying, death from the tip down, black or brown roots
• Too much light: Light-colored or burned leaves, leaf drop, lack of growth
• Too little light: Lack of growth, undersized leaves, slow decline
• Cold temperatures: Sudden leaf and flower drop, discoloration from the tips of the leaves inward, lack of growth

Common Pests & Diseases

• Aphids: Look for white sticky deposits on the leaves. Treat with a houseplant broad-spectrum pesticide.
• Spider mite: Check for web-like material under leaves and around stems. Coat the plant in diluted horticultural oil on a warm day to treat, repeating as needed every few weeks until they’re gone.
• Leaf Spot: Beige or dark and discolored spots on the leaves that eventually kill them. Treat with a copper-based spray. Fertilize the plant more regularly and adjust its temperature and humidity to help it fight off these kinds of diseases.
• Sooty Mold: Gray to black powdery growth over the surface of the leaves, which interferes with light absorption. Wipe the leaves clean with a damp cloth and look for aphid infestations that can trigger this secondary problem.

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Essential Tools

It’s possible to take perfect care of your Umbrella plant with no special tools besides a general-purpose houseplant fertilizer. Picking up a soil probe to measure moisture levels can help since these plants prefer to dry out between watering.

You can trust you’re not over or underwater by checking multiple spots with a probe to see when it’s the perfect time to water. Since Umbrella plants can get large and need thorough soaking, try an oversized saucer that can handle the extra water or that doubles as a humidity tray.

Finally, some small secateurs or sharp shears make pruning and propagation much easier.

Are Umbrella Plants Toxic?

This tropical plant contains high levels of calcium oxalate in its leaves, roots, and bark. This forms sharp crystals that can irritate the mouth, throat, and stomach of children or pets eating the plant.

It’s also not safe for enclosures of parrots or reptiles, despite different species named umbrella trees being safe for these uses. Keep your Umbrella tree from the Heptaplerum or Schefflera genus, where pets and kids can’t reach them.

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Wrapping Up

A Schefflera plant can live for years or even decades with the right care. Older plants that reach their peak height can still be renovated at any point with thorough pruning and some timely fertilizer application. Spend a little time spritzing the plant each week to keep it humid, and watch the temperature around it for the lushest and greenest growth. Enjoy!