Do you start the new season with new potting mix or is this something you carry over? You are used to growing in this exposure and know the amount of sun, so I can not see that as a problem. When you water do the pots drain the excess water readily? Al

i am afraid to ask ... circular saw and all ..

but were they cared for when you went on your roadtrip???

ken

Because of the permanent plants in the foam pots, I can only top dress with new soil each year. I have never grown either petunias or calibrachoa in them before. They drain well. I normally water them till the water drains out the bottom.

I thought of one thing that is different. I said, "front porch". But that front porch is now surrounded with new hardscape, a wide walkway, much like a patio, in front of the porch. This is compared to previous years, when there was open garden on each side, and a row of bushes 4 feet in front of the porch. Perhaps there is more reflected heat now, too much for the foam pots? I would think the glazed ceramic pots would be even hotter, but the plants in them are flourishing.

My husband is good about watering the pots. I always leave instructions, and they generally look fine when I come back. The longest I've been gone is two days.

one uses media in pots..

and save soil for mother earth.. which it is by definition ...

so the question was.. do you use new media in the pots ... and you answer you add new soil .. which is it .. ??? we have to define and use the proper terms.. to get to an answer ...

because of the incredible high drainage of MEDIA ... all the good stuff is washed out the bottom.. so a heavy fertilizer program is needed... OR .. you simply replace the media every year ... every second year for sure ...

they grow 100 year old bonsai in media.. replacing it every year...

you can not really expect anything to grow forever in the same media ... in a pot ... sooner or later.. they need to be repotted ...

what happens over time.. is that the peat starts breaking down.. and that affects drainage and water movement thru the media ... messing with it predictability .. and what you can end up with.. is bone dry parts in the middle of swampy parts.. the water is not moving freely thru the media.. throughout the pot ....

i gave up on pots a long time ago ... i just didnt have the attention span ... nor the will to deal with such foo foo stuff.. especially after moving to 5 acres ... the pots just became a daily job .. with not much of a payback ....

too many plants.. in too little media ... means that you have to increase your watering .. up to twice a day ... so maybe you just jammed too much stuff in your pot ...

ken

How long have the Cordyline and ivy been in the same pots? Could they be root bound, thereby leaving very little space for the annuals to grow in? Calibrachoas like more space for their roots. If the roots are taking up the bulk of space within the pots, then there might not be enough soil to keep the roots cool and moist for the annuals. Might also explain why all the water keeps running out, so you think you're watering enough but they dry out faster than the ceramic pot. Are the annuals by themselves inside the ceramic pots? I don't think petunias/calibrachoas and begonias are well matched in the same pot. The petunias like to dry out a bit between waterings, whereas the begonias like to stay cool and evenly moist. Petunias like heat, but the begonias do not.

As for foam being cooler, what keeps heat out also retains it longer; works both ways. Perhaps it's retaining heat from the daytime and not getting cooled off enough at night? Just my opinion for what it's worth. I feel your pain though. Stinks to see flowers die out on you. At least the trees are doing okay. Good luck.

If you are using a peat based potting mix, I would change it after one season. If you are using a bark based mixed, you should get two seasons. I would replace the mix before doing anything else. Reflected heat from a paved surface would increase your moisture transpiration, but increased watering should compensate for that change. Al

I grew a sweet potato vine one year and when I tossed all the flowers in that pot before frost, I saw that the sweet potato vine had a huge potato growing in that pot that had completely crowded out the root system of the other flowers in that pot. By the end of the summer all the flowers looked pretty bad. That is what happened to me but your pot may be different.

Betty

have you taken the pot apart yet.. to find out whats going on in there????

ken

linnea, don't know if this is it, but I can tell you from growing in an extremely hot climate that neither petunias nor calibrochoa like ongoing very high heat. Once our daytime highs start hitting in the mid nineties, these two have a way of burning out very quickly for me. I basically think of these two annuals as spring into early summer bloomers here. If you've been experiencing higher than normal temps, this might be the explanation. DITTO for tuberous begonias. I don't even attempt them here.
Climate change...