container Container growing

[juanitos]

solid7 he's in canada and has much shorter season than you. he wants smaller pots so that the plants get rootbound and produce fruit quicker instead of growing 10 gallons of roots.
 
the viagrow 5 gal bags i used did not deteriorate / get brittle / tear / rip. I think they are made out of thicker 6mil plastic.

 

[Geonerd]

alot of landscaping guys often have shit loads of containers too fwiw. might be able to score some from them. large one too perhaps... from trees and what have you.

 
Find a local nursery that also does landscaping work.  They are almost guaranteed to have a humongous pile of once-used plastic pots.
If you buy some stuff from them and ask nicely, most places will let you have a bunch.

 

[queequeg152]

 
Find a local nursery that also does landscaping work.  They are almost guaranteed to have a humongous pile of once-used plastic pots.
If you buy some stuff from them and ask nicely, most places will let you have a bunch.

 
true. ALSO... you can get smaller pots on ebay for close to shipping costs. just search for "recycled pots" or something like that. like 90% of them are those orange plastic pots that fit into seed flats. 
i was close to buying some small pots for growing cactus from seeds, but i ended up dropping the plastic bin i was growing them in. this was years ago but i assume they still sell them on ebay.

 
Understand.  And while I understand the economics of smaller pots, and the fact that they are necessary for many, I'll say that if you can afford the cost of potting mix and have the real estate, big pots are king.  I've found that 10 gallon size is ideal, but nothing less than 7 for me.  Small works fine for others, I get it.  Just relating my experience and preference...

 
 
i think for organic growers, the larger the better, but you should be aware that you can grow enormous platnts in very small containers. its just about how you feed the plant. 
 
best part of large containers though, is stability imho. even though my old congo red plants tipped over all the time in 10 gallon containers. super annoying.

 

[Blister]

solid7 he's in canada and has much shorter season than you. he wants smaller pots so that the plants get rootbound and produce fruit quicker instead of growing 10 gallons of roots.
 
the viagrow 5 gal bags i used did not deteriorate / get brittle / tear / rip. I think they are made out of thicker 6mil plastic.

Yep! You nailed that one right on the head. I'd also add that the season is also much cooler than most pepper grower climates. Large pots in cool climates take forever to dry out so you can't feed often. As you mentioned I'd rather spend my time growing peppers rather than 10 gallons of roots.

Neil

 

[Malarky]

so is 3-5ga the sweet spot for short season growers? 

 

[Blister]

so is 3-5ga the sweet spot for short season growers? 

I'll be trying 3ga root pouches this year so I can't really say how they compare to 3 ga pots. I can say that I've had the best production with 2 ga pots so far. Especially compared to going with really large pots.

Neil

 

[Malarky]

I'll be trying 3ga root pouches this year so I can't really say how they compare to 3 ga pots. I can say that I've had the best production with 2 ga pots so far. Especially compared to going with really large pots.

Neil

I got a late start on my first ever grow so i'm hoping small pots or pouches will let me harvest at least a few pods before frost, so i can taste and make decisions for next year.

 

[Blister]

I got a late start on my first ever grow so i'm hoping small pots or pouches will let me harvest at least a few pods before frost, so i can taste and make decisions for next year.

Hope it works out for you. Some of the super hots take a long time to produce. I'm at the opposite side. I'm considerably farther ahead this year compared to last year. I'm a little worried that I'll run out of room.

Neil

 

[Brocoli]

Go to a local nursery and rummage their pot recycle bin. You can find 3-5 gallon pots pretty easily, anything bigger becomes a little more on the luck side.