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container Minimum container size?

Getting my ducks in a row for my first year of growing. Talking with my dad and brother last night about rounding up some 5 gallon buckets for container growing. My bro. thought a plastic 3 lb. coffee can would be big enough. That got me thinking......
What is the minimum (and/or optimum) size container i should be looking for??


Paul
 
Mininum for peppers should be 2 gallon, but it'll get rootbound within about 2-3 months (dpedning on the soil quality and thickness). For one season growing, 5 gallons is best but you can get away with 3 gallon ones.
 
IMO, smaller plants such as thais will do fine in 3-4 gallon containers, serranos, jalapenos will do fine in 5 gallon containers, but the larger chinense need a larger container to keep them from getting rootbound after about 5 months....again IMO they need at least 7 gallon pots...
 
AlabamaJack said:
IMO, smaller plants such as thais will do fine in 3-4 gallon containers, serranos, jalapenos will do fine in 5 gallon containers, but the larger chinense need a larger container to keep them from getting rootbound after about 5 months....again IMO they need at least 7 gallon pots...

Agreed A.J after removing so of my larger c.chinese plants from 5 gallon there was nearly no soil..Just all roots 7 is good advice :shocked:
 
Paul R said:
Thanks god. Did i just type that?:lol:

Paul


Firstly, He is actually Jesus...:D.. Visual comfirmation has been provided...and THP is GOD!!!!!!

Secondly, I think AJ is on the money, But that's not saying that the C. Chinese plants won't survive in 5 gallon pots, just that they won't produce as much and a little more care is needed.....

And remember to put a good amount of drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket...
 
I dont think it matters how big the pot is.

If the pot is smaller... say 2 gallon, it will become root bound in a few months but the plant will still grow and produce fruit, just not as big and not as much as in a 5 gallon pot. It will still get root bound in the larger pot but will take longer and the plant will grow larger.

I had plants in varying size pots last year and i found the bigger the pot, the bigger the bush and the bigger the harvest.

All depends on how big you want them to grow, how many peppers you want and how long you wnat to keep the plants for.

But bigger is better.

cheers
 
This manzano is potbound after 5 months in 1/2 of a 55 gal drum

IMG_6554.jpg


Most chile plants will expand to use the available space.
 
The rocoto was in an 18 gallon grow tote with a siling labuyo seedling...poor thing never stood a chance. Rocoto sprawled all over that tub and when we took it out for overwintering the roots had filled the tub. I can tell that's one space hog. It deserves it's own container and a big one.
 
I cam across this website yesterday, and these pots look pretty cool.

http://www.superoots.com/air_intro.htm

After reviewing peoples thoughts, I'm going to price up some 8 gallon pots from these guys to see how they go. The theory behind them looks scientifically sound, and some of the photos they have of the trees look real cool.
 
I emailed the makers of the Air-Pot, yet to receive a response unfortunately. I know I can't get them in Austalia, but that's never stopped me buying stuff before :)
 
MiLK_MaN said:
I emailed the makers of the Air-Pot, yet to receive a response unfortunately. I know I can't get them in Austalia, but that's never stopped me buying stuff before ;)


Not trying to stop you as they look pretty good, but I feel that you might be spending a lot of money that you just don't have to....

If you get a good sized pot and get good potting mix you shouldn't really have a problem, and it will be at a fraction of the price (I would guess?). You only then need to keep an eye on the nutrients you feed the plants which you would still have to do with this pot set up...

Just a different point of view :hell:. If you do end up getting them let us know what they are like???

Cheers
 
And remember to put a good amount of drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket...

You can drill a bunch of holes at the bottom and a couple on the sides about 1/2in - 2in up the side if you use a layer of Hydroton at the bottom. Some guy at the hydro shop told me that was a great way to use Smart Pots, that layer of Hydraton helps with aeration and drainage. Just a suggestion.

I emailed the makers of the Air-Pot, yet to receive a response unfortunately. I know I can't get them in Austalia, but that's never stopped me buying stuff before
icon_smile.gif

I found out about these Air Pots through these guys. http://www.hidhut.com/catalog/pots-containers-c-106.html?page=4&sort=2a

found this thread searching for "Air Pots" - good to see people are using them with good results, means I'll be picking up some from these guys in no time.
 
Heh, might as well bump the topic to the top, otherwise someone will just ask the same question again...

I'll only grow chinense in something as small as 5 gallon pots if I have ran out of larger pots. I had to water chinense in 5 gallon pots WAY too often this year (2 or more times a day for some) and could have just grown fewer, larger plants to get the same yield as I ultimately ran out of space/sunlight. The downside of larger pots is once you get a big plant in a 7+ gallon pot they start to become difficult to move around unless you have really long arms and/or trim off side shoots so you're not carrying the pot at arm's length.
 
Heh, might as well bump the topic to the top, otherwise someone will just ask the same question again...

I'll only grow chinense in something as small as 5 gallon pots if I have ran out of larger pots. I had to water chinense in 5 gallon pots WAY too often this year (2 or more times a day for some) and could have just grown fewer, larger plants to get the same yield as I ultimately ran out of space/sunlight. The downside of larger pots is once you get a big plant in a 7+ gallon pot they start to become difficult to move around unless you have really long arms and/or trim off side shoots so you're not carrying the pot at arm's length.

Thanks for that. I was thinking about going with 7gallon pots but now that you mention it, they might be a little to big. 5 gallon sounds about right, and mangeable. I'm mostly growing right now for personal consumption, not mass-ultra-hot-production. I hope to make a few small bottles of hot sauce and eat some raw peppers for the heck of it. Mostly for fun right now, but eventually I would love to have backyard full of awesome!
 
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