Pot/soil Temps.

[sorce]

I used to use and play with one of these at work. Infrared thermometer, (not from Harbor freight)

Great for pots/ soil for those swamp cooler posters.

Anyone use it?

Oh, this came about thinking of what my soil Temps are right now, the" frozen tree" argument from a couple weeks back, reckon they are COMPLETELY FROZEN, and still alive, as it was worse last year!
Wed-Fri. -28 wind chill,

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

Never thought to use one of those things. And probably never will and you might not want to either. Do you really want to torment yourself with how hot your trees get in their pot? Because that is all that thing is going to do.
What if you think the trees are too hot? Fans? Ice cubes? What will be used to cool them down.
It's cracking me up thinking you could be out there waving a little japanese fan at your trees. Think about that one. And if you are you better be wearing the pink Keppler bonsai shorts. Panties. Thong. But floss. Get the picture?
Now I'm wishing I hadn't thought of this. I need to go wash my brain off. It feels dirty.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

It raises an interesting question that I've always wondered about...

For cold hardy trees, what triggers their seasonal awareness? Is it the coldness of the soil? Or the coldness of the trunk/branches? For example, my peaches need a certain number of "cold degree days" in order to fruit each year. On warmer years they will fruit little, if at all, but on years when we've had an extended cold period, they fruit heavily.

Would there be any benefit to chilling the pot if you could not chill the entire tree? Like via ice or something similar? If you knew it were going to be an unusually warm winter day could you put ice on your pot and would it yield any benefit other than just keeping the soil moist?

 

[DougB]

Hey at $90 list, that is quite an instrument. But do we really care about an accurate reading of the surface temp or should we be concerned about the temp at root level?

 

[Anthony]

Sorce,

we have one, and they are fun. Been shooting the elevated water tank, the pots, the walls etc.
Pot temps presently 18 hrs or so at 70 to 68 deg.F [ will we make it to 66 deg.F - gasp !! ]

It is supposed to be that at 2 deg.C roots go dormant. I think I left the report from a University on this site some where.

The Celtis from Louisiana, Ginkgo from the UK, seem to start winter with the shortened days, and stop growing, leaves slowly yellow or brown, before December and then around the end of January, they are placed in the fridge at around crisper temperature.From December to January, they are kept on the north side of the house with bright light and no sun, fairly cool conditions. Coming out of the fridge by April 1st.
This is year 30 something for the Celtis and 23 for the Ginkgo.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Frozentreehugger]

Got my first infrared . A long time ago for work . ( im a ford master technician) crazy what you can learn with one . As for growing . Things we don’t think about . Like how crazy hot . A paved road or even a dark stone . Can be in the hot sun . The shaded ground in a forest . Can be 4 or 5 d/c cooler than ambient air . Rain water is crazy easily be 8 9 d/c cooler than ambient and it seems as warm . Garden soil several degrees diff in just a few inches heat absorption of bonsai . What I mean is how long they stay hot after being in the hot sun . Abs the sun goes down . Or how fast they return . To hot temp . After you water them with cold tap water . Always wondered . What a bonsai after you watered it would look like . With one of those infrared viewers that can visualize heat . Say a hot pine tree in the sun . Just watch it after watering .

 

[Ugo]

Hi!

Never thought to use one of those things. And probably never will and you might not want to either. Do you really want to torment yourself with how hot your trees get in their pot? Because that is all that thing is going to do.
What if you think the trees are too hot? Fans? Ice cubes? What will be used to cool them down.
It's cracking me up thinking you could be out there waving a little japanese fan at your trees. Think about that one. And if you are you better be wearing the pink Keppler bonsai shorts. Panties. Thong. But floss. Get the picture?
Now I'm wishing I hadn't thought of this. I need to go wash my brain off. It feels dirty.

@Mr.Frary is right....
Ive read a little about root zone temperature and since few months now I'm using a heat mat and external probe thermometer planted directly in the substrate of my ficus.
it make you take notes on everything...
Infrared should work I'm sure but I wanted to know the temp. of the root ball and not the surface

The ''ideal'' root zone temperature is different for every species but for tiger bark ficus around 73-75F is perfect.
In fact used 2 different thermometer, one in the tray under the tree and the other one in the substrate plus the heat mat probe, just to see the differential of temperature needed to heat the pot.
I adjusted everything to keep a constant temp. ect

But it worked great , the roots came from everywhere.
Would I have had the same result without that much care and attention? That where the endless question begin!

But I could see difference after watering even with water at room temp. so imagine with tap water.... but never thought about looking at the time it take to get it back there...!

And now I have to monitor, the pot, the tray, the mat, the time........

Can wait to do it next winter on my Acer Palmatums!!

 

[Frozentreehugger]

Ideal conditions have to produce ideal results . I don’t grow tropical . So everything is outside. Dependant on nature . But you can alter things to help . Peeps in the south . Change stuff so pots don’t over heat in summer . Me in the north . Put pots in dark patio stones . In the spring to warm them up faster . Do you control or increase the humidity for tropical like ficus

 

[Ugo]

Ideal conditions have to produce ideal results . I don’t grow tropical . So everything is outside. Dependant on nature . But you can alter things to help . Peeps in the south . Change stuff so pots don’t over heat in summer . Me in the north . Put pots in dark patio stones . In the spring to warm them up faster . Do you control or increase the humidity for tropical like ficus

Hi!
Dont want to hijack this thread here but just a quick answer to your question:

Im just an amateur and started indoor growing only this winter.
For the ficus I set everything at 58% humidity min while 70% would be the upper limit In the grow tent.
They to push out alot of aerial roots that I take off constantly if they are not located where I want.
This tree also utilize alot of water.
But I think ficus (not all tropicals) can live in pretty much any conditions except cold.