Sun Burned or ?

Ok let me give you a little history... my plants have been outside in 3 gal black containers.. they are about 2 ft high and have very small buds on them... until this weekend I had them positioned so that they got early morning to early afternoon sun and then were shaded by mid afternoon until early evening then they would get the late sun til it set... I live in central Cali and it was 108 the day this happened... I keep them watered as needed.. only water when the pot gets light... I had been using only molasses about every 3rd watering... they WERE doing great..... until.... 1st off my boyfriend said his friend (long time grower) said to use fish emulsion along with the molasses....(this is the 1st time I have grown anything and they know way more then me) so I started adding fish to my watering schedule, not too strong a mixture since I really didnt think they needed it and the molasses was doing good for me so far.... so Saturday I watered them with the molasses and fish mixture... wet them down good since it was going to be 108 or so that day.... then my ever so smart boyfriend said that his expert friend said that they should be in the sun all day long.. that they didnt need shade... (so against my better judgement, they went out in the sun) for that one day.... well sunday morning I get up to go check the girls and low and behold, some of them look like they about to die... 1st I feel the soil... its moist, so I am assuming that they had enough water.. then I notice that the plants that were affected where the ones on the outside of the group and their leaves on the half of the plant that would have been exposed to the sun were burnt to a crisp!!!! then I had one tall one, not sure of the stain that totally turned black and wilted .... so do you think it was the sun that was too hot on them or the fish mixture or both.... and what do I do know, I watered them really good just in case the mixture of fish and molasses was too strong (highly unlikely but ?) Should I snip of the dead brown leaves and just pray that they get better or leave them on the plant... the stem is still green, just the leaves are burnt.... I will post some pics when I get home, but this is really bugging me..... they were doing sooooo good ... what is the best thing, if anything to do now? I already put them back in the shade for now.. with just a little morning sun... and late evening sun... help!!

Doubt the fish mix had anything to do with it. It is a good organic fertilizer if your plant needs more nutes. Yes, it was probably a sun burn. If your plants are used to half shade and then go to full sun, they can burn. Especially in the hot Cali sun. They could probably have handled full sun if you had worked them in slowly, decreasing the hours of shade by a little each day. You just shocked the hell out of em by throwing them in full sun right away. Put them back in their old spot until they recover. I doubt they will die, but you will see a loss in production. The burnt parts will not recover and should be removed if it looks or feels dead. Feel free to cut leaves in half to remove the dead parts if necessary. You could buy some Revive or similar additive that is meant to help stressed plants recover. I've heard mixed reviews on it, never used it personally. Pot plants are hardy, hopefully you didn't burn any of the little buds.

Wingnutt, thank you so much for your reply... I have learned a good lesson..........never listen to the boyfriend... LOL but on a serious note, I do hope they recover, I am worried about the tallest one... it looks really bad!! These plants were really bushy and it doesnt look like the buds were involved at all... so I am going to take off the dried up leaves and give them a lot of TLC to see if they recover... and just may stop by and get some Revive today on the way home.... Hell I don't even partake in the stuff, but they are like my babies and I really enjoy just watching them grow.... odd as that may sound... LOL Thank you again... I will post some pics when I get home ....