PaulG 2019 - Three Gallon Grow

PaulG · May 16, 2019

These three have been in the 3-gal. Pots for some time.

Aji Amarillo. I am sure this one will be good to go. Already
lots of nice pods, and more setting every week. My only
concern is that it will get too tall to move easily. That just
about happened in 2017:

Peruvian Red Rocoto. Not sure about this one. I have
always grown them in #15 nursery pots. There are a
half-dozen nice small pods on it now. It is getting ready
for another round of flowering in this cooler weather.
Last weeks 85-90* days caused it to stop for awhile:

Chiltepin. Has a flat top from growing under the T5HO
lights for so long. (Reminds me of some Wild Texas
Tepins I grew in 2013 or 2014(?)) Many pods have set,
and more on the way. I am pretty sure this will do well
in the smaller pot:

PaulG · May 16, 2019

These three potted up yesterday.
Left to right, Scorpion, JA Red Habanero, SLR cross:

I chose the smallest plants from the four JA Red Habaneros
and three Yellow Scorpions I had going. The Scorpions are
smallish plants to begin with, so it should do well in the 3-gal.
pot. The JA Red Habaneros can be large, so this will be an
experiment, for sure. I just have a feeling that these will get
surprisingly large even in smaller pots like these.

I put the SLR cross in because I want to make sure I have lots
of pods to share at the end of the season. Am going to try
isolating a branch on that one when the weather gets nice
this summer.

PaulG · May 16, 2019

This BJ Hybrid will go into a 3-gal. pot as soon
as it is hardened off:

I am a bit concerned about this one. My other BJ Hybrids
are tall, tall, tall. Pushing 3 feet in their 2-liter pots. I May
have to do some pruning to keep it at a reasonable size.

In fact, pruning may be necessary on all of the plants to
keep their sizes reasonable. Wouldnt mind any suggestions
regarding that.

PaulG · May 16, 2019

Goats Weed and c. chacoense starts. I think I will put
the middle GW in the 3-gal. pot. Toss up on the Chaco,
their seed came from the same pod and they basically
look like twins. Maybe I will put them both in

I think the GW will do okay in the smaller pot, although
I have grown them in #5 and #7 pots/ grow bags, and
they got pretty tall. I can see the other two are tending
toward the tall side.

PaulG · May 16, 2019

I plan on continuing my regular fertilizing routine with these plants:

AK Fish Fertilizer
AK MorBloom
Silica Blast
Cal-Mag

Mixed at recommended strength, I think that works out to a
7-11-11.5 NPK ratio. I have noticed the early pods on my
plants are much larger since adding the Silica Blast to the
Schedule. The two liter pots have been getting this combination
every watering.

podz · May 16, 2019

Following because I have a small army of 3 gallon (12 litre) pots and they will all be outside grows.

podz · May 16, 2019

PaulG said:
I plan on continuing my regular fertilizing routine with these plants:

AK Fish Fertilizer
AK MorBloom
Silica Blast
Cal-Mag

Mixed at recommended strength, I think that works out to a
7-11-11.5 NPK ratio. I have noticed the early pods on my
plants are much larger since adding the Silica Blast to the
Schedule. The two liter pots have been getting this combination
every watering.

I have really been contemplating going round the corner to the grow store and buying a bottle of silica nutes.

Sawyer · May 16, 2019

Cool idea. Will be following. How old is the oldest plant participating in this experiment?

Edit: How OLD is...

Devv · May 16, 2019

PaulG said:
Decided to put links to my other threads in the first post
of my new threads so I can find them easily when looking for
information. Did that this year on the first page and it is
very handy:

PaulG 2012
PaulG 2013
PaulG 2014
PaulG 2015
PaulG 2016
PaulG 2017
PaulG 2019

So, this thread is sort of a sub-thread to my regular 2019 Grow Log.

I am growing ten plants in 3-gallon pots this season.

Thinking about this because I want to be able to move
them in and out of the garage or greenhouse this Fall in
order to extend the season. Plus, I am not sure how much
longer I want to wrestle with the big containers. Even wet
10-gallon pots are getting heavier each year, and always
having to get help to lift the big containers in and out of their
saucers is getting to be a drag.

This thread will concentrate on just the 3-gallon plants. If I
can get decent production from a 3-gallon Pot, that would
be great. I think that will be the case based on my grow of
the Aji Amarillo plants in 2-gallon pots in 2017.

The ten plants included in this mini-grow:

JA Red Habanero

Yellow Scorpion

SLR cross

Aji Amarillo

Peruvian Red Rocoto

Chiltepin

Goats Weed

c. chacoense

BJ Hybrid (3-inch pod)

? - probably Mark's (Dragon49) PdNxBJ if it arrives healthy and I can get it going!.

I surely do hear you about moving pots. At LB's suggestion we bought one of these: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/groundwork-1-400-lb-capacity-heavy-duty-steel-utility-cart

Sure does help with the moving, but not the lifting :shh:

Edit: OK done reading, and I can't wait to see the results. And I think you will do fine. I'm so forgetful with names. Who's the guy in Canada who has these huge plants in the smaller pots? You can do it!

stettoman · May 17, 2019

Me follow you, as all my OW Rocotos actually went into two gallon pots this Spring. Mine are greening up nice, some trying to spread out a bit, but so far only the Rocoto Rojo is producing more than foliage...

BigCedar · May 17, 2019

Great "Subglog" idea Paul! I feel like a lot can be accomplished with smaller containers and it'll be great to see that on full display here. More than the size of the container the quality of soil and nutrition play the biggest role if you ask me. I'm a firm believer that a 3 gallon plant in premium soil with optimal nutrition will out perform the same plant in a 100 gallon container planted in mediocre dirt/nutes any day of the week. Here's a couple shots from a Raja Mirch Naga back in 2016 in a 5 gallon.. Granted 5 gallon and not 3 but still the same principle applies, I overloaded this particular plant with meals to see what happened compared to some of my 7,10,15gallon pots. It was the only plant I had to support that season ( tied it to the swing set lol )

I'll be followin!

PaulG · May 17, 2019

podz said:
I have really been contemplating going round the corner to the grow store and buying a bottle of silica nutes.

I would recommend it. Stickman did quite a work up
about the Silica nutes a couple of seasons ago.

podz said:
Following because I have a small army of 3 gallon (12 litre) pots and they will all be outside grows.

Welcome, Mika!

Sawyer said:
Cool idea. Will be following. How old is the oldest plant participating in this experiment?

Edit: How OLD is...

Might as well list hook dates here:

Rocoto Rojo...............12/10
Aji Amarillo.................12/13
Yellow Scorpion...........1/3
JA Red Habanero........1/8
Chiltepin......................1/22
SLR 2/16.....................2/16
BJ hybrid....................2/27
Goat's Weed..............4/17
PdNxBJ.....................4/18
c. chacoense.............4/28

As you can see, quite a spread, John!

Devv said:
I surely do hear you about moving pots. At LB's suggestion we bought one of these: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/groundwork-1-400-lb-capacity-heavy-duty-steel-utility-cart

I'd love to have one, but we have no place to keep it in our suburban yard

stettoman said:
Me follow you, as all my OW Rocotos actually went into two gallon pots this Spring. Mine are greening up nice, some trying to spread out a bit, but so far only the Rocoto Rojo is producing more than foliage...

I'm actually surprised by how big plants can get in smaller pots, Eric.
Good luck with those OW Rocotos.

PaulG · May 17, 2019

BigCedar said:
Great "Subglog" idea Paul! I feel like a lot can be accomplished with smaller containers and it'll be great to see that on full display here. More than the size of the container the quality of soil and nutrition play the biggest role if you ask me. I'm a firm believer that a 3 gallon plant in premium soil with optimal nutrition will out perform the same plant in a 100 gallon container planted in mediocre dirt/nutes any day of the week. Here's a couple shots from a Raja Mirch Naga back in 2016 in a 5 gallon.. Granted 5 gallon and not 3 but still the same principle applies, I overloaded this particular plant with meals to see what happened compared to some of my 7,10,15gallon pots. It was the only plant I had to support that season ( tied it to the swing set lol )

I'll be followin!

Wow, awesome specimen, Brandon. Great testimony
to growing in smaller containers!

Glad to have you along for the ride, my friend!

PaulG · May 17, 2019

The tenth specimen for the Three Gallon Grow (TGG)
arrived today via FedEx!

Many thanks to Mark (Dragon49) for sending me
this little purple gem, a PdNxBJ cross. I am very
excited to grow this one out, and stoked to include
it in my TGG!

Eeeeeehaw!

Orekoc · May 17, 2019

And I've said it before, save seed. This is one killer looking plant. I hope it lives up to its potential.

Actually, maybe I can get cutting from the plant this fall. The Tualatin Valley is just north of me.

PaulG said:
The tenth specimen for the Three Gallon Grow (TGG)
arrived today via FedEx!

94A1988B-4F08-4421-894B-C7B6F3D8C081.jpeg

Many thanks to Mark (Dragon49) for sending me
this little purple gem, a PdNxBJ cross. I am very
excited to grow this one out, and stoked to include
it in my TGG!

Eeeeeehaw!

Devv · May 17, 2019

One thing I would appreciate from all of you who grow in pots is the nutrient regimen you all use. I've been mainly growing in the dirt, and my garden has a really high PH 8+!

I don't do so well in containers :mope:

PaulG · May 17, 2019

Orekoc said:
And I've said it before, save seed. This is one killer looking plant. I hope it lives up to its potential.

Actually, maybe I can get cutting from the plant this fall. The Tualatin Valley is just north of me.

Right on, Craig! Sounds like a plan...

PaulG · May 17, 2019

This is from Mark's description of the cross:

For our record keeping, this is from my batch #57.
If it crosses, we get an F1 (PDN X Bhut) x Yellow 7.
If it grows true, we get an F8 PDN x Bhut.

Here's a better look at the new arrival:

Masher · May 18, 2019

Beautiful starts, that purple youngin looks awesome.

Happy growing Paul

:cheers: