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Young Plant in a Big Pot - Bad Idea?

timh59

timh59

My neighbor stopped by and said the reason my plants are growing so slow is because I put them in the 5 gallon bucket too soon. Said they would grow better in a small pot at first because the roots have too much room to grow in a big bucket, and that takes away from the foliage.
Is that even a thing?
 
In my experience they do spend more time in root development, but once the roots are developed the growth is explosive. If you plan to grow them out in pots I don't see anything wrong with transplanting before they get root bound. Less transplant shock that way, just expect to not see any noticeable vegetative growth for a while. After all, that's how they grow in nature.
 
That's not a thing with peppers. I've heard it about cactuses but not even sure if that's true. If you plant them straight into the earth they have practically unlimited space to grow. Putting it in a bigger pot is closer to nature than incrementally increasing the size of the pot. Like Hafners said, transplant shock is worse than whatever good could come from potting up step-by-step.
 
I transplant them 1 or to 2 times at maximum. I germinate them in a small pot, transfer them to a slightly bigger one after a while and then they go to their final pots right before they go outside. If I'd have enough space I would even skip the first small pot and straight away germinate them in the medium one.
 
No worries, just ignore what your neighbour said. Once the roots have developed the plant will grow like crazy.
 
That is definitely an issue with longer-lived plants. For example, I have citrus trees and sweet bay. I only pot them up when they're almost root bound and, even then, into a pot that's only a couple inches larger than the one they're in. Those plants like to grow into their pots slowly.
 
The issue with annuals (for the sake of argument) is that potting up could take several iterations. I just throw my peppers or other annuals into the final resting home (5g) straight from the 4" pots I initially grew them in. I get good production from most of the plants, but that's probably mainly to do with the nute regimen etc I give them above and beyond the in-ground plants.
 
I also start my seeds in towels then plant them in 4" pots. They only get transplanted once...when they go outside in the ground. When I've tried to grow in cells, they've grown a lot slower (I still put my late starts in cells just because I'm out of room). But that's just how it's been for me.
 
timh59 said:
My neighbor stopped by and said the reason my plants are growing so slow is because I put them in the 5 gallon bucket too soon. Said they would grow better in a small pot at first because the roots have too much room to grow in a big bucket, and that takes away from the foliage.
Is that even a thing?
Click to expand...
Then how does he explain them growing in the ground???
 
in my experience, i prefer to progressively pot up as the roots overtake when container. I've noticed that if you have a small pepper plant in a large pot, a lot of the extra soil stays moist, which peppers like soil alternating from moist to dry, then water again. definitely have had some plants get root rot even with sufficient drainage.  with that said, for tomatoes i go straight from small plant to big pot and burry half the plant too to make roots which you don't really do with peppers as far as i know
 
I think if you weigh out the amount of growing time lost due to transplant shock from multiple transplants and the amount of growing time lost from one transplant into a large container you'll see that it's better to transplant into a larger container once and be done with it. And if you're worried about the excess soil staying too wet due to lack of root system uptake then just water at the base of the plant and the surrounding soil will wick away the excess.
 
The whole potting up thing was a curiosity to me - I spent the first 30+ years of my life in SE Texas and had never, ever done that. Also no need for it in So Cal. But after moving to Ohio, I discovered a need for it. Basically, it's a function of room and convenience. Since the winters are so long and cold here, plants are limited to available indoor space for a good deal of the year. You have a big house or greenhouse? Big pots are fine. You have a little house? Then little pots. But also, how many plants you have becomes a factor. I had over 50 at one point, and watering that many pots while indoors was a bit of a logistics nightmare since I have no greenhouse and not a big house. If they had been in large pots I probably would have had time for nothing else besides watering.
 
Where you live, the winter weather isn't so bad nor for so long. You can grow outside year-round, if you choose. So as said already, and as you've already figured, save yourself some hassle and just roll with the big pots. Your neighbor may have come from up north and not really understand how different things are between the two locations. 
 
G
 
I agree with Geeme, it depends on the climate and space available. 
 
I disagree with citrus or bay tree needing small pots, they often do better in huge pots or in the soil.  I have grown cuttings side by side and find the more root space I give them the better they perform.  I assume the issues ako1974 has had are due to either climate or pests such as root nematodes.  Things like figs tend to fruit better with restricted roots.  You can encourage figs to fruit better by getting a sharp spade and removing some roots.  The wild ancestors of figs grew in rocky places so it was advantageous to take up all available space before fruiting.  I can't think of too many other fruiting plants that perform better with restricted roots.
 
Great topic, I came here today looking for this specific information.  Last year I took the sprouts (2-3") straight into 5 gal containers, I seemed to have issues with the roots not going deep and the bottom half of the container staying constantly moist all season. (even though I have drilled a lot of holes in it)
 
I was wondering if I had transplanted them to soon.
 
I have several this year that I was thinking of moving them to a 12" then to the 5 gal later.  Hopefully staying on topic - thoughts?
 
Thanks!
 
Everything boils down to availability.  Plants in sandy, unfertile soil, tend to develop much shallower, and wider root systems, as they search out water and nutrients.  Plants in compact, clay-ish soil, don't wander far, and often grow quicker, and stronger.  Sunlight figures in there, as does carbon in the soil/media.  Everything is a game of allocating available energy.
 
Big pots are unnecessary if your growing season is short, and you don't plan to treat the plant as a perennial.  If you keep the plant happy in small pots, it will keep you happy.  It doesn't need to have giant foliage or huge trunky stems.  What matters is fruit output.
 
I did grows over the years of huge pots, and tiny pots.  Tiny pots will make a lot of fruit in their respective space.  You can plant more plants, and feed less, over a single growing season, in my experience.  Huge pots made huge plants, and made my post-winter recovery a better proposition.  I pruned everything back to a main stem, and big plant had the same early season explosive growth as the small plants.  However, when I really quantified it all, I believe that I got more production out of many smaller plants in smaller pots, than fewer ones in huge pots, when comparing resources.  At least until some of my better plants were in year 3 or 4 of life, when the big plants made crazy big yields.
 
Bigger pots are always favorable when you are growing with a lot of added organic material. (over small pots)
 
I know it was a simple question, but it has a fairly complex answer.
 
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