Poison preferred but I'll accept some guidance about this Schefflera

I have this Schefflera that was passed onto us by Heather's mother, which got it from her mother. I repotted it early early spring and placed it in the dining room which, gets mild sun. Then late last week I made the mistake of not hardening it off properly before putting it onto our front (out door) porch for morning sun. It is turning the normal colors of pale yellow and faint greens on some leaves that is normally associated with such antics.

My question is... Do I bring it inside or leave it?

I normally would just leave it outside to fend for itself knowing that it will bounce back but, Heather is giving me some guff, if you will, and I don't want to make any mistakes with this one.




As a side note. The soil remained moist for the most part. It was not neglected in that manner. The soil is made up of 75% Miracle Grow Organic potting soil, 25% Turface(or some equiv.)

I wouldn't bring it back in. Put it in full shade & don't overwater. When you see signs of new growth, gradually put it back in the sun. They can take quite a bit.
Iris

When you see signs of new growth, gradually put it back in the sun.

And then, eventually, you can remove the discolored leaves.

We had a shefflera indoors for a while. We went to a friend's house for an evening and when we returned, discovered that our Doberman had pulled it from its pot and had eaten most of it. She was fine. The Shefflera was a mess. Since I hated the plant, I was all for throwing it out into the winter cold but Jackie prevailed upon me to cram some of the stuff back in the pot to take down to S. Florida when we visited kids. They took it. When last seen, the Shefflera was almost 20 feet tall and had several 6-inch trunks.

So they are -- unfortunately, I think -- tough.

There is already new growth on it.

Leaves have fallen or been plucked off as they turned.

Jim thanks for the reassurance that this darn thing will out live yet another person. don't get me wrong I like it but, ever since I got it Heather has kept a watchful eye on me and the Umbrella to make sure it would continue on.


Thanks for the 2 cents everyone.

Yes, those umberellas are tough alright, but arn't the overnight temps still a threat in Philly? Florida now, is a different ballgame.

I got a small Schef 2-3 months back, that I doubt had ever been outdoors in it's lfetime...unless it came from Hawaii. It has an abundance of new growth, and since the weather has started warming, it's been going out on the front porch on an intermittent daily schedule...it gets 1-2 hours of morning sun, and medium shade the rest of the time. Our overnightsare still low-middle 40s...38f, two nights. We've had 4-5 highs over 80f, one 87f. This little Schef is doing just fine.

I am assuming that it should still be a bit warmer here in Sunny California than it is in Philly...N'est-ce pas?

Pat…mounted on my trusty stead, riding off wildly in all directions…

The nights that the tree was left out never dipped below 55 degrees F if, I recall correctly.

G'day Joe...

55f should certainly be OK...we've had only 3-4 overnights that havent gone below 50f and I thought that Philly would still be colder than the SFBayArea.

Pat…mounted on my trusty stead, riding off wildly in all directions…

I have a schefflera, too, some years now. It is living outside on my balcony and doing very well.
In winter 2007 we had some snow here in Athens. The sunshades were not pulled down so they did not keep the snow away from falling into the balcony and the poor schefflera was severely chilled. Every stalk with leaves died.
So after a while I had cut back all the branches and the next spring the schefflera was budding everywhere.
I am quite confident that your schefflera will respond well just like mine!
They are tough guys!