Is my Schefflera Actinophylla dying/dead?

[Shalar]

I’ve had this Schefflera Actinophylla for about a month and a half. It was doing very well and we would water it lightly about every week. It never showed signs of over-watering.

Starting last week, a single leaf turned black. It accidentally got out on direct sunlight that day for about an hour. We live in Sacramento, CA so initially I thought it was heat stressed due to our hot summers. We also lightly fertilized it with diluted miracle-gro about two weeks ago. This same fertilizer mixture was used on other houseplants and outdoor plants, and they are all fine except this one.

Well now the whole stem is black, along with black leaves that are falling off (except for the top leaves which are green). I’m a novice green-thumb and I’m worried that I did something to it now. Is there any hope for this plant?

 

[Mike Allen]

I experienced disaster when I used Miracle Gro on some indoor plants. For years we used Phostrogen, never any problems. Then just one application of MG and instant death for the plants. I tried the usual kind of plant first aid, removing each plant, thoroughly washing it under running water, then repotting using fresh compost. The demise for pot plants seems to be instant.

MG is very high in nitrogen that causes rapid growth. Synthetic substances are used to produce the nitrogen content. This appears to produce a high level of salt. Salt is lethal not only to plant material but also to the soil/compost, as it kills the living organisms in the compost. Possibly, due to the restricted growing area, so basically the plant doesn't have a chance.