Beginner Gardening: How do you prune a schefflera (umbrella plant)?, 1 by lisamichelle

lisamichelle wrote:
Tapla, please help, not sure if this will get to you or how to contact you by I googled this question and found your blog with some others on here. I have a Schefflera plant, it was given to me by two really good friends in honor of my Mom. I was told by someone I had to throw it in the dumpster after they saw it. I can not bear to do that. They said it would infect all the plants in my house. 1st is that true? I have only had it for around 8 months it was doing well in a sunroom where I would come over to my Dad's and water it. It was getting cold out there and my Dad was not heating it for the winter so I took it inside, it started dropping sticky stuff on the carpet and my sister n law took it back out to the sunroom. There for the last 2 weeks it stayed with no heat while we had our coldest temperatures of the year. I found it today all limped over. I also noticed it had white spots that looked like dust or powder all on the leaves and even the limbs. Is there anything I can do? Can I cut it back or spray it? Please help or if anyone sees this. I am new on the computer and am not sure how I will even know if someone responds. Thanks Lisa