P.R.,

Great post. I have been growing pepper on my west facing balcony in DC for years. Learn more every one.

I get 12 plants from Chilipeppers.com every spring. Have never had luck growing from seed.

Plant in 24" pots, prob about 10 gallons. Cant do the math to figure out exactly. I put 3 plants in each. One large, one med and one small. Usually put them out mid to late april.

I use Bumper Crop potting soil. Am limited to a 3rd floor balcony so mixing my own would be problematic.

Last year I had an horrible aphid issue. One day saw an ugly bug and posted it here, turns out it was a Lady Bug larvae. This year I only replace half the soil. Have larvae everywhere. Still have some aphids, but under control

Watering is a huge issue. Have learned to us a chopstick to go 4 -5 " down. I'm not watering until it is completely dry and having wonderful results. And it is less effort.

Looking forward to seeing what others have to say.

Alison

I use a ready made potting soil. I like E.B. Stone potting soil and so do my plants (composted fir bark, sphagnum peat moss, kelp meal, bat guano, feather meal, gypsum and mycorrhizae. Oyster shell lime and dolomite lime as pH adjusters).

I'm going to try the Pro-mix HP to transplant my Fatali who needs a bigger pot and my Paradicsom Alaku (Hungarian Pumpkin pepper) that I'll be transplanting soon.

Most of my containers are 5 gallon but I'm going to 10 with the transplants.

Ferts are MG 1/2 strength every third watering as well as Cal-mag and fish emulsion every once in a while.

Water as needed. Plants usually let me know. More pods..more water. Usually water with a watering wand but mix ferts in 3 gallon can when I feed.

Full sun always. I too have thought about partial shade to. I've seen some huge plants grown in partial shade.

Stoney

This post was edited by stoneys_fatali on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 21:51

I just spent an hour on photo bucket and the test page to make sure I have this correct. Say a prayer...

Yes!!! multple photos!!!

alynne,
Thanks for sharing.
How big do your plants get in a shared pot like that?
In my experience I have had better results from 1 plant in a big container than several smaller containers all combined (example: one 5 gallon pepper would produce more pods than five 1 gallon plants all combined) but i have never tried multiple plants in one big container

Stoney,
I think the importance of the medium in my situation is mostly on anchoring the plant and aeration since all of the nutrients are coming from the solution I provide. From my local sources I can make about 12 cubic feet for about $27, so I dont really know if that is cheaper or about the same as any of the brands that you are talking about (they don't sell them here), but those sound much more capable of nourishing a plant that did not rely on straight hydro nutrients.
Also you mentioned that you supplement with cal-mag... i somewhat skimmed over my nutrient section; my hydro nutrient is actually 12G Masterblend, 12G Calcium Nitrate, and 6G of Magnesium Sulfate per 5 gallons water, calcium and magnesium are definitely crucial in my setup.

We now have a 2nd notion that pepper plants may not truly be "full sun" what do others have to say?

The first is the pot now, the second when I planted. I have limited space. I have found that the grouped plants do better.

This is my poor Reaper. The only one I planted singly. I wanted to be able to over winter it but it has not done well.

" I dont really know if that is cheaper or about the same as any of the brands that you are talking about (they don't sell them here)"

Yeah, E.B. Stone is out West I believe. The Pro-Mix is supposed to be pretty awesome. It's $25 a bag at HD and the E.B. Stone is pretty affordable @ $9 a bag (pretty big bag).

Stoney

I dont have pro-mix here, but I just googled it; It seems like the big bag you mean is 3.8 cubic feet, so my mixture is about 1/3rd of the cost (although admittedly not as good in normal applications)
If I could get a bag of that I would try to run a non-biased scientific study... but alas ive checked everywhere in town.

Really? Home Depot should have it. If not, Lowes.

It's high in perlite content so the top soil layer looks like snow!

Stoney

Good thread.

I, myself , started a thread about pot size for pepper back in about Nov., 2013. Because I was planning to grow peppers in pots, Which I am doing this season.

I think pot size depend on:
=== variety and how big or small it is.
=== Temperatures: bigger pot can be a plus in hot climates
=== Season Length: IMO, big pot pays off if one has a long growing season (8 mos. +++), like folks in CA and FL. For me, eg, in PNW, with 5 months of growing season, max sumer temps under 86F, (cool summer) a bigger pot does not have a pay off, considering the cost of pot, potting mix and space.

So, I came to the conclusion then to stay within 2.5 gal to 4gal. range, except a few in 5 gals..So far, my plant are still small relative to the pots they are in. And what is more is that they have just 3 more months to be around. So I am not looking to harvesting 2400 pods after 11 months of care.

YMMV

nope, dont have it at home depot or lowes here... must be
regional...
More information for anyone interested:
The breakdown of my potting soil costs is roughly:
3.8 cubic feet Peat Moss : $11.xx
~4 cubic feet Vermiculatie : $8.xx
~4 cubic feet Perlite : $7.xx

seysonn,
Thank you for sharing :)
I havent seen your thread about pots, but i will search for it.

As for varieties:
In my experience C.Chinese peppers DO well in (large) pots, and C. Fructescen DO NOT do well in pots (could just be my unique experiences)

And our different climates may be a big factor, but you say within a 5 month growing season pot sizes do not matter. However, with just 2 month old plants (in my climate at least) my plants in 20 gallon containers are much bigger than my plants in 5 gallon containers.... do others agree/disagree?

For me:

Pot size: 5gal

Medium: cheapest potting soil I can buy... Mixed with pine fines till very loose feeling

Fert: MG tomato formula full strength 1 time a week

Watering: on drip irrigation, about 10min 2 times a day (supplies about 1.5 gal/day)

Sun: full sun for 6hrs/day, then partially shaded

Jay

I used potting soil from ace hardware it had a lot of wood chips and little wire balls in it. Just moved them to five gallon containers Saturday. I enjoy reading everyone's comments and learn a lot from them always need the advice because I'm a newbie.

For me:

3-5 gallon pots

A mixture of bark fines, perlite, vermiculite, pinch of lime, handful of earthworm castings, coconut coir, pumice stone and a pinch of compost.

When the plants are small I'll feed with a liquid fertilizer a little high in nitrogen to get them going. Then I use some Jobe's organic fertilizer spikes. Then every two weeks I feed with fish/seaweed liquid fertilizer and add in cal-mag + molasses.

Most pots are given some shade, although some are in full sun. I've been doing them in pots for awhile and I think for most plants they grow better with some shade. I used to water every 2 days but realized I was over watering. Now I keep an eye on them and water when they look thirsty. Interestingly, even in this hot CA summer heat they hold up for several days with no water and do not wilt.

My plants are always loaded with peppers and always more than I need. I have even grown plants really well with cheaper potting soil and less fertilizing. I am going to start brewing up some compost tea and worm casting tea to give my plants even a bigger boost and see how that works out.

On potting mix and fertilizing:

I made my own . It is a variation of 5-1-1. ( 5 prt pine bark fines, 1 prt peatM, 1 prt perlite). I added some DE (UltraSorb) in expense of peat moss. Then I add 1 TBS of dolomitic lime and one TBS of Time release fert per gallon. I also use liquid fert (12 -4-8) at less than half strength every other watering time (Manually by watering can)

Podding Soil Cost:
It cost me about $3.00 per cubic foot, about half the least expensive potting mix. But I think mine is better.

Progress:
After nearly 2 months of plant out, my peppers are just starting to move. I am not worried about them getting root bound. As long as they get the nutrients they need they should be fine for the next 3 months. Actually root bound plants might fruit more and early. That is want I want ,"EARLY", before the cold snap kicks in.

For several years I grew in-ground, then switched to gritty mix in pots for a few years with average results, nothing special. This year since it was time to re-pot, and due to ongoing drought conditions, I wanted a mix that would be less of a water hog. I collect rainwater and it only goes so far before I have to switch to our inferior tap water.

So with that in mind, and also since I'm cheap and lazy, I went with the following.

PS Not shown is a small box of MG fert, which frankly I haven't used that much of. The potting mix is supposed to have up to 6 months supply already.

That, and generally favorable weather conditions this year has resulted in my best year yet. Wish I had started out with more plants now (super hot starters in the background of next photo).

Full sun, 8 or 9hrs. 70-75 degrees mornings, 90-95 afternoons. Will give them afternoon tree shade once temps climb above 95.

Tobasco after finally recovering from thrip damage...

Habs already ripening. This was a 3" starter 2 months ago...

Prolific Poblano...

Shortly after potting up, my serranos looked awfully droopy. Turns out they were actually pods, lots of them. The plants haven't gotten much bigger in the last 2 months, but boy are they producing...

This post was edited by mecdave on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 11:00

I used Al's 5-1-1 mix last year and overwintered 5 of my pepper plants in my house. The containers in the white are vinyl 5 gallon bags and the black in the bottom photo are Fabric 7 gallon bags from last year. Both were filled about 3/4's of the way to their true size last year. Also to note this year I added more Pine Bark from Agway, Perlite, and Peat moss along with Lime and mixed it up.

The top photo is my overwintered "Yellow Pequin" It is standing around 6ft tall. There is a smaller one behind it that is not visible in the photo but it was planted later last season but overwintered.

I must of counted over 100+ new pods to date, and to note before I put them outside I thought the plant was almost gone.

The middle is the same plant but the top of it, it is really starting bloom again and flower.

The bottom is my other Pepper plants sitting on the chairs, "Charapita and 2 caynnes"

Those big grey bags are 20 Gallon smart pots with the same 5-1-1 mixture but have Tomatoes in them, I was almost tempted to put that tall Pequin in there but did not because it started to show great signs of new life.

Edit: I only use MG water soluble tomato & vegtable which is 18-18-21 I think. And they get about 8 hours of direct sunlight. I also water them about 2-3 times a week depending on the weather.

This post was edited by thebutcher on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 17:04