harvesting 35 Kg harvest.Pod yield vs pot size comparison and thoughts.

Swampy_NZ

Swampy_NZ

Last June I started a project that turned into a monster. It was my first serious effort at growing chilles. little did I know how big these things would get.
After starting way to many seeds under lights and having to give away and cull some I ended up with 9 plants.3 Reapers, 2 Choc Bhuts, 3 Dorset Nagas and something that was either a yellow Scorpion or something else.The jury is still out on that one.I mixed up a soil mix of Compost,potting mix,pumice,Wormcasting,Dolomite lime and chicken and sheep pellets and divided it between my containers.
After coming out from under the lights and given about a week to get used to their new polytunnel they were planted up.I used Floranova bloom for a lot of the season and at the end was just using plain water for the last 2 months..I kept a tally of pods weights each time I did a harvest.This is what I got:
 
Dorset Naga     160L (42 Gallon)               6.2 Kg   (13.6 Pounds)
Dorset Naga      65L  (17 Gallon)               5.6 Kg   (12.3 Pounds)
Dorset Naga      20L   (5 Gallon )                 .8 Kg   (1.7   Pounds)
 
C-Reaper          110L (29 Gallon)               2.1 Kg   (4.6 Pounds)
C-Reaper          65L   (17 Gallon)               2.1 Kg   (4.6 Pounds)
C-Reaper          50L   (13 Gallon)               2.2 Kg   (4.8 Pounds)
 
Choc Bhut         110L (29 Gallon)               3.0 Kg   (6.6 Pounds)
Choc Bhut          50 L (13 Gallon)               4.0 Kg   (9.6 Pounds)
 
Scorpion?          65L  (17 Gallon)                9.3 Kg   (20.4 Pounds)
 
Total:                                                          35.3 Kg  (77.6 pounds)
 
My thoughts on the outcome is this.Bigger is not always better after a certain size.I think the sweet spot is 65L.After that the returns and effort of bigger containers are just not worth it in cost of soil and time watering.The bigger pots are also impossible to move while the 50 and 65L can be moved.
My Dorset Naga in 20L was pathetic compared to the plants in bigger pots as was to be expected.
This season I will ditch the larger pots and stick with 50 and 65L as well as doing some DWC buckets.
I now have a freezer full of pods that I have to do something with.Good times.
Here is my Glog if people want to have a look although I stopped updating it in Feb.
Feel free to ask any question or comment on things.bring on next season   :)
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/47051-swampys-kiwi-grow/
 
 
Here is a fancy graph
 

Plants before last harvest

 
 
 
 
 
 
Brilliant! Thank you for the analysis. Did you run into any pest problems during the grow? How many times did you harvest pods throughout the season?
 
suchen said:
Brilliant! Thank you for the analysis. Did you run into any pest problems during the grow? How many times did you harvest pods throughout the season?
Click to expand...
Not until the very end when I noticed a psyllid infestation but it was far too late in the season to matter.As for harvesting  average was about 8-9 times for each plant except the Yellow scorpions which I harvested 16 times
 
77 lbs of pods is a LOT of peppers! What plans do you have for them? Sounds like you need to go commercial!
 
Phil said:
77 lbs of pods is a LOT of peppers! What plans do you have for them? Sounds like you need to go commercial!
Click to expand...
Most are in the freezer.I have a dehydrator so will dry a lot and blitz for powder.Experimenting with different sauce recipes and might try selling some at the local markets next season.
 
 
 
My thoughts on the outcome is this.Bigger is not always better after a certain size.I think the sweet spot is 65L.After that the returns and effort of bigger containers are just not worth it
Click to expand...
 
Say you could overwinter them. Would the numbers look different after say 3 years of growth? This is based on one seasons growth, right? Perhaps the returns in the biggest pots will increase each subsequent year?
 
I'm actually surprised your smaller Bhut produced more than the larger. Was there a reason that you could identify for this (i.e. less sun or something) or do we just put that down to nature?
 
Comptine said:
I'm actually surprised your smaller Bhut produced more than the larger. Was there a reason that you could identify for this (i.e. less sun or something) or do we just put that down to nature?
Click to expand...
 
The sample size is small, which means that what might be normal variance over a larger data set can look significant.
 
I don't believe that a 15 gal pot will produce 10x+ more pods than a 5 gal on average. I wish there was a bigger sample with the 5 gallon pot. 
 
ColdSmoke said:
I don't believe that a 15 gal pot will produce 10x+ more pods than a 5 gal on average. I wish there was a bigger sample with the 5 gallon pot. 
Click to expand...
I agree it is always better to have more examples although the 17 gallon pot only produced 7x the 5 gallon
 
Swampy_NZ said:
Last June I started a project that turned into a monster. It was my first serious effort at growing chilles. little did I know how big these things would get.
After starting way to many seeds under lights and having to give away and cull some I ended up with 9 plants.3 Reapers, 2 Choc Bhuts, 3 Dorset Nagas and something that was either a yellow Scorpion or something else.The jury is still out on that one.I mixed up a soil mix of Compost,potting mix,pumice,Wormcasting,Dolomite lime and chicken and sheep pellets and divided it between my containers.
After coming out from under the lights and given about a week to get used to their new polytunnel they were planted up.I used Floranova bloom for a lot of the season and at the end was just using plain water for the last 2 months..I kept a tally of pods weights each time I did a harvest.This is what I got:
 
Dorset Naga     160L (42 Gallon)               6.2 Kg   (13.6 Pounds)
Dorset Naga      65L  (17 Gallon)               5.6 Kg   (12.3 Pounds)
Dorset Naga      20L   (5 Gallon )                 .8 Kg   (1.7   Pounds)
 
C-Reaper          110L (29 Gallon)               2.1 Kg   (4.6 Pounds)
C-Reaper          65L   (17 Gallon)               2.1 Kg   (4.6 Pounds)
C-Reaper          50L   (13 Gallon)               2.2 Kg   (4.8 Pounds)
 
Choc Bhut         110L (29 Gallon)               3.0 Kg   (6.6 Pounds)
Choc Bhut          50 L (13 Gallon)               4.0 Kg   (9.6 Pounds)
 
Scorpion?          65L  (17 Gallon)                9.3 Kg   (20.4 Pounds)
 
Total:                                                          35.3 Kg  (77.6 pounds)
 
My thoughts on the outcome is this.Bigger is not always better after a certain size.I think the sweet spot is 65L.After that the returns and effort of bigger containers are just not worth it in cost of soil and time watering.The bigger pots are also impossible to move while the 50 and 65L can be moved.
My Dorset Naga in 20L was pathetic compared to the plants in bigger pots as was to be expected.
This season I will ditch the larger pots and stick with 50 and 65L as well as doing some DWC buckets.
I now have a freezer full of pods that I have to do something with.Good times.
Here is my Glog if people want to have a look although I stopped updating it in Feb.
Feel free to ask any question or comment on things.bring on next season   :)
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/47051-swampys-kiwi-grow/
 
 
Here is a fancy graph
 
 
Plants before last harvest
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click to expand...
Swampy, out of interest, how many steps did you do in terms of pot size to land in the bigger pots?  Doing some planning, and now have a bunch of 10 gallon smart pots, but wondering if I need some 5's to step them up. 
 
Cheers
 
Bumper
 
Bumper said:
Swampy, out of interest, how many steps did you do in terms of pot size to land in the bigger pots?  Doing some planning, and now have a bunch of 10 gallon smart pots, but wondering if I need some 5's to step them up. 
 
Cheers
 
Bumper
Click to expand...
The Dorset Nagas and yellow Scorpion went from a small starter tray - 1L -  2L  then their final large pot.
The Choc Bhuts and Reapers started in the small poly cups then into a 1L then their final pot
If 10G are your final pots I wouldnt bother with the 5G.Just go from half Gallon straight into your 10s
 
Swampy_NZ said:
The Dorset Nagas and yellow Scorpion went from a small starter tray - 1L -  2L  then their final large pot.
The Choc Bhuts and Reapers started in the small poly cups then into a 1L then their final pot
If 10G are your final pots I wouldnt bother with the 5G.Just go from half Gallon straight into your 10s
Click to expand...
Sweet, thanks for this.  
 
Loads of really useful information. Thanks for taking the time to share. :P
 
This has probably been posted before but worth repeating here. Seaspring seeds grew Dorset Naga in different sized pots; they had best results with the largest pot.
I have a small Bhut Orange Copenhagen in a 200 litre blue barrel. Seems it may be needlessly large... :rolleyes:
 
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