Schefflera Growth

[BHillendahl]

I picked up a schefflera for Kush today. It's a little smaller than I would have liked it to be, about a foot tall, but the only other size they had was way too big for my cage. I was wondering how quickly they grow. I've heard that they grow about one new branch a week, but I haven't seen anything on VERTICAL gains. Anyone know what I should expect? In the mean time, should I put the plant on some kind of pedestal so Kush can reach it?

 

[Sang]

it depends on the conditions. i put one outside, it gained almost 6"s in a month. then stopped when it got too hot..


the leaves dropped, its finally getting used to the heat and recovering, if its outside, it needs lots of shade, nothing over 85ish... spray and water outside if its dry alot.

 

[BHillendahl]

It's inside. I don't know how long it's gonna be around for though. He's goin to town on this thing. I put it in, misted, and he went to check it out... and ate three leaves. If he keeps this pace, it'll be barren in a few days.

 

[Sang]

well, since he is a veiled, i really suggest getting a dual ballast light fixture, get a plant grow light along with the UVB light.


then what you do is get a nice hibiscus, a good size one, that will do good with him.

 

[BHillendahl]

What exactly do you mean? Like a dual light strip and get one reptisun bulb and a grow light? I'm not fimiliar with "ballast". And heck yea the hibiscus would look really good too.

 

[lisa h]

Is it the type of schefflera that's safe?

 

[BHillendahl]

What type isn't safe? I looked at like 7 different websites, and none of them said anything derogatory about shefflera.

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Thanks for making this thread i was wondering the same thing. Sang i guess i will do what you did. You can go on flchams.com look at the safe plant list and see

 

[Julirs]

Schefflera won't grow much indoors-you can always use a plant stand.

 

[jojackson]

Mine are growing slowly overall, but leaf stems tend to get spindly, stretching toward the light.
Homer dosent seem to bother much about them, so I will probly simply replace if they die off. So far they are very hardy though!

 

[lisa h]

AFAIK the only one that is safe is the arboricola. It's being discussed on another thread now. Don't take a chance with something toxic, even if you've never seen any evidence of your cham eating plants.

 

[BHillendahl]

If you buy your plants from OSH, they'll replace em if they die, no matter what, even if it's years later. All you have to do is keep the recipt.

 

[Ellron]

Whats the best grow light to use?

 

[Texas Panther Man]

The cheapest you can find. lol No its 6500k linear tube if i remember what mine is correctly. Like 6.00 at Lowes. Great for keeping plants from dying and at the prices of plants lately who can afford to kill any.

 

[ChamOh]

i always seem to find schef that has yellow in the middle of it's leaves and scheffs whose leaves are all green...this is the same plant right?

 

[Carlton]

Schefflera won't grow much indoors-you can always use a plant stand.

Beg to differ! Maybe I had a different variety, but I had some HUGE schefflera in my melleri free range! The mainstem on one was over 6' and the plant sprawled all over.

To help your cage plants grow bushier you can put a single tube fluorescent with a regular "grow light" vertically down one side of the cage frame. Keeps the plants from losing their lower leaves and stems over time.

 

[Ellron]

i always seem to find schef that has yellow in the middle of it's leaves and scheffs whose leaves are all green...this is the same plant right?

Schleffera Abricola or Abricola (sp?) is the best.

 

[ChamOh]

i've seen very little growth in my cage using only a reptisun and incadescent. But it's shown to be a pretty hardy plant and stands up fairly well to the constant watering.

sorry this is a little off topic but are these two pics both of the same type of schefflera? yellow vs all green leaves...