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container First time in containers - am I on the right track?

I have lived in Florida for about 13 years.  I grew up in a dirt farming town in semi-rural Nebraska.  So, it should come as no surprise that I was dismayed at not being able to just stick a plant in the ground, and watch it grow.  Unfortunately, due to our soil situation, (we have no soil, only sand) no amount of amendments seem to support proper growth.  Therefore, I am taking a different approach.
 

For several years, I have grown my plants hydroponically outdoors, to varying degrees of success.  It is all relative to the winter, and winters have been hit or miss the last few years.  Last year was extremely warm.  This year is more "normal".  But the hydroponic approach is too much maintenance.  I'm lazy.  I like doing things with my family.  I like eating peppers and tomatoes, not babysitting them. (I expended all of my paternal instinct on real children)
 
I have devised a patio system that I think will meet my needs.  But after doing all of my research, I'm still just taking an educated guess, because I have virtually ZERO experience with container gardening.
 
My plan:
 
Container - 20 Gallon SmartPots
Media - 5 parts coco coir, 4 parts perlite, 1 part worm castings, Excelerite (@ 1 Tbsp/gal of container size)
Watering: rainwater from a 55 gallon catch barrel, pumped to  a "top up" tank, feeding to Blumat drippers
 
Feeding routine - 1X per week, feed a mix of Alaskan Fish Fertilzer, (5-1-1 @ a mix of 1 Tbsp/gal) and Alaskan Kelp (@ 1tsp/gal)
 
Since I have a year round grow season, I do not intend to start a seasonal crop, but to grow indeterminate, using good pruning and staking techniques.  For me, that would mean 2 main stems, and removal of lower foliage.
 
I will be raising these plants on a screened patio enclosure, as our UV ievels here are quite high. I will experiment to determine sun exposure.  I have the option to slide the plants into/out of full sun, as needed, or until I find the placement that works best.
 
The feeding cycle that I have outlined is a veg feed, as I don't intend to set flowers all at once, since this will be an indeterminate grow.
 
My goal is to keep this simple, with a minimum of cost, and minimum of labor, after initial setup.
 
Please critique, and many thanks!
 
Sounds good. I have tried smart pots, but my dogs like to chew them apart. I use hard plastic pots. Do you have any pics?
 
McGuiver said:
Sounds good. I have tried smart pots, but my dogs like to chew them apart. I use hard plastic pots. Do you have any pics?
 
Nope, nothing to post yet.  I have some indoor starts on some scotch bonnets in an ebb and flow system, but it's really nothing impressive yet.
 
I want to make sure that I'm on the right track before pulling the trigger on this project.  This seems like a fairly "organic" approach, and much more like what I remember doing in a garden - except for not using real soil, of course.  :)
 
This was also the lowest cost approach that I could come up with.  Still not all that confident on the microbe building, but I figure somebody here will know better than me.  Still thinking I might brew tea, but a local grower tells me he doesn't think that will be necessary. 
 
I grew all my peppers in raised beds until a few years ago. (Tampa Bay Area) I have a nursery where I do bougainvillea and hibiscus and I create my potting mix on site. I use this mix now for my peppers with good success. Use one part perlite, one part of a good Canadian peat moss, and four parts pine bark fines. It's a light mix so you may find yourself watering daily during the summer months.
After the brutal winter we had four years ago. I switched to growing my peppers in pots. I acquired a bunch of 5 and 7 gallon textile pots in a auction and they work great. The plants produce well, but do not get too big. I can grow a lot of peppers in whatever corner my greenhouse has open. Fertilizer wise, I top dress with my mulch I produce on site, that is fortified with cottonseed meal, mushroom compost, worm castings, and whatever manure compost I can get my hands on. I use fish ferts and kelp also with a little side dressing of Tomato Tone.
You seem to be on the right track with your grow. I have found here that full Florida sun in the summer is to much. I grow a lot of peppers in my front yard during the summer and that only gets three or four,hours of sun a day during the summer months. They produce just fine.
Btw, I know a guy who is experimenting with growing peppers in five gallon pots filled with a straight, Eucalyptus mulch. So far he has had good success. If this experiment succeeds, it would lower the costs of growing peppers in containers tremendously here in Florida. Eucalyptus mulch is cheaper than dirt in Florida.
 
Interesting concept.  (the eucalyptus)  I would love to try composting, but I just don't have space to do it.  While I don't want to go so far as to say that I don't have the time, I'll be honest and say that active composting is NOT something that I want to devote time to, right now.  I do keep a passive compost pile, that I just throw stuff on, but that's it.
 
Love to hear the feedback.  Keep it coming...
 
That mix sounds too nutrient weak I would do 3 part coco, 4 part perlite, 2 part compost, and 1 part manure or something similar. The mix you are thinking of will be tough to keep fertilized in my opinion.
 
Even with a top dressing and a weekly feeding?

Please keep in mind, I am not letting bushes grow wild.  They will be well pruned, keeping only vital foliage.  Part of that strategy is to maximize nutrients, part of it is to keep ahead of the pests...
 
the point of the soil mix is to provide best environment for root, if you fertilize with your feedings often then your soil doesn't need to provide many nutrients itself (same philosophy as hydro). Sounds like you will be doing that so i wouldn't worry about it.
 
If you make a compost / manure mix then you won't need to fertilize all the time, constantly manage the nutrients, like Nightshade says, but more fine particles means less air, worse drainage than the lighter (like coco) mixes.
 
they both work OFC just make sure you plan accordingly. Make sure you test the PH of your soil.
 
OKGrowin said:
 Make sure you test the PH of your soil.
 
This is one issue that I'm still a bit confused on.  With organics, am I targeting a specific PH, or am I watching PH to determine if there is a problem?
 
It has always been my understanding in organic gardening, that a healthy microbe colony will negate the need to establish a specific PH, and that monitoring just becomes necessary when problems arise.  (as theoretically, PH is constantly in a state of flux with microbial activity)
 
you want to be around 5.5-7 (lots of people have different opinions, google it). It's not super important just want to make sure you're not starting off with something out of range start affecting the way your plant absorbs nutrients.. Why take the risk when testing ph only takes a minute?
 
Ok, I understand where you are coming from.  I wasn't planning on doing any sort of extended testing.  Seeing that coco and perlite are inert, and worm castings are supposed to aid in prevention of PH swings, I thought that I would be OK.  No harm in checking while establishing a new gardent, though.
 
Barring a total micro-ecological disaster in my containers, what might cause a PH swing?  Obviously death of my microbes, but anything else worth noting?
 
I dunno how well that soil is gonna work...seems kinda heavy on the coir and perlite and light on the castings...or nute rich base. I dunno...maybe take out a couple parts of the coir and throw in some compost in its place. I have grown mainly in containers for the past couple years and have done very well. I use the soil most folks hate...and it doesn't seem like an option you'd be willing to explore. Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress!
 
stc3248 said:
I dunno how well that soil is gonna work...seems kinda heavy on the coir and perlite and light on the castings...or nute rich base. I dunno...maybe take out a couple parts of the coir and throw in some compost in its place.
I will be doing a top dressing on each container., but this is actually sort of a hydroponic hybrid method. The only reason that I'm not using 100% coco coir and nutrient, is due to the cost of the coco specific nutrients. That stuff is expensive!
 
stc3248 said:
I use the soil most folks hate...and it doesn't seem like an option you'd be willing to explore.
I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you're talking about here. Please elaborate...

OKGrowin said:
you're right should be good to go.
 
water ph? otherwise i don't know anything "drastic"
Our rainwater tends to run a bit over 7.
 
I don't know why people are saying it doesn't sound like enough nutrients when you clearly stated: Feeding routine - 1X per week, feed a mix of Alaskan Fish Fertilzer, (5-1-1 @ a mix of 1 Tbsp/gal) and Alaskan Kelp (@ 1tsp/gal)."

Sounds like enough nutrients to me.
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
I don't know why people are saying it doesn't sound like enough nutrients when you clearly stated: Feeding routine - 1X per week, feed a mix of Alaskan Fish Fertilzer, (5-1-1 @ a mix of 1 Tbsp/gal) and Alaskan Kelp (@ 1tsp/gal)."

Sounds like enough nutrients to me.
Just sayin...he's asking about container growing, not hydro. With that much coir and not much else to hold the nutes they daily watering required will wash that clean before the next feeding. If you want to stick to that soil base, you'll need to feed more often IMHO. 
 
 
solid7 said:
I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you're talking about here. Please elaborate...
I've tried many soils, but the one I have settled on is MG Moisture Control based on results...and my schedule. I am only home on weekends and live in a desert. I don't generally mention the soil because it stirs up so much hate in so many folks. 
 
Like I said I grow a modest number of plants, all in containers, and I would put my container results along side anyone's...
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These are just a couple of my weekly harvests....and this was every week from July through December. 
 
You may do very well with your soil, but I fed weekly as well...and at times they could have used more. I would be very interested in how you do this season, as I am always looking for ways to get better results. The home-made soil I had the best luck with was roughly 1 part composted manure, 1 part perlite, 2 parts compost and 1 part peat moss with a small amount of bone and blood meal added in...it did very well, but probably could have used a tad more perlite as it compacted over the course of the season. 
 
The only problem that I think I might have with more compost, is soil compaction. I intend to let these crops grow indefinitely, with no replanting.

Again, the plan was to top dress with the compost and worm castings. I'd rather let nutrients filter in, than to mix in and weight down my mixture. But I'm by no means an expert on this. This is just my theory...

I also prune quite heavily... We have tons of pesky critters, and keeping up with whitefly is a nightmare. I tend to prune aggressively, and only keep a minimum of vegetation. I don't need a heavy nutrient feed, judging from hydro experience... I don't use a flower cycle, as I prefer to harvest a bit at a time, (maybe a few peppers everyday) rather than a few bushels every once in awhile.

Does anyone else use this approach?
 
It may work...and with that much perlite I don't think you'd have too much compaction issues if you mixed some compost in. Maybe play with the mix a little in a few containers to get a comparison on results since it's your first year trying it??? I would hate to put all my eggs in one basket. I top dress during the season also with both manure and compost. Do you have a grow log? I would really like to follow your progress on this one being a container grower myself. If you start a glog post the link here and I'll be following!!!
 
there will be minimal compaction with a smart pot anyways because there will be good air movement. the problems that correlate ith soil compaction is loss of oxygen to the roots and overwatering, both of which will be solved with the air pots unless you are using straight clay soil. I would say add compost because the top dressing and nutrient feedwill be kinda diluted by the time it reach the bottom of the container imo. check out this growlog he grows organic with compost and in smart pots. http://thehotpepper.com/topic/37882-gurus-2013/
 
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