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el_cheezer wrote:

W0LF wrote: I have read on many places to keep junipers outside, but I have a question for my climate. During the summer which is basically here, our temps reach as high as 107 at times. I live in southern GA not but 2hrs away from FL. Winters here only reaches below freezing about 2 weeks out of the entire winter season. And the temps range from 36 to 45 during winter. Should I keep my tree, assuming it hasnt already died outside this summer or bring it in on really hot days?

I'm in Arizona, and a juniper can take the heat, no problem. Let it get morning sun until the temp for the day hits 95-100, then, put it somewhere shady, like a porch, but still outside. My porch faces east, so from by noon, my plants have gotten about 6 hours of sun and are shaded from the hottest parts of the day.

Don't let it dry out too much, but don't keep it too wet either. If you over water it, the heat will cook the roots in the pot. Watering is one of the hardest things to get the hang of. If you have a friend or family member that keeps plants, they may be able to give you some advice on how often you'll need to water in Geotrgia, but take the advice with a grain of salt, due to the pot sizes that we work with. They usually make people want to over water.

cook the roots from overwatering? This is the first time in my life I hear this. The problems from overwatering are mainly:

1) Roots don't get enough oxygen (they are suffocated)
2) Root rot!

If you have fast draining soil, and it is really hot, water should evaporate before it "cooks the roots", so you should actually need to water more than less on really hot days!

eangola wrote:
cook the roots from overwatering? This is the first time in my life I hear this. The problems from overwatering are mainly:

1) Roots don't get enough oxygen (they are suffocated)
2) Root rot!

If you have fast draining soil, and it is really hot, water should evaporate before it "cooks the roots", so you should actually need to water more than less on really hot days!

Exactly.

One side note:
If you have proper fast draining soil, overwatering is hardly possible.

Soil in that kind of heat is a balancing act. If your soil drains too fast, you'll be watering the tree all day long. Not practical for someone who isn't able to tend to their trees throughout the day. If the soil has too much organic, it holds water, but I've seen it create a sauna-type effect in the pot. Not great for little trees. Georgia is really humid, so even though it's hot, the air just "sticks" to you. He'll have to find the right mix that will keep the tree from sitting in water, but also one that holdsays enough moisture so he's not watering 3 or 4 times a day.

My mix is 25-30% organic, 50-60%lava rock, and the rest is a hard gravel. No perlite or anything else. My organic is cactus soil, which drains fast, but helps the lava rock hold way more water.