My plants are on ice ...literally

[Lulu28]

So its really hot. These guys all got new soil and i might have created to much drainage and they were very dry today. I have added more soil and watered them and now put a few ice cubes at the edge of each to try bring down the temperature. I have 2 fans going.
they have been through a lot in their short lives, this is my first time and im surprised how tough they are. I have dropped washing on one and it bent 90° degrees and snapped but kept going and then stood itself back up. I nuked ones set of leaves off when it was a seedling its a mutant going strong. And i have dropped the lights on them, more than once. My fake tree fell on them and i have even dropped them and they fell out the pot. Oh and i lowered them off my balcony once then let them fall the rest of the way but thats a whole different story. Anyways they are a little worse for wear right now but still alive. They are random bag seed and i dont test my ph. Bad bad i know but i think they are in need of something as random leaves keep falling off. Any ideas??

[Rwise]

They look nice from here! They will drop leaves when the ground gets to dry.

[Lulu28]

Oh ok cool. thanks for that. I was worried that when I wake up they will have all died and Fallen off. Are u allowed to touch the leaves with ur hands?

[Rwise]

I do not see any issue with touching the plant, in fact when I get oils on my fingers I use that on dry skin areas. Works the best no more itch! Some do use gloves, and maybe should not wash it off with alcohol,,,

[SoOrbudgal]

Yes you can touch leaves with clean hands. And Lulu28 those plants want to rest from the stresses they have been through. The planters do they have good drainage? You do not want the roots to cook are they in their final container? Good Luck

[Lulu28]

Ok, thank you. I will let them rest. I drilled approx 25 holes in the bottom and 4 around the side near the bottom. I didnt realise how exspensive pots are. I think that will be the final container unless they have a massive growth spurt.

[SoOrbudgal]

Welcome Lulu28 and they will get much bigger but will be restricted by the pot size so your good to go if that is at least 3gal. which is small for a photo plant. Just gotta be ready for the growth spurt.

[Lulu28]

The smaller ones covert to just under 5 gal and the larger ones just under 7 gal. So is that an okay size to go right through?

[SoOrbudgal]

Sounds great Lulu

[FunkyButtLovin]

Planting in containers outside in hot climates can be tricky, try to find something to set them on that does not get really hot and store heat. If you set the pots on bricks or concrete out in the sun, it's almost like being on a warmed hot plate all day. Set them in the grass or insulate them with anything you can find like a piece of styrofoam or an even old towel or blanket. Anything to get a non heat conductive layer between your pot and the hot surface will help.

To keep moisture in the soil you can also add about a 1" or so thick layer of hay/straw on top to help keep it from drying out. It's impossible to guarantee 100% that there are no pests in it so I wouldn't bring it into my indoor garden but outdoors you're already exposed to so many bugs anyway that it doesn't pose a problem. I always use it on my outdoor fruits/herbs/vegetables and it works very well here where we are quite prone to drought. The straw also helps keep the soil from shifting and washing out during heavy rain or an accidental hard dump of the watering can into the pot.

You could also find ways to shade the pots themselves. Find a suitable size cardboard box that is about the same height as your pot and cut a hole in it, now set the box on your insulating layer, put the pot inside the hole, add the straw to the top and you've just taken some major steps towards reducing temperature at the roots and slowing evaporation. I'm sure there are better ways and materials to do all this but these things are usually found laying around, there's nothing to build and probably won't cost you anything.

[Lulu28]

Thanks for that. Great ideas with the straw and box. Im going to give that a shot as its only going to get hotter. 😁

[Lulu28]

Hey everyone who took time to respond thanks so much. With a mix of everybody's advice in 5 days they have grown alot. 1 of them I re potted and it just keeps growing out the side no matter what I do. Attached some new pics