I use a 50% shade cloth over my back patio. I move some of the plants there when I am out for a few days. I am trying to figure out a method by which I can extend a larger shade cloth on demand and easily. I do extend and retract my smaller shade cloth on the patio but it is very inconvenient system as it stands. I am also contemplating some sort of misting system.

meyermike, that is exactly why I do not use 5-1-1. I live in the Deep South and I can go away for 3-4 days and not worry about watering because I use a peat based medium. I don't worry too much about the winter because I only have to bring them inside for 3 months at most and don't have to water much then either.

Like Denise, I use a peat based medium (Miracle Grow Garden Soil & perlite), and therefore, my container trees do not have problems with hot days. So far this summer we have had 41 days in the 90's, 6 days in the 100's and not a single problem with any container plants. .

Denise, I can understand using a mix that holds moisture longer, but all the tree and plants I am complaining about are in a very good peat based bagged mix! The Petunias especially over heat in moist mixes, along with Coleus, some citrus and my tomatoes! In fact, none of the ones I have mentioned are in the 511 mix, if they were suffering because of drying out too fast, I would do like you and use a more water retentive one. These are potted plants in which the roots have grown so well that they have sucked the moisture out of their pots before I get home or those still moist. For me. the extreme HEAT is such a pain. It's crazy. Literally, the sun COOKED one of my favorite thick leafed cactus I am so upset((

Nothing on my flat roof would survive even in a mix that holds moisture for days. I had three plants wilt in pots in which the soil mix was still wet. Finally perked up this morning when the temps dropped quite a bit after three days)

I hate the HOT weather for this reason. Many of my succulents and even trees stop taking up moisture when it get too hot. It's such a balancing act.Ugh. How does anyone deal with the hot even hotter than this?

Silica,

the one I am having a problem with is still growing in the same mix as yours..Would you do a re pot into a larger pot or into plastic. Literally, this tree is in a ten gallon clay pot and every day it's bone dry after a good soak. So frustrating. How often do you water them? I suppose you would have to on some a couple of times a day? The nurseries here sure have to. One nursery owner has help watering his hanging baskets and containers in the full sun several times day I guess depending on pot size and root development within that pot.

Tropic, it seems that shade has made huge difference until the 90's have passed. The ones in the full sun I can't move, so my mother has to water once again by 3 every day or my tomatoes would croak. That tomato plant is 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide.She forgot one day after I soaked it before I left for work at 11, and when I got home at 8, the whole thing was wilted over bone dry. I don't have this problem when temps stay into the 80's and 60's by night. Also great idea with a misting system, or slow drip

So I'm not only directing this question for Citrus, but anything grown in pots. How can anyone leave their pots to bake all day without issues? I sure the heck can't. So it makes me wonder how anyone living like let's say in Arizona, or burning up California with temps constantly reaching above 100 can grow anything in containers without some sort of intervention?

I use 2 parts pine bark mulch and break up pieces larger than a half inch. I use 2 parts compost out of my compost maker. The compost is totally decomposed, 1 part perlite. I'll water 1 time every 2-3 days in the heat. In the winter they will go more than a month so I use a vacuum chamber to pull air through the roots every morning and evening for the first 2 days after watering the 1 time a day for another week following 3 times weekly. till next watering.

Stever

meyermike, I apologize for assuming you used 511. Options are to put your plants in the house, use shade cloth, in a garage or under a shade tree. Other than my citrus and fig trees, I try to avoid keeping plants in pots.

Mike what do you do when you work outside when it is the high nineties, you hide. How about saving your old t-shirts and throw them on your tree,s. I f it is a gradual heat they should not have any troubles. In my neck of the woods i don't do anything for them, course i am talking citrus and some of my tropical s.

Denise, nothing to apologize about. You're a huge help anyways. You are not completely wrong either. I do use the 511 in many containers, but it seems to be the potted plants that I described giving me and my neighbors issues..My poor friend lost his huge fig tree the other day to this extreme heat planted in a peat based mix because it was too hot for the roots to take up moisture. And his cucumber died grown in a huge bucket planted in a peat based mix because the roots had filled that bucket out growing so well, but dried out every few hours. His wife forget to hit that one up with a noon time watering and it dried to death. This weather is brutal, so I am just happy I don't have to live with it every day). It certainly makes growing a challenge.

Container citrus should be moved to partial sun/shade in the Summer if it gets hot, and need to be consistently watered. Soil type is important too, use the type of soil that is good at retaining moisture.

Citrus prefer summers on the East Coast because the humidity helps a bit to prevent too much water loss.

You might try burying the pots in the ground; it serves as a modifying factor

or "moderating factor", perhaps that's what you meant

John brings up a great idea !!!!! . Mikey all my tree's are loving the heat they are all growing at a very rapid rate , here is a pic of my Sugar Belle on dwarf rootstock US 897 the graft date is 10, 10 , 17 so it's not even a year old .

This is the second time I've had to repot this tree and these Lee X Nova and Santa Teresa .

My Shiranui in May was basically a large twig with a few fruit on it and now it's become a tree . The Shiranui is on its second flush from all this heat and it's a major one with huge growth and blooms .

Brian

Don't be afraid to put your citrus in shade.

Not getting enough light for a few days won't hurt it. If, on the other hand, the soil gets completely dried out and parched in the heat and being under full sun, that is likely going to do some damage. It's more important that you don't risk the container plant completely drying out than worrying about it possibly not getting enough sun.

Using larger containers can also help the plant deal with water stress, since the plant can have a larger root system that can supply the leaves with water. Adding mulch or woodchips on top of the soil can also help prevent evaporation of moisture, since soil exposed to the sun can have a kind of wicking effect, drawing more moisture up from the soil beneath.

A lot of times when plants can't cope with drought stress it's because the container they're growing in is too small. Either that or they haven't had time to develop an expansive root system.

Good points, Socalnolympia! Couple of my noncitrus trees ( figs) are rootbound and to avoid watering 2 times a day during a heatwave I had to move them to complete shade. Once they are dormant, I am planning to drastically cut them down for cuttings and root prune the bottom half, the roots are growing fast this year.

Mike I'm so sorry to hear about your plant losses I also get attached to my trees. I just repotted a bunch of things not citrus but other fruit like fig and the dwarf pixie grape and you know what, when i unpotted it the side that gets the most sun had black roots or no roots where as the side that gets shade has tooooons of white healthy roots I wish I'd taken a picture it was quite a sight with one side covered in white roots! It was like this in all of the trees one after another I repotted I guess now we know they don't like super hot sun! I've put themall in clay now that seems to be better for me keeps roots cooler. And yes they would wilt if they're root bound as socalnolympia said the ones I have just repotted seem to do fine for atleast a few days :)

brian wow your trees are really growing! I love seeing them every time :)

I spray paint my pots white.

The reason standard nursery containers are black, they contain carbon, it's to absorb UV (light/radiation) so the plastic does not degrade being left out in the sun. However, this also has the undesirable effect of absorbing heat, which is not good, leading to the soil in the container drying out faster.

This is my 3rd summer here at my new place and I recently bought one of those 9ft patio umbrellas (best thing I could have bought for out there). Since my patio is tiny (10ft deep and 17ft wide) when the umbrella is up, it takes up about 1/2 of the patio area and has been a big help providing some shade for the citrus that are facing SE and S. I can put it up and down depending on the temps to provide sun on cooler days and some shade on the hotter days. I do have to remember to put it down when there is rain forecast so that some of the other shrubs that fall under it can get some rain! I am just about convinced that the umbrella has also helped to keep my 3 container lilacs from burning up in the sun (they are behind the citrus facing SE & S). They (especially "Miss Kim") are usually crispy this time of year.

Since I don't have a water spigot out on the patio, I have a good 50ft retractable hose that I attach to my kitchen sink and when unrolled, will run it from the kitchen in the front, to the back to get to the patio, which gives me about 15ft left once the sprayer end is outside. It has been perfect for deep watering (it takes me 1/2 hour to hose water everything out there). I also got one of those rolling plastic 3 gallon sprayer tanks that I can use to spot-water some of the smaller pots that dry out faster (e.g., a hanging million bells facing SW).

What you describe is why I gave up on regular petunias. They just burn up. I have a white plastic urn out front by the door that I have put rubra grass in. The first year I was here, I tried petunias and verbena with the rubra - supposed "full sun" flowers, and they burned up. Last year I tried some dusty miller with the rubra, and they did a bit better but then they don't usually flower until their 2nd year, and they croaked over winter because of ice from the house overhang. This year I am trying some portulaca with the rubra and they have done quite well so I may end up with that combo in the future. My front faces full SW and stuff out there in a pot in blasting heat really struggles.

Mike, I put my smaller trees under my bigger trees to get some shades. I also give them a good shower every morning.

Even with all that, I can notice that my new growths wilt a little bit around noon when the sun comes hard on them but they are ok in the afternoon. I don’t know about your area but this morning I can feel that fall is not far away. A little bit cooler at 7am that I am used too so I hope that it will get better for your trees.

Brian!!! Your trees are beautiful and they are growing so fast!!

Brian, with your gardening skills if you grow something else that is recently legalized in Canada you will be a millionaire... scratch that... a billionaire!!!

:( that must be so frustrating Mike. I did notice my satsuma's new growth and some leaves were looking a bit droopy last week before we got those thunder storms. When I checked the soil, it didn't feel that dried out but it felt really warm so I watered it. The next afternoon it looked slightly better but still a bit droopy and the watering I gave it didn't fully dry off so I didn't want to encourage root rot by watering again. I also knew for sure my trees aren't root bound bc I just got them this spring from Stan. My other citrus looked better and they were in larger white containers. Technically my Page is still in its original nursery pot but placed into an empty white container for protection and it was only drooping just a tiny bit. The satsuma was the worst off and it's the only one in an exposed nursery container.

They're perfectly lined up east to west with the Page on the west, Ponkan in the middle, and Satsuma on the east. I snuggled the satsuma right up against the Ponkan. Their containers have a decent height and width difference. In the late afternoon when the sun starts moving west, the satsuma container is shaded behind the other two while still getting some sun on the canopy. Along with the rain too this seems to be helping a lot.

I think just blocking and shading out the container and soil mix itself will drastically reduce any root baking. You should try different methods and check the soil temperature if you have a device or thermometer. Maybe huddling and shading each other out will help like it did for me and Amy. I have my containers on concrete close to the house in the south facing backyard. So there's a lot of sun and heat on my plants but they have been doing fine.

I'm not sure if my experience will be much help to you though. The intermittent rainstorms definitely help give a break, cooling them off before the heat comes back. I think giving them a timed shower or mister like someone suggested would be a good idea since all rain seems to steer clear of you lol.