Splitting a schefflera?

Question

I have a 1 year old Schefflera and it is growing wonderfully!

It looks like 4 plants in 1 pot. How can I tell and can these be split into 4 plants. thank you in advance!

Answer 1

There's a process you can use to safely start seperate plants by something I learned that's called air rooting.

You can make a cut in an area of the plant that you would like to restart as a new plant, wrap it with moss that's been moistened thoroughly, then wrap well with something like plastic wrap and tape.  Allow it a few weeks to take root.  Eventually you should see some roots through the plastic wrap.  At this time you should be able to cut the branch and the roots from the main plant and repot.

Maybe some B vitamins or root starter could help get the roots started but I'm not certain if this would be beneficial.

Answer 2

if there's good separation between the four plants, then your plant was probably started from four cuttings... so then, yes, you could gently separate the plants..(but I don't understand why you'd want to when it's only a year old!!... can't be that big!!)....... but you'll take a chance of really upsetting them because all their roots will be tangled together....and the shock that follows that kind of damage will give you four unhappy plants for quite a while.... the better move would be to take it out of the pot, look close to be sure it's four different plants and then use a knife to sever them from each other in a quick cut... then replant each one in it's own pot.....OR.... if you just want another plant or two, prune off a good branch and  pot it up in moist potting soil and keep it moist... it will root in a few weeks!!... scheffies root easily.... choose a branch that will not ruin the shape of your main plant, cut so that there's leaves in the bottom couple of inches of the stem, so that when you remove the bottom leaves, those spots where the leaves were, will be under the soil surface  (that's where the roots will start)..... I have a scheffie that spends it's summer outside, always grows too big out there to bring in for winter, and every time I prune it, dumb old me sticks the stems in a pot.... anyone want about sixteen baby scheffies?... LOL!!...