Going to do some repotting. Blocks Pots, with the warm weather aproaching, How do Citrus Handle Hot Summer Sun in Black Containers? will it be ok? Or go Tan, Brown Containers? Don't want to Cook the Roots.

Paint one half of the black pot white. In the summer point the white side to the sun to keeps the roots cooler. Conversely, keep the black side towards the sun in winter to keep the roots warm... Alternatively and if you have a ample supply of pots, sheath a black pot in one that's been painted white during the summer and remove it in the winter.

There are several previous very good posts here that speak to the temperature tolerances of citrus roots. I find it helpful to leverage the search link to identify older posts that contain applicable content. A lot of the members here have a super amount of experience and have previously fielded the same questions that you ( & I) ask ad nauseam.

Best,

Skinn30a

A couple years ago I ran an experiment with citrus growing in black containers during the summer months. It took only 5-7 minutes when the containers were setting in the sun to reach 111-F on the inside of the container wall facing the sun.. A few minutes longer the internal temperature reached 120-F. These temperatures will kill the tree's roots. Painting the containers white helps a lot. If they are to be growing outside, it works well to grow them by pot-in-pot culture. Where the mother pot is buried in the ground, and the container tree is place inside the mother pot. Whatever you do check the temperature with a soil thermometer to insure your trees arn't being damaged. With a litttle immagination there are many other methods of protection that can be used. - Millet

I am not surprised at the temp differences between black and light. I park my pots on the east side of and under a ash tree's canopy in the summer---actually right now due to the 85-95F temps we have had the past 2 weeks. I will use old 1 x 10-12's later in June to provide western shade on the west most buckets.

Basically they are in shade from around 11AM until 4:30PM.

Will the pot-in-pot method work with air root pruning containers? Would the mother pot have to be much bigger? 4" perhaps....

Air Root Pruning containers containers work wonderfully with pot-in-pot culture. In fact, Root Maker makes pot-in-pot containes, - Millet

As most of the air-root-pruning containers are black I've had to do the pot-in-pot method with them. In our type of dry heat, I want a minimum of 2" air gap between the containers. For non root-pruning pot-in-pot (plastic-in-whatever) I even put extremely large bark pieces between the pots so it's not just air. This aides by extending humidity in the environment near the tree longer -- as when I water it also wets the bark in between the pots. It also helps in the winter time to avoid freezing roots. In our climate, pot-in-pot is the best way to go with container trees you (if you don't want to bury them). Whenever the sun is out in spring or fall, despite cool temps, it still overheats the container edges and any fine rootage adjacent.

CF4, good information about the above ground pot-in-pot method. I would add that the in ground pot-in-pot method where the mother pot is buried in the soil, and the pot with the tree is place inside the mother pot it accomplishes two things. 1)no over heating pots, 2) keeps trees from blowing over in the wind. - Millet

What surface preparation or special paint is needed for painting black pots white ? I had terrible luck this winter painting white plastic barrels black. I'm afraid that my only thought so far is to buy very expensive automotive paint and do a light but thorough job of site prep with sand paper. Not looking forward to the time and expense. If someone has a better idea please let me know your trick ! Thanks, Tom