What's up plant lovers? Devin is here and we're back for another installment of Houseplant Essentials
where I give the basic care needed for some of the most popular houseplants
And today we're going to be talking about the Sheffalera or the Dwarf Sheffalera
which is Sheffalera arbicola, the umbrella plant. Now this is a plant that's native to Taiwan where it is hot and humid all year round
and in its native settings it is a beautiful evergreen shrub. Now, when we're growing these inside our home
with regards to lighting, these do their absolute best in bright, very well-lit rooms
That's going to allow them to grow very quickly. And when given optimal lighting
they will grow exceptionally fast. And in fact, this little guy right here
has doubled in size since I propagated him in about three months, just as a reference
Now, I find that for us in the Northern Hemisphere, if you have it in a room with a Southern exposed window
that is absolutely fantastic. However an eastern or western facing window will also be quite great Now once they nice and established like this guy I find that you can actually decrease the amount of lighting that they receive by placing them maybe a little bit further away from a window and they still tend to do quite
well assuming they already are nice and flushed out. With regards to their soil substrate
a bagged house plant potting mix is absolutely fine. Now with regards to containers, I find that
they do their absolute best when they're grown in pots that are a little bit snug, quite tight
fitting, and allowing them to fill out their roots exceptionally well before transplanting them to
the next size pot. But because they are rapid growers, you may be re-transplanting your plant
every one year to 18 months into the next size. And when you do transplant it, simply putting it
into a container that's about one inch in diameter larger than it was previously growing in. That is
the best thing to do Once your plants are around 18 inches or so in height you can absolutely put it in a slightly larger pot with even more soil as you can see here and they don mind kind of swimming in excess soil once they are nice and big
However, when they're small plants, they don't really like to swim in excess soil very much
Now, with regards to watering, they're pretty easygoing. I do find that they do not mind to be a little bit on the dry side
definitely want to stay on the closer to the dry side rather than to the wet side. They don't want
to stay cold and wet for long periods of time. That will make them unhappy. But typically when
we're growing them in small containers with that nice bagged houseplant potting mix that should
allow for pretty nice drainage so that it doesn't hold on to too much water in its soil. And because
they do tend to grow quite fast, they do use that water quite readily
So I tend to water mine indoors once every, I would say every five to seven days
depending on how much warmth there is in the ambient air. A warmer time of year will definitely require
maybe once every five days Cooler times maybe once every seven eight even nine days should be pretty good Now in terms of fertilizing I tend to fertilize mine once a quarter So that once every three
months. Because it is an evergreen, it's constantly growing. And I will use my family's blend of
Roberta's Bounty. You can find a link to this in the description below. Now, with regards to using
them inside the home, they are a statement plant. They have a beautiful shape, a great habit. As you
can see they fill out corners beautifully with their robustness. So this is definitely going to
provide you like that tree-like form inside your home. Every home should have a few larger statement
plants and this is a great option for that use. And with that, now you know how to easily take
care of your Sheffalera, your umbrella plants. They're easy, low-maintenance plants that bring
beauty all year round with their gorgeous evergreen foliage. If you enjoyed this video
make sure to give it a little like and consider subscribing to our channel as we're bringing new
plant related content every single week and we have a lot more of these house plant essentials
on the way. All right I'll catch you guys soon. Ciao