Multiple Pepper Plants Per Pot?

12 years ago

Hi! Hoping someone can help me here...

I have a small balcony in Miami, FL that has tons of direct (West facing) sunlight. I planted three peppers (location in photo): cayenne (left), habanero (middle), and pepperoncini (right). I have never grown anything before but thought that I'd give it a try knowing how much sun we get here.

So I should probably have read some tips before starting them. I literally dropped like 10 seeds into each pot and did nothing...but they grew! The problem is that I didn't know you're only supposed to plant one per pot. Now I have two cayenne, three habanero, and two peppercini in their respective pots. Is this ok? They seem to be pretty intertwined so I don't want to rip them apart at the root.

Also, the flowers are blooming but keep drying up and falling off. I think I gave them too much fertilizer? I have them Epsom salt the other day because I read that it helps. I've noticed a couple tiny little peppers growing. I've also been pulling off a few leaves that I have found with white mold on them.

Let me know what you think, thanks!!

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Comments (3)

christine1950
12 years ago
I would thin them out to 1 plant per pot, I'm not sure about the Epsom salt, others will come along with more advice. They look very good IMHO... Christine
ATXgardenguy
12 years ago
I have had multiple in post before. Generally I would recommend one per pot. You may be able to get away with no more than 2-3 in one with smaller varieties such as sweet banana, pepperoncini, Tabasco, jalapeÃÂ±o, habanero, and cayenne. I haven't had much luck with larger bell varieties on pots, period.

I would recommend adding a short plant such as an herb in each pot to help regulate moisture. Oregano, basil for example.
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garnergarden
12 years ago
I like what ATXgardenguy had to say about planting peppers with basil or oregano. This is a very good strategy since I recently experienced a near wipe out of all my pepper plants on my balcony. My husband was trying to be helpful by watering the plants when he got up. Apparently, he limited his watering to the plants that did not need it, namely my peppers!

So! The leaves have fallen completely off of 2 of my 5 balcony peppers! The only 3 spared are planted with other plants and were saved due to the higher water needs of the companion plant. My Karma pepper is in with basil and my Fresno with an eggplant. He didn't see the jalepano, thank goodness!

I recommend basil planted on the edges on the container as that Karma pepper seems the absolute happiest of my peppers. The basil is doing awesome as well.

In the future you may want to start them 2-3 seeds per smaller pot (seed starting kind) and repot them in slightly larger pots each time before they get root bound. I have been told this helps them somehow and makes them grow better.

In the least, start them and then thin them out a bit...but I say see how the ones you have do and try all the techniques to see which is best lol. After all, gardening is one big experiment. So have fun with it!