Tomato cages. But they need to be put up when the plants are small. Even if I was to use bamboo, wood, rebar, or pvc for stakes, I would stake them when they were young to prevent root damage. In your case, I would use one of the above but insert it at the SIDE of the pot.

Ok... So how do I attach the plant to rebar or bamboo or the other 2 you mentioned above, at the side of the pot? Or would the tomato cage still be an option? I think I can get it in one when I upsize the pot, as the base is still pretty narrow the way I have it bundled together.

Well, the thing with tomato cages is they have a pretty small ring at the bottom and the rings get progressively larger towards the top. And since mature plants are somewhat bushy and branches grow outward, especially chinenses, it's pretty difficult to feed the cage over all the branches without breaking a few. I'd skip the cages(until next season when you have seedlings) unless your plant is narrow and you think you can do it without damage Turning the cage upside down on a narrow plant might be achievable with minimal damage.

"I think I can get it in one when I upsize the pot, as the base is still pretty narrow the way I have it bundled together."

Yes. I've done this before with say a Jalapeno, bundle all the branches up with string and slip it over with minimal damage, but swear at the cage when a branch is snapped. The taller the cage the better because the bottom ring(s) are larger than a 42 incher.

So, let's move onto staking. Just put 2-3 stakes around the inside perimeter of the container and tie off heavy branches to these supports. you can use anything that won't cut through the branch... torn up strip of old sheets, somewhat thick string like laundry line, or(my favorite) old panty hose.

Good luck and don't blame me if you destroy your plants try to slip them through cages. :P

Kevin

tomato cages should be in place when the plants are just a foot or so tall. Otherwise, like Kevin says, you are probably going to damage the plant trying to stuff it in the cage. Just go buy some inexpensive bamboo or those green plastic coated stakes and tie up the bigger branches. 3-4 should be good for most plants. You can always add more later if necessary.

Well, if you're going to put the plant back in the same location after potting up, why not use the balcony as a support and tie the plant loosely to the vertical slats? You could use something stretchy like old nylons and just kind of loop them around both the plant and slat. Give enough slack that the branches can move and grow, but not have such a range of motion that they will break in the wind.

Or you can make a teepee with three or four pieces of bamboo, tied at the top, with the bottoms of the pieces around the inside edge of the pot. Then use some twine or something and tie some horizontal supports between the poles to make a sort of conical trellis around the plant.

Tomato cages are pretty good to use for peppers and eggplants, but need to be in place while the plant is smaller and there's less chance of damaging the roots, especially in a container where the room for root growth is already limited. Root damage will slow growth and could stunt the plant, which makes it a more pressing concern to me than a branch or two snapping off. But it;s your call...

Using the balcony railing is a great idea unless you plan on moving the plant at some point.

My local Walmart didn't have any tomato cages, or any other type of staking materials (too late in season?), so I will try using the balcony railing as aniajs & esox07 suggested... That does seem like a pretty good idea, especially since all of my "adult" plants are in their permanent spots on my balcony for the duration. Would yarn work as ties? I have plenty of scrap yarn from previous projects.

I don't plan to move my plants indoors until late Oct-early Nov when the temps start dropping over nite. Some of my plants won't be coming inside for winter, since the ones I left out last year to die off survived and are flourishing. They are turning out to be better producers than they were last year, and look great. One of my winter warrior BPs is huge (though my 2yr old accidentally topped by falling in it a couple months ago). Apparently he only made it bush out drastically, and it is now about 24" wide at the bottom of canopy! Height-wise it doesn't quite look proportionate, but it looks like it's finally starting to catch up.

My Thai dragon is also one of my winter warriors. It is currently close to 5' tall (top is eye level with me, and I'm 5'1") & has probably 25-30 pods on it now, plus at least as many flowers/buds. This is another I'm seriously considering staking, but I do rotate the pot on this one every few days, because it shares it with a BP, and I want both to get decent sunlight without blocking eachother out. Would just tying a string (or whatever I end up using) diagonally across the corner work?

Neither of my jalapeño plants look too good ATM, since I nearly lost them both to spider mites, but they do have sturdy main stalks, and are starting to show new foliage growth. I don't think either of them will need staking at this point. I hope they do bounce back & produce some pods before , cuz I sure love jalapeños on just about everything!!

My Tabasco is now in a much larger pot.... This one is 12" across and about 12" tall. The former was only 7-8" wide. I also made sure to bury the base of stem 2-3" below the soil, which seems to have given it a little bit more stability, but I still have every intention of staking it.

I will definitely look there. I'm still wondering if scrap yarn would suffice as a temporary solution though. I may try it & see

Scrap yarn would be fine as long as it's pretty thick. You don't want your ties(whatever they're made of) to cut through branches as the wind blows back and forth or from the weight of a branch filled with fruits of tasty goodness.

Kevin

i bought a large ball of twine many years ago. It was really inexpensive and works great for tying staked plants and many other uses.

I rigged some scrap yarn about 3' up the railing, fed thru a plastic drinking straw to avoid harming my Thai Dragon's stalk. Hopefully this will be adequate, since the way I rigged it still allows for me to rotate the pot for both it & the BP sharing the space, to get equal time in the sun (if been doing so til the Thai got almost as tall as myself!!). Does this look ok?

Looks fine to me! Good idea with the straw.

Kevin