1st grow problems

I have a clone that is about 2 weeks old. The strain is said to be green crack, although I do not know for sure. I started the clone under florescent lights for a week, then moved outside to my enclosed patio.

When I moved the plant to the patio, I didn't acclimate it to the outside. At the time, I did not know I should acclimate it to the outside. So now some of the older leaves appear to be drying out and curling. I do not see a problem with the new leaves, and the plant appears to be growing daily with new leaves. I'm thinking once the old leaves dry out and die that I should not have a problem with the plant.

Then again, I not sure if the roots are becoming to hot because of the climate that I live in. I'm in the Mojave Desert where the summer temperatures are in the 90's and 100+ degrees. I have them planted in a black plastic pot, which I believe absorbs heat because of the black pot. I am now starting to water them every morning before I was watering them every evening. I'm thinking if I water them in the morning as the day gets hot the plant will be able to absorb more water from the soil as oppose to waiting til evening for water.

Should I just relax and let the plant grow or does it appear that the plant is dying. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Damn, those are some hot temps. If i were you in the Mojave desert, I'd get an indoor grow going where the plants sleep during the day when temps are the hottest, and lights are on at night as fans are pulling in the cold night-time desert breeze.

You'll definitely have to water the plant a lot more. Temps that hot will constantly dry the soil out. You should look for a strain that is known to be heat resistant if you're growing outdoors in the desert. I lived in the desert at one time and there were areas where weed grew naturally out of the ground, and the locals called it "loco-weed". Another possible reason to your problems is not leaving the clone under florescents long enough. The longer you leave the plants under florescents, the longer the plant has to build its roots before being exposed to a harsh climate where the roots are threatened to be dried out. You could always try to add an auto-drip system and/or a mister. Anything that cools and doesn't take away from the precious sun rays. Switching to white pots would be helpful too.

After doing much reading it looks like the temperature is the problem for my plants. The temperature is destroying the feeder roots, which are the roots that absorb water and nutrients. Once the roots become cooked because of the high temperatures it sends a signal to the plant to shut down leaves so the plant doesn't die. The plant is trying to repair itself and develop new feeder roots which takes about one to two weeks to develop. This appears to be a common problem with growing in containers during the hot summer season.

Using a white container does help reflect the heat as does placing foil on the outside of the container. The goal for myself is to be able to keep the root temperature down so it doesn't fry the roots.

i have taken some potted plants and put outside and had similar issues.

i then buried the pots in the grund and had about the top 1/2 -3/4 inch of the top of the pot above ground. this helps keep the roots cooler so the plant can take a higher temp at the canopy. the soil in the pot also doesnt dry out as fast.

if needed to move the plant just pull the pot and move it. but the plant will get a bigger root system if planted directly in the ground in a nice big hole.