Weather
- Thread starter Dean6969$
- Start date
Water when they ask for it you can tell. Sometimes if it's super hot I will water right before sun comes up and a little water at night before sun is all the way down.
HydroKid239
Well-Known Member
I had plants in a greenhouse getting temps up to 119F with 19% humidity and they did just fine. I found a couple pics with the hygrometer in there to zoom in on. Some days the heat was worse, but no pics of it. 
HydroKid239
Well-Known Member
This one was fairly cheap. $169, but of course more needed to be invested to anchor it to the ground. It lasted 2 years. I took it down just before winter 2023. Scrapped it, and will get another around winter time this year once prices go down a little. It only took about an hour to get together, and another 20 mins or so anchoring it down.
Mulch is your best friend in the heat, even if you are in pots. Here in Oklahoma we can have 90s into the beginning of Oct. and I mostly grow right in the ground which helps keep the roots cooler and slows water loss. The plants will tell you when they need water and I double check by feeling the soil under the plant, in case some other issue is making it start to wilt. Here is my 1 plant in a pot.
Does the top couple of inches of soil feel dry?
When the sun hits the sides of those pots and the temp gets in the 90s the root zone of those plants is going to get too hot and cause stress.
Fabric pots seem to do better than plastic ones in the heat, but in ground is definitely the best. I kinda split the difference and cut the bottoms out of my fabric pots. Air temp doesn't seem to affect the plants too much until you get over 110F. Like Mandocat said it's the root zone that really needs the protection from the heat.
Funkentelechy
Well-Known Member
Like Mandocat said pots can get to hot for a healthy root system when the temps go up, but that is especially true for that metal pot! In the ground is best, but if you have to use pots, dig a hole and bury the pots, or if you can't do that cover the pots, or wrap them with something to block the heat.
It's hard to tell from that picture, or any picture if the plants are over or under-watered, but they do look stressed. Often times the focus is on the need for water when it's hot, which is logical, but the root zone temp is just as important if not more. I have seen people overwater a heat stressed plant to try to help it and end up stressing it out even more.
I can't tell if your plants are overwatered or underwater it's hard to tell from the picture, but I would say keep the root zone from getting too hot, then work on dialing in the moisture level.
Does that wash tub have holes for drainage? Definitely looks over watered. If you are thinking of putting it in the ground make sure it has enough root mass to hold that dirt together when you try to remove it.
Funkentelechy
Well-Known Member
You can put it in the ground now if you do it in the cool part of the day. The bigger the pot the more difficult it is to not break the roots when you remove it unpotting can be risky and it helps to have another set of hands. I like to gently push on the sides of the pot beforehand to separate the root mass from the sides of the pot, then while holding a hand or two on the surface I stand up and tip the whole pot upsidedown, plant and all, and lift the pot off of the root mass/soil. Then put a hand or two(this is where it helps to have another set of hands) on the root mass and soil and quickly but gently turn the whole thing right side up and into its hole.
The risk in this process is having a large chunk of roots and soil break off during the removal of the pot, so if the pot seems too big to do all of this without damaging the roots too much then just work on covering the pot in some way to keep the root temp more stable and make sure there is plenty of drainage out of the pot.