Many of you probably already know all this but I thought I’d check a few things out with all the potted plants/ trees in my yard. I took some temperatures today at 4pm using a heat gun from work. What I found was that most of the trees in a pot less than 5 gallons in size ran much hotter than anything else (recently transplanted or not). Anything under the shade cloth ran the same temp as anything in actual afternoon shade. Trees in clay pots had a much higher temps on the exterior but the exposed soil was cooler. Trees in nursery pots or grow bags seemed to have exterior and exposed soil temps within a couple degrees of each other with the lower temp being the exposed soil. Anything pot bound had very high temps. The only two that didn’t seem to follow this was my European Weeping larch which is in a half whiskey barrel and a weeping blue atlas cedar which is in a thin plastic pot (similar to a nursery pot), they had very high temps exterior but much higher on the exposed soil. None of my potted anything have chips or ground covers. Anyway, it was interesting information for me hope it helps someone else. The larch and Blue atlas cedar are in the picture below. That location is my “evergreen” section as it gets full sun all day long and a very steady breeze.
Is the sky orangish because of the forest fires? Beautiful even if so but what a worry to have so many so early in the season.
No. What happens there is that the sun is just setting and it is below the rain cloud. So it illuminates the cloud from below, instead of above. That usually only lasts for a few minutes (which it did tonight) and then everything just goes darker. When the big forest fires get here, the entire sky gets filled with smoke. When you look right at the sun through the smoke, it will often look quite red. It would be nice to think that we won't get too many fires this year, but with these extreme temperatures on the way I think that's nothing but a pipe dream.
Pretty shocking isn't it to realize that almost 300 of those 337 fires were human-caused with about half the others either caused by lightning or 'unknown'? With summer just starting and the hot, dry weather conditions forecast, people have got to try harder - the consequences are too awful to contemplate if we don't.
Yesterday we finally got some 25...30 mm of rain, that mostly came with a short, only ca 5...10 minutes lasting downpour. Managed to collect 1600 litres, the rain was so intense, that the rainwater gutter was overflown, wasting precious commodity. Big thanks to @Acerholic for crossing fingers and toes for me!
Margot, I don't know if you remember the "gallows" that the B.C. Gov't used to have hanging I think on the Hope-Princeton highway decades ago. It was holding a cigarette and said "The one who dropped this should also be hung". Might not have the right highway, but somewhere in that area. That would be at least 60 years ago. Probably too politically incorrect these days.
Fortunately the forecast is for a high of only 29º today with some cloud around. Only 17.2º now and some high cloud a few miles away - but it is moving east towards us, so that's good news.
Lisa, that's just a great idea. Two of my new maples are in ridiculously small pots and I will have to make some nicer and bigger ones this morning. I was quite surprised as to how warm the pots in direct sun felt just by hand. I do have a heat gun here.....just need to find it now!
Thanks @Keith Elliott the tree that’s my avatar picture is a 12 gallon pot inside of a clay pot. The clay pot exterior ran high like all the rest but the one inside was the same as all the trees in the shade even though it’s in all day full sun, that kind of surprised me. I’m thinking this might be a good way to go for some of my full sun plants basically have a decor pot for a couple that actually protects the roots as a shade. In winter I wrap them in closed foam insulation (armaflex or kflex)
Hmmm, now that's another good idea. Up this way, when we get the typical -17ºC weather, that cold will penetrate just about anything. When I was on Ruxton all I did was to make pots out of cedar wood. Easy to do if you had a small sawmill. And I think that wood, being a natural insulator, might help to keep the roots cooler while we experience this warmer weather.
Well wood was easier for you on Ruxton but insulation is easy for me as that’s what I do. Your right about wood being a good insulator but my larch that is in a whiskey barrel ran very high on the exterior and even higher on the exposed soil, so I think I’ll try to get a thermometer and see what the roots are actually doing.
Western red cedar is a very light and somewhat porous wood, and as such it tends to stay cooler. Plus, if I make sure there is some mulch on the soil, that should help as well. But for now, everything has been moved under cover and will stay there until after this latest barrage of insane heat has passed.
Hi! Summer begins ... The temperatures where I live remain lower than other years, but we have had 33ºC one day, and several tropical nights (with temperatures exceeding 20ºC). Some maples are beginning to suffer, like the Katsura. Instead, maples with green leaves like Seyriu remain intact. For now at least. We'll see what this summer brings us.
Yes, I certainly do remember that. Very dramatic! It made a big impression on my brothers and sisters and I whenever we drove by on a family holiday. For us, it seemed as much an indictment against smoking as dropped cigarettes being the cause of forest fires . . . even so, 3 of my 4 younger siblings smoked and 2 died because of it. So, politically correct or not, it wasn't enough to deter them.
I'd never heard of heat guns until reading the comments on this post. I probably don't need one but realize that anything I have had growing in black plastic pots in the hot sun was at a disadvantage. Time for me to splurge on a few wooden boxes, barrels or clay-type pots.
I don't believe that the term "Politically correct" was even around back in the day, But I remember all too often seeing someone just toss a cigarette butt out the window of a car. My step father, who foolishly consumed two packs a day, died of cancer as well.
Today's forecast 33º, tomorrow 39º, ouch. Just came in from an hour long watering session, and there's not a cloud in the sky, and no breeze either. I'm starting to think that any sort of shade is better than none, regardless of where the plants may be.
Extremes are hard to cope with for any plant. Especially when it's either side off zero degree scale. I don't think anyone can offer advice on this Keith. This is a phenomenon we are all going to have to live with. I see Moscow has just had it's highest temperatures since records began. What next !!!?
The heat wave starting today in BC is getting Canadian national coverage. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/western-canada-heatwave-1.6081519 Keep in mind that we on the west coast are not top of mind much of the time with eastern-based broadcasters so - this is obviously a big deal! I helped my daughter and her husband choose these 6 maples just over a year ago and, as my step-maples, I'm worried how they will cope with such hot temperatures growing as they are in almost full sun. So far they look very healthy. I did look each one up and found that they are supposed to be okay in full sun BUT . . . Would you experts recommend any additional protective measures to keep the leaves from shriveling? Does occasional misting from a hose do any good? Acer griseum Acer palmatum ‘Beni Sazanami’ Acer palmatum ‘Red Bamboo’ (‘Beni Otake’) Acer palmatum ‘Orangeola’ Acer palmatum ‘Waterfall’ Acer palmatum 'Shishigashira' Thanks for any advice you have time to provide.
Good morning Margot, in extreme heat I mist my trees after the sun goes down. I use saved rainwater. It does help I have found. D
Thanks for getting this question out there Margot. On one of our several hose attachments, there is a setting which makes just a super fine fog. It's the perfect mister. I haven't used it in the hot daytime as I was afraid it might be too much of a shock to the leaves and cause more trouble. Yesterday on my way over to Scotch Creek, about 22 kms, I was paying attention to any maples that I spotted alongside the highway. All of the maples were of the dark red variety, not a single green leaved variety. So the locals seem to favour reds over greens by a 100% margin. I should learn from them.
