container Drilling drain holes in a small bucket (or plastic container)

svtcontour · Mar 20, 2010

Hi,

I just got a pretty good price on plastic waste paper baskets that I calculated at approx 3 gallon in size. Would the amount of drain holes I drilled be fine or should it be more or less than this? Any suggestions welcome.

PS. is a 3 gallon container good enough for a single plant (say an orange hab) or should I really be moving it up to a 5 gallon or more down the road?

jjs7741 · Mar 20, 2010

I think the number of holes will be fine. Not sure of the size from the pic, but I always use a 3/8" bit to drill the holes with. That will help keep them from getting clogged. Also, a 3 gal pot will be fine. That is the size that I used for most of my plants last year including Naga Morich, Datil, and Bhut Jolokia and they can get to be pretty big plants. You will still get a good harvest from it, but a 5 gal pot will produce a bigger plant on average and require less frequent waterings. I was having to water everyday in the heat of summer to keep them hydrated. I will be using mostly 5 gal this year to try and grow some monsters. :lol:

jacob

svtcontour · Mar 20, 2010

jjs7741 said:
I think the number of holes will be fine. Not sure of the size from the pic, but I always use a 3/8" bit to drill the holes with. That will help keep them from getting clogged. Also, a 3 gal pot will be fine. That is the size that I used for most of my plants last year including Naga Morich, Datil, and Bhut Jolokia and they can get to be pretty big plants. You will still get a good harvest from it, but a 5 gal pot will produce a bigger plant on average and require less frequent waterings. I was having to water everyday in the heat of summer to keep them hydrated. I will be using mostly 5 gal this year to try and grow some monsters.

jacob

Great. I will move them in the pots then. I wasnt so sure about the sizes of the container and if 3 gallon would be good enough to produce a fruit bearing plant but now I know

PS. The drill bit I used was 5/16" so hopefully thats good enough. Maybe for the future ones, I will use a larger bit. This was the first bucket I drilled.

jjs7741 · Mar 20, 2010

It can definately be fruitful. My naga and datil both produced over 200 pods each while the bhut produced about 40 or 50. That's a lot of heat.

jacob

svtcontour · Mar 21, 2010

jjs7741 said:
It can definately be fruitful. My naga and datil both produced over 200 pods each while the bhut produced about 40 or 50. That's a lot of heat.

jacob

Thats awesome. I ended up putting my Bhut Jolokia in a 5 gallon drilled bucket I had. The 3 gallon in the pic will be home to my other peppers. Reading your post and others, it seems as though Bhuts produce less fruit for the same size of plant so I figured I'd grow a larger Bhut to give more fruit

Nova · Mar 21, 2010

Use a blunt drill bit in brittle plastic, it will stop cracking.

AlabamaJack · Mar 21, 2010

I got a piece of 3/8" rebar that I have used for big jobs (read lots of buckets)....heat it red hot and "it cuts like butter"

Toleman · Mar 21, 2010

Most of us here in the UK don't generally go above 2.5 US gallon sized buckets. Maybe due to the weather or space requirements as you ideally need a greenhouse here.

Scotch bonnet from a few years ago

AlabamaJack · Mar 21, 2010

I am not going to comment on things being smaller in england... :rofl:

all kidding aside, with your shorter grow season, I can see why a 2.5 gal would work fine...pretty plant tole

svtcontour · Mar 21, 2010

Novacastrian said:
Use a blunt drill bit in brittle plastic, it will stop cracking.

That is a very good tip. I cracked the bottom on 1/3 of the brittle plastic containers already

It wont affect the abilty to hold soil but still, it was annoying to be hearing those cracking sounds and realizing that I was the one responsible. LOL.