It’s going to get in the 90’s here soon in Atlanta, GA and was wondering how to tell when to water a fruit tree in a container, I have some small fig , mulberries, gooseberry, jostaberry, blueberries and some small raspberries, all get about 8 hours of sun except for the raspberries which get about 5 hours of sun. I used mostly potting soil 50% and the other 50% was perlite and small pieces of pine bark
I noticed the soil is moist but very hot in the cheap plastic black pots so do you water only to keep the soil moist or to cool the roots and soil down? In other words is it okay for the roots and soil to be 90 degrees?
I keep potted plants in the shade usually. Kansas is not as hot as some of the southern states but we are at 88 degrees today. If anything stays in a pot in sun accept for figs and a few others get cooked. Never grown southern blueberries but the northern ones can’t handle the sun in the pots. Gooseberries can’t handle full sun here. The raspberries depend on the variety. The soil bakes in the pots no matter how much water I gave them as you can imagine. Winds up hard as a brick by the end of the day once summer is here. You might use a drip watering system and some shade cloth. Tomatoes are heat and sun loving and even in 5 gallon pots they get in bad shape in the summer just due to the heat. Our sun is so hot it bleaches cloth in just a few weeks. Got hot once and left a shirt draped over a fence and when I found it again a couple weeks later it was bleached.
My potting mix drains well enough that I can just water every day and not worry too much about it. I agree that small pots in sun and heat can cook them. Is potting up an option? Maybe some shade will help. Looks like the foliage in the pots themselves will help a bit. The sun angle is so high now it doesn’t hit the pots directly anyway. I also try and use light colored pots if possible. Our local Chinese restaurant has white 5 gallon buckets, and parts with one in my direction every now and then. In answer to your original question, wooden smores sticks work great as probes. You can get them at the dollar store or walmart.
I’ve heard of people painting their pots white to reflect some of the heat. I have had to put shade cloth over a plant as the direct sun was too much for it in the summer. I expect to have to do it again.
You need to water every day in summer. Your mix sounds like it should drain well enough to allow that. If it doesn’t then you need a better mix. That’s my experience. If you allow the mix to dry too much then it sheds water and is hard to rewet. By watering every day you probably won’t need a saucer under the pot. If allowed to get too dry a saucer will be needed in order to rewet the soil. With a saucer if you get a rainy period the mix can stay too wet and kill the lower roots.
You can’t set up a pot, at least here, that can be watered one or twice a week. If you could keep a small plant in a large pot, then yes. But anything I’ve grown just gets bigger until limited by pot size. In other words the tree grows as big as it can get on one days water. If you miss a day it wilts.
Fabric does not get nowhere near as hot, black pots can be painted, or covered with foil, or even white paper. You could bury the pots, so the soil cools them.
I agree with Drew that fabric pots are good, but they take a little more patience to water since, at least for mine, water sort of oozes out of the side of them. Although you can also just put them on a saucer and they’re fine. I use those for blueberries. For figs and persimmons I use 10 gallon self-watering planters in light green. I get them from home depot. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Dynamic-Design-Newbury-16-in-x-16-in-Lotus-Green-Self-Watering-Poly-Planter-NS1606LO/203629992 . They’re pretty good and seem to do well with every other day watering. The down side is that the plastic gets brittle quickly.
Agree with fruitnut that in the south watering pots is a daily job. Like him I’ve grown fruit in pots for years now. I have always thought It would be cool to grow them on some type of wicking bed system. I still think that is an idea worth pursuing but I just don’t have the time to do the research and do a design. One fay maybe, for now its the hose!
Thanks for all the replies, I will start water every morning and see if the fig leaves go from a yellowish tone back to green, I also put a little fertilizer in the pots. I have put all the raspberries, gooseberries and jostaberries along the west wall so they wont have any hot afternoon sun. I also put the pot closer together so the sides are in more shade from the leaves. I also thought about cutting a piece of aluminum foil and put some small holes in it and covering the top of soil on the pots to reflect any direct sunlight from hitting the soil directly.
I’ve placed the pots so the bottoms only get morning sun along a wall and have been watering every day to cool the soil and hydrate the roots but the leaves are still yellowing? I’ve been using a organic fertilizer once a month with about half hand full (Would a water fertilizer be better?). Any thing else I can do or is it because their in small pots and need to be planted in a larger pot or put more in the shade?
Those need to be moved to larger pots if possible. They look great but are a bit short on nitrogen. Moving to a larger pot and fertilizing more are the things to do. A water soluable at least once a week but maybe every other watering will green them up fast.
Yes, 4 or 5 have Breba, and 4 or 5 have main crop figs forming. Still early for most to appear, they seem later this year. I can see I’m going to have a ton, but most are going to ripen late. I have a lot of new growth, that should all yield figs.
Here is an update on my potted figs that had yellowing leaves. I have been adding all purpose liquid Miracle Gro more often, painted the pots white and have increased my watering on hot days. This has helped on my potted Josta and Goose berries as well.
