Ok. You go to any nursery and they have plants in black grower pots sitting on black poly fabric in full sun.

I'm pretty sure I've cooked a couple plants that are on my patio (colocasia). It's hot. It's humid. The concrete is cooler since it's shaded. I have my watering regimen down, i know what needs more, what needs less, what i can use with just the hose (RO filter attached) and what i need to hand water with additives. I brought a struggling very expensive colocasia redemption back in the other day and the soil was HOT hot. I have one in the ground and it's doing great.

Explain to me like I'm 5 why this works at nurseries and garden centers but i have issues. My full sun plants are on either chip board or cardboard and i soak that when i water, too.

I'm also learning that there's a difference between "full sun" and "Mississippi in June with no clouds." If i had the money, I'd get some 4x4 posts and concrete and shade cloth. Even the bananas are starting to show signs of sunburn on older leaves and i water the piss out of everything every other day. I water until it runs out the bottom.

Everything is still growing like crazy, so that's not an issue. The patio gets primarily evening sun so that shouldn't be an issue.

Full sun is really too much sun for a lot of plants in the southern climes. Most plants at the massive Florida producers are grown under shade cloth. As for the hot pot issue, you have to physically block the sun from directly striking the sides of the pots. In nurseries, this is accomplished as each pot in a group protects the one behind it. The very front exposed pots can be painted white, can have other empty pots or boards put in front of them, or can be dropped into 1 size larger empty pots to insulate the valuable plants roots from overheating. Direct sun on a black pot without any protection can most definitely cook the roots and kill the plant.

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona

No dumb questions John, advice is free mistakes are costly. To reduce the hot soil temperature and the roots touching the container sides burn, try white containers or put the container inside another container that’s slightly bigger. This can help to reduce the burning roots.

20 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Ok. You go to any nursery and they have plants in black grower pots sitting on black poly fabric in full sun.

I'm pretty sure I've cooked a couple plants that are on my patio (colocasia). It's hot. It's humid. The concrete is cooler since it's shaded. I have my watering regimen down, i know what needs more, what needs less, what i can use with just the hose (RO filter attached) and what i need to hand water with additives. I brought a struggling very expensive colocasia redemption back in the other day and the soil was HOT hot. I have one in the ground and it's doing great.

Explain to me like I'm 5 why this works at nurseries and garden centers but i have issues. My full sun plants are on either chip board or cardboard and i soak that when i water, too.

I'm also learning that there's a difference between "full sun" and "Mississippi in June with no clouds." If i had the money, I'd get some 4x4 posts and concrete and shade cloth. Even the bananas are starting to show signs of sunburn on older leaves and i water the piss out of everything every other day. I water until it runs out the bottom.

Everything is still growing like crazy, so that's not an issue. The patio gets primarily evening sun so that shouldn't be an issue.

In nurseries they bunch them so the pots arent exposed as much sun, and they do use shade cloth. Also they may use high drainage soil and water more frequently. As water evaporates, it cools the soil. Personally I have nothing in full sun that is in a pot here. 1/2 day sun at most for my most sun tolerant potted palms. Pots dry out fast, and when they do, they get hot fast as when the water is gone heating drives temps up quickly. The black pots are handy in winter though, keeps the soil warm longer into fall/winter, so you still get some root growth, an extended season.

Its is not a dumb question, I have had to learn that myself years ago.

I have a few papaya and some big colocasia (thai giant) in the black pots, so i could put them in the middle of the bananas or repot them into 5g buckets too. I'm trying to get them to set fruit this year, probably around early winter if things go well. They do seem to be sulking just a little bit but they probably aren't getting enough fertilizer atm either. Hey, I'm learning as i go. But they're getting pretty big, they're about belly button high or so. Def not as fast as the stories about "seed to fruiting in 9 months," but reasonably fast.

The big colocasia (Thai Giant) don't care at all lol. But between fighting spider mites in the bedroom, trying to be a caregiver to my mom, taking care of Sancho, going through the household finances (yikes, that's a mess), running all of the errands, fighting disability, and taking care of myself (i def come last), it's a lot. I'll try to rearrange and whip up a few gallons of fertilized water and hopefully get some holes dug when it cools off Monday.

Don't compare to the big box stores. Half of them never water any plants once the nursery delivers them. Two weeks later, they're dead.