Schefflera Arboricola question

[chameeeleon]

So I bought a nice Schefflera Arboricola about a month ago from Home Depot. It seemed pretty full and healthy when I bought it, but after having it for a day leaves started turning dark brown and dropping. I assumed it was the plant's way of adjusting to the lower lighting (although my room is fairly bright and I was running the lights from 4-6 hours a day for the plants (I don't have a cham yet). It kept dropping leaves, and I eventually bought an indoor plant light which seemed to help. Now it has finally stopped dropping leaves- but it barely has any left. So I guess my question is this: How do you guys keep your plants so full and lush indoors? I thought about pruning it to get it to grow, but, um, there's not anything left to prune. So... got any advice? I'm not exactly new to plants but this is my first houseplant.

Before:

Now:

 

[Chellia]

Following this

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Most of the time it is lack of lighting intensity. Once I stepped up to the t5 HO Arcadia lights, didn't have any more problems.

 

[dco1990]

Most of the time it is lack of lighting intensity. Once I stepped up to the t5 HO Arcadia lights, didn't have any more problems.

Ditto. This plus I use some 6500k plant bulbs. My plants seem to be doing very well.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Once you get brighter lights, exact pruning is import to ensure leaves at the bottom still get light and are not crowded out by the canopy

 

[chameeeleon]

Most of the time it is lack of lighting intensity. Once I stepped up to the t5 HO Arcadia lights, didn't have any more problems.

Ditto. This plus I use some 6500k plant bulbs. My plants seem to be doing very well

Ok, thanks I will definitely look into these lights. Right now I just have a Reptisun T5 HO, a basking bulb, and a "plant light" which really looks like a regular house bulb tinted blue . In the meantime, is there anything I should do to promote some new growth?

 

[Chuck Lawson]

Until you get your cham or more lighting, you might want to set it outside in some indirect sun to let it fill back out.

 

[Big Gulp]

This is all you need. Great for your cham, great for plants.

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/24hot5dobufi.html

 

[Connorology]

So I did almost exactly what you did, but my plant is thriving.

I've set up a cage for a jax with a schefflera (also from Home Depot). I've had it for three weeks now, still haven't purchased the chameleon, but have been running the lights for the plants. I'm only using an 18 inch zoo med tube and a 40 watt basking light, but mine hasn't dropped any leaves, and is actually growing some new leaves.

The only difference is that I've been running my lights 12-14 hours a day. Instead of switching out your lighting equipment, you might just want to try running it for longer. You could also just buy a new plant in case you got a bad one, I think they cost ~15$? Not too bad.

I also have a dripper and timed fogger that have been running, because I wanted to observe everything in the cage for a couple weeks under the conditions I will be keeping the cham in before I actually go ahead and buy the animal. So my humidity is about 60-70%. Temp is mid 70s, about 82 right under the basking light. Seems to be working so far, I'm getting new growth on both the scheffera and my pothos.