Question

Umbrella Plant   The plant is about 10 years old and 5-6 feet tall. Never any problems until now . The leaves are getting wavy along the edges and on the lower branches where the leaf turns into a stem, there is a brown, scaly section about 3/4" long. Again where the 6 or 7 stems join together, it is brown and scaly again. Then where the main stem attaches to the trunk, there is a half inch wide brown scaly section, but only on the bottom 2/3 of the tree.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Russ,

I think the brown scaly area is natural maturation of the bark.  On many trees, the bark will thicken and darken as the plant ages.

As for the wavy leaves, I actually suspect that the plant is somewhat wilted. It looks like a small container for a growing tree.  It is likely that the plant is pot-bound and that there is mostly roots in the pot.  If you remove the tree from the pot, I suspect that you would see an abundance of roots and that they are starting to spiral around.  Transplanting the plant into a new container and potting mix would probably perk up your tree.

Good luck!
-Jen