Schefflera

Hello forum,

I would like some information about Schefflera bonsai? because I just get one .. Thank you Pascal

http://www.bonsai-bci.com/species/schefflera.html

Although some would question the suitability of Schefflera for bonsai.

Very well, thank you Billy
While no further information with pretty pictures?
Can you give me your esperia with this species.

I have one, it has been in the same pot for a lot of years. It will develop aerial roots. I will try to get a photo of mine.

Pascal, here are some image links from Google

Thank you John for the link.

Pascal,

Check out www.fukubonsai.com .

David Fukumoto has been at it for a long time now. This little guy was a seed planted in a piece of lava rock probably in the late 60's or early 70's. A friend of mine bought it and a couple of others from David on a trip to Hawaii in 1975. By the way, this is NOT a "dwarf" variety. It sits in a shallow tray of gravel and water and grows very slowly. I just received it this past weekend and it needs some fertilizer, the color is terrible.

Schefflera is obviously unconventional material for bonsai, but with a lot of time can be quite interesting.

Russell

I have seen the newer dwarf varieties sold for bonsai. I was underwhelmed.
I have a variegated Schefflera arboricola that sits in the living room all winter. It is a nice houseplant.
For a long time I was puzzled by the species name, which means living in trees. But it's true, in nature it is an epiphyte.
Iris

There are some plants that I have seen used for Bonsai and I still wonder, why ?
Heavy use of imagination needed here. Tree viewed at an extreme distance on an islet so many miles out.

What do I know? I grow seagrape, tree viewed at an extreme distance on a hillock next to the sea.
Khaimraj

I have an ugly one which needs A LOT of help, but here it is:

It is a houseplant. Repot it deeper, but in a much smaller, more decorative pot. Put it in a very sunny window or under a fluorescent light. Turn and feed it regularly. Pinch long shoots as it grows. Next summer put it outside in full sun.
Iris

One of my small scheffs...a dwarf variegated cultivar of "Hawaiian Elf."

Regards,
Tom

Hi Pascal,

Here is the pic of a schefflera which was exhibited at the recently concluded 20 Anniversary exhibition of our Bonsai Club in Bangalore, India.


It is an impressive tree (though not mine) with dimensions of 3.5 feet in length, about 2 feet width and about 3 feet in height. A visual delight. I also have two of these species in training. My experience is that they are very hardy though I am not very happy about the leaf size and am not sure of ways to reduce their size.

Regards
Ravi

Here in Florida you can grow some terrific Arboricola...

They make pretty invalid (ugly) small and medium sized bonsai, you want big sheffs with lots of hanging roots like Banyan trees.

I'm not surprised that people in the Great White North who attempt to grow tropicals under lights tell you it's nothing but a house plant. We don't think so down here.

Here's a picture of a picture of a friend's in 1995-ish...



Here it is a couple of days ago...





Quite a nice bonsai. Hope this helps.

R

Russell Coker wrote:I'm not surprised that people in the Great White North who attempt to grow tropicals under lights tell you it's nothing but a house plant. We don't think so down here.
R

Sometimes the reverse is true. Ficus 'TooLittle' makes a good bonsai under lights in the North, but someone in Florida (I think it was Billy) said for him it was a very poor specimen.
One of the challenges of any branch of horticulture, not just bonsai, is finding which species do best under your conditions. Gotta go trim my nias again.
Iris

I have one that is in a less common informal upright form. I have done nothing with this since defoliating almost 6 months ago. Usually I would trim of the bigger longer leaves and it is starting to creates a very decent image. It spends the Winter inside which is nice
I would trim the large leaves of to show but I am doing a talk for he local garden club soon and figure this would be good to work on for that.
Older pics of it in shape are not available to me at the moment so you have to use a little imagination of the larger leaves removed
I hink it was a little slow this year after defoliation. The new leaves where a little yellow so maybe it needed more fertiliser? I have noticed this in past years but they go a darker green when they mature but maybe more fertiliser this year would have been better as I often need to trim it back more than I have this season.

As I went to take a picture this morning I found it had a little hitch hiker. The nice thing is I believe the frogs we have been seeing around the yard at the moment are ones we cared for as tadpoles before releasing into the garden. Makes me feel better as years ago we tried to keep one with the kids but it got the fungal diseases that they get in captivity. Maybe I will be forgiven for that now. It was hard convincing the 5 year old boy to let the little frogs go but it has been a great lesson for him as we now get to see them in the garden occasionally

Hi P@scal,

I've always been very basic with my schefflera care. The one thing I love about schefflera is their resilience to almost anything you throw at them. I've had this guy for 9 years now and have grown in it Chicago, upstate New York, and now Philadelphia--some of the worst conditions for a tropical.

During summers, I put it outside in full sun. During winters, I put it as close to a window as I can (all winter, the scheff has sat where it is in this photo): no fish tanks, nothing fancy. I develop aerial roots by attaching sphagnum moss to a branch and hanging down into a cup of water. I personally think schefflera are a lot of fun, and as many on this forum know ,"not bonsai material" is a fabricated state of mind.

Hope this helps. Have fun!

Pascal:

Check out this site, http://josorl.webs.com/ after you are in go to: Galeria de Fotos, then check out the: Plaza las America 2010 album. Open it and enjoy some nice tropical specimes, including a nice arboricola. There is even a Bonsai of a Mango tree. It's all in you. Remember "is not making your tree look like a Bonsai but making your Bonsai look like a tree", words of the Great Master John Naka.

Mbolos thank you, you have a beautiful Schefflera.


I consult on ortizdhz, thank you.

I went to hawaii this last summer and stopped by David Fukumoto's of fukubonsai.com. As mentioned before, he does a lot of schefflera.









David Fukumoto showing off some of his work.

p@scal wrote:Hello forum,

I would like some information about Schefflera bonsai? because I just get one .. Thank you Pascal

Well, I kept two "standard" Schefflera in bonsai training for several years. They were so boring and such a "hit and miss" at reducing the size of the leaves that I eventually threw them out. I have since been told that the dwarf varieties are the only ones worth the effort. I believe it. As has already been pointed out Fukumoto is a genius at Schefflera bonsai and his are a wonder to behold.

Hi Scion.

I can't help but wonder if the biggest problem was that you were trying to grow scheffleras in SWEDEN!!!

Russell Coker wrote:Hi Scion.

I can't help but wonder if the biggest problem was that you were trying to grow scheffleras in SWEDEN!!!

Ha-ha! You are no doubt correct. Fukumoto lives in Hawaii, if I'm not mistaken, where warmth and humidity presumably play a very large part in the growth vigour of a schefflera. But anyway you look at it the "standard" schefflera isn't very obliging with regards to leif-size reduction.