They're pretty much a rainforest plant so a lot of water shouldn't be an issue. Although, drainage is important. If only recently repotted then it might just need to get itself sorted to the new situation. It's best kept moist, you can check the soil with a wooden skewer. In your photo to me it just looks as though it might be a bit dry.

Agree, if excess water can't escape the pot, the cheesecloth & styrofoam, or layer of gravel, charcoal, all of those "tricks" that sometimes get mentioned, won't help. Adding too much water 1 time could be lethal. And over time, tap water & fertilizer substances can build-up in soil to toxic levels.

Also looks like it's in a corner nowhere near a window. This looks like S. actinophylla, the bigger one, that needs more sun than dwarf umbrella tree, S. arboricola.

I would change it to a pot with a hole in the bottom, today, or as soon as possible. That's a nice looking pair/trio of trees, hope you are able to get them perked up!

The info in these discussions should get you going in the right direction:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1490818/good-growing-practices-an-overview-for

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1497307/ukeeping-u-them-looking-good

Thank you for all of the suggestions. I see now why my plant is dying. I will try your suggestions and hope that I'm able to revive it. Thanks again! :)

If the plant had a choice, it would rather be kept a little too dry than a little too wet. WET is a definite 'no' for this plant. Damp/moist to barely damp/moist is ideal.

As noted, the steps you took in the hope you'd improve drainage were actually counter-productive. You can see what happened when you add a drainage layer by comparing the pic on the left to the middle pic. Water actually 'perches' in the soil immediately above a coarse "drainage" layer.

Uptake of water and nutrients is an energy-driven process that must take place in the presence of oxygen. If your soil is too wet, there isn't enough oxygen to fuel root function, so the ability to take up water is impaired. This causes drought symptoms, even when the roots are immersed in a sea of plenty. Limp (wilted) foliage and necrotic leaf tips and margins are typical symptoms of over-watered plants or plants grown in media that holds too much water and not enough air.

Air conditioning literally squeezes water out of the warm air as it cools. As soon as the air leaves the vent and starts to warm, it immediately starts absorbing moisture - from everywhere - the air, furniture, our skin, and from your plants, so heeding the good advice already given would surely be helpful if the AC is being used.

The 2 issues most critical to your being able to depend on your ability to consistently maintain plants in good health are the soil they are in and whether or not you can give them the right amount of light, which usually means 'enough light'. Light issues pretty much are what they are. You do what you can to optimize the amount of light energy they convert for their own use. Soils are often largely ignored and potentially represent a very large step forward for a very high % of growers. Most of the growers here at Houzz already know how important soils are, but an overwhelming % of growers continue to unwittingly suffer under the limitations imposed by a soil that doesn't support good root health, a prerequisite to a healthy plant. If you want to chase that thought a bit, let me know and I'll provide a link that discusses the impact of soil choice on plant vitality.

Good luck implementing the advice everyone gave.

Al

Michelle, you are responding to a ten year old post; this site is moribund on the plant side of things.

Watch the dates.

If you want to contribute more maybe try a more lively site like garden.dot.org?

I deleted my comment and assure you there won't be another.

There's no rule against commenting on on old post. Are there any new ones anyway? On the rare occasions when I click over here to browse, there are always a bunch of very old discussions suggested and linked to the right of the page.

This garden forums on this site were sadly, effectively discontinued when absorbed by the current entity.