Working on my Dwarf Umbrella (Schefflera) Bonsai Tree

[@n8tyler]

I'm just venturing into Schefflera and found this video very helpful...So you defoliate just to produce more budding? Why the moss? Does it help with Humidity? How do you over winter your Schefflera? I have built a set of shelves in my garage which will hold at ~50°. I have twin Sun Blaster Grow Lights in each bay and hope this will suffice to keep these and my succulents healthy during the winter. I'm a little concerned with how many hours of light to expose the plants to but will start with 10 and add hours as the winter progresses until I see ill effects...Great video...Thanks for sharing...

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Glad you found the video helpful! Here are some answers to your questions: I defoliated just because many of the leaves were quite old and beat up, and I just wanted fresh leaves. However, if I could do it over again, I would have left a few leaves for the tree to recover with, or I would have repotted first, then waited a couple months before pruning the top. I put the sphagnum moss on to maintain humidity in the uppermost strata of the soil, but not necessary. I overwinter my schefflera by keeping it indoors underneath my grow light; when it gets colder in my basement where my grow light is, maybe 65 deg F and below, it stops or slows growing. If you can keep it around 50 deg F or above, it should overwinter just fine. I generally keep my grow light on for about 12 hours a day, but anywhere between 10-18 hrs would likely work (I haven't done much research on optimizing grow light times).

[@n8tyler]

@@BonsaiNorthwest Excellent news...Thanks for all the good information...Bonsai on...

[@chrismarshall8321]

Nice work. Trunk has nice movment now and is all set for the future. Growing well now after treatment. Well done.

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

@@chrismarshall8321 Thank you!