container Container gardening - Are 15 gallon nursery pots OK for two plants?

B

bigflies

Fledgling member here   :hi: .  Thanks to all who have welcomed me to the forum and for all the great advice I've received thus far!
 
Currently I'm seeking container gardening advice for my pepper grow this year.  I'm in Zone 6b.
 
I have two raised beds, each with approximately 32-36 square feet of gardening space.  But since joining the forum, my grow list has expanded quite a bit...I think beyond the bounds of my raised beds...haha!  Besides using all my raised bed gardening space for peppers, I'd like to try growing additional pepper plants in 15 gallon nursery pots this year.
 
My question is:  Can a 15 gallon nursery pot adequately support two pepper plants?
 
From reviewing container gardening topics on this forum, it seems a lot of folks plant one pepper plant in a 5 gallon container.  Would two pepper plants be able to prosper in a 15 gallon nursery pot?
 
Below is my anticipated grow list at present.  Would any of the varieties listed below be unsuitable for container gardening?  Thank you!
 
C. annuum
Aleppo
Beaver dam
Giant thai
Jalapeno numex vaquero
Hot portugal
Large thick cayenne
Maule’s red hot
Shishito
Iberia hybrid
Jalapeno numex jalmundo
Sport
Yalova charleston
Serrano tampequino
Thunder mountain longhorn
Wenk’s yellow hots
 
C. baccatum
Aji habanero
Aji red
Aji pineapple
Criolla sella
Uba tuba
 
C. chinense
Aji jobito
Aji margariteno
White fatalii
 
 
Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks again.
 
-Will
 
bigflies said:
My question is:  Can a 15 gallon nursery pot adequately support two pepper plants?
Click to expand...
 
Direct answer to your specific question: yes, a 15 gallon pot can support two pepper plants.
 
It can't hurt to test it out for yourself, but I would suggest to trim the branches that try to cross over to the other plant. It's not needed, but keeping them separated can be helpful for a few reasons and easy to do if you start when the plants are young.
 
Also, each plant isn't likely to get quite as big as it would if it were in the pot by itself. If you had a smaller pot, this would be more significant.
 
I did a similar experiment last season....3 pots with doubles, 3 with singles  keeping it to same varieties 1 vs 2 or 3 in each pot.
 
Results....the singles, doubles, and triple all put out the same vegetative growth and almost same number of pods/weight from each pot more or less....maybe more branching on the trips and doubles but no real pod production difference to note....not enough to do doubles/trips in a 15 gallon anyway (these were 15NC tall pots from grow vendor supply)
 
I won't waste doing doubles or trips again...one and done from now on.
 
you may get different results, I just used good soil and miracle grow to keeps things balanced for testing.
 
Nice Experiment Masher! thanks for sharing
Masher said:
I did a similar experiment last season....3 pots with doubles, 3 with singles  keeping it to same varieties 1 vs 2 or 3 in each pot.
 
Results....the singles, doubles, and triple all put out the same vegetative growth and almost same number of pods/weight from each pot more or less....maybe more branching on the trips and doubles but no real pod production difference to note....not enough to do doubles/trips in a 15 gallon anyway (these were 15NC tall pots from grow vendor supply)
 
I won't waste doing doubles or trips again...one and done from now on.
 
you may get different results, I just used good soil and miracle grow to keeps things balanced for testing.
Click to expand...
 
 
If you want to grow more plants and are hurting for space or funds,plant two in a 15. It's not like it can't be done. If you are planting two different plants in one container then it makes sense. Planting two of the same variety in one container will not get you any further ahead in terms of production. I personally would double up the C.annuums before the others.
 
Not sure how many gallons but I maintained two perennial habañero plants in a 17"x17" round tree pot for years. They kept me in peppers until I forgot to turn on the light on the wrong night.
 
Sure, two will grow fine.  The plants will get several feet tall and should bear plenty of fruit.  You'll wind up with two somewhat smaller plants instead of one bigger one; a perfectly acceptable trade-off if you have more varieties than space.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top