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container Container/Pot sizes

S

slick

Fist post on this forum and love how much info is available. GREAT STUFF! I can see myself coming back regularly for advice.. I'm about to start some plants here in Sydney indoors to have them ready by the time the warm weather arrives. I've got 80mm Jiffy peat pots and some store bought seedling mix and will be planting them directly into larger pots later on (will be using some of the soil mix stuff recommended in the sticky for that).
Anyway havent been able to find information on this so apologies if it's been asked before.

  • What size pots should I be using for my final pot? 300mm/12inch large enough? What's the minimum for 1 plant to keep it happy?
  • Also what size pot should I be using if I will be growing 2 plants per pot (depending on how lucky I get with the germination)? Do I need to go to go up to 400mm pots for that?

If it helps in answering the question I'll be growing the following: (I've also only grown orange habanero + birds eye last year so not familiar with how big some of these plants will get)

Orange Habanero
Costa Rican Habanero
Fatali
Jalapeno
Some sort of bird's eye (kept seeds after buying some an at asian market - they were great - 3 single plants produced so much I had to pickle some and make some hot sauce because it was too much)
Yellow Cayenne


Also attempting to overwinter some stuff at the moment but the plants are struggling a bit with the colder weather - might need to take some photos of those for some more specific advice(also hail storm last weekend didnt help).

Anyway hopefully someone can help with with the container sizes...

slick
 
I'm using 48cm. dia. x 46cm. dp. (480mm x 460mm) Terracotta pots for most of my C. chinense. I'm also using 44cm. x 46cm plastic pots for some of the others. A lot of growers here also use 5 gal. plastic pots; with some using 7 gal. pots. And then there are the bags; so many choices.
My opinion is that bigger is better, but one can make almost anything work. That said, if one goes too small, it can cause potential problems down the road; one of which could be water, as in the plant will drink the soil dry very quickly.
You'll likely be told 2 plants per pot isn't a good idea; I don't necessarily agree with that, but each to their own on that one. Good luck.

Oh, and welcome to THP. Cheers.
 
I always use 1 gallon containers, why, logistics, my season is really short and I have 2 seasons, summer and winter. summer is also known as hail season, so I can't just put my plants out and go to the mall. Well, I tried that, they didn't forecast any storm warnings, it was nice and hot outside, I took my girls to our local public library, while there, I looked out the window and said to the girls, its time to go (I can just tell by the black sky). Just got home as golf ball size hail was pelting down. I keep my 1 gallon plants in totes that hold 6 plants, I was able to get almost all my plants in before any severe damage was done, I took a few welts, my poor kung pao lost some branches and 1 goats weeds got branch snapped but I ducted taped it back together.

Then, during my winter months, my 1 gallon containers fit perfectly on a large window ledge that faces south and due to the angle of the sun, they get a lot of winter sun exposure, in winter our sun rises around 8:30/9:00am and then sets by 4:30pm.

So for me, its all about logistics. I would love to have my plants in a 5 gallon pails but hauling 40-50 plants in off the deck as some summer night time tempuratures could hit 5C, wouldn't be realistic and how do you negotiate with the wife with all those plants in the living room, night after night. (she's the bread winner in the family).

Anyway, that's my game plan, I have stuck with it for 15+ years.
 
G'day and welcome from up north!

I'm not going to be using anything above a 300mm this season (also for "logistical" reasons as Burning Colon put it... only mine involve growing on a patio and the need to move pots two or three times a day to acquire adequate sunlight). For most Annuums you could probably even get away with 250's if you weren't anticipating huge harvests but definitely stick to 300's at least for your Chinense varieties (they are a bit more fussier when it comes to space).

If you were growing two plants in one pot? I'm thinking you would need something a wee bit bigger than a 400.
 
Final pot size all depends when you start your plants, what variety, and how big/fast they grow. There is no need to re-pot a small plant directly into a big pot, do it incrementally when needed and you'll likely see much better results. Personally I have some plants in 3 gallon containers and some in as big as 25 gallon containers, not all plants grow the same.

2 plants per pot never works well in my opinion.
 
The bigger pots will give you the bigger plants...
That said, it all depends on what you're expecting from your peppers (and different varieties have different size range too).

This year i have 2 jamaican scotch bonnet, one in a 30cm wide pot and the other in a 35cm (12L) one:
jamaicanscotchbonnet19n.jpg

The pic was taken at the end of july, the difference is even bigger now... and the difference in yield is even more bigger, it seems like (from what i've harvested and what is left on the plants) i'll harvest twice as much pods from the big plant than the small one even if the difference in pot size is not so big ! ;)
With bigger pots the yield could be better, but in fact with the wish to grow more varieties and more plants by variety (to have at least a little choice in the plants that will be used for next generation seeds), i think those 35cm pots are good enough for me or i won't know what to do with pods lol (i've got some other varieties in the same pots, and they are doin' fine so far too).

Smaller pots will need more watering (can be important in very hot weather) and more fertilizing (specially at the end of the season).
 
thanks for all the replies guys

I think I'll take the advice about multiple plants per pot... I dont think it will be practical to get really large pots. Last year I had 1 enormous ceramic pot (takes 2 people to move it) with 4 plants and they've all done fantastic. There's enough soil in there and water crystals that it didnt need frequent watering - maybe every 8-10 days... anyway the pot was expensive, the 3 large plants were casting a shadow over the smaller plant, it's hard to move and it would have been a lot more practical to have 4 much smaller pots

I've had a good look around yesterday and i've been able to locate some cheap plastic pots 330mm (12inch) diameter pots that apparently have a volume of about 15L (4 gallons). They're probably going to be good enough in terms of size because jumping to 400mm will be a bit too expensive and I'm not sure the varieties I'll be growing will need that much soil. I know bigger is better but there's probably little benefit when you get something larger than 330mm/15L/4 gallons. There's also the slightly smaller size of 300diameter/13.5L but the price difference is very small. Seems it's better to go with the slightly larger ones if I have the space.

It's reassuring that you can get away with 1 gallon containers in Canada. The season here's much longer and realistically you dont really need to bring plans back in the house in winter. A plastic bag / tent /glasshouse outside seems to be enough for the really mild winter we get in Sydney Australia.

Any recommendations for buying the pots? I dont need them yet since the seedlings are just starting out but i want to be prepared. I might look at ebay too later on to see if I can get a better deal. Any other suggestions for places to buy plastic pots?

Since space is somewhat limited I'm a bit unsure about potting seedlings into 2-3 pots before reaching the final pot. I dont have any spare pots at the moment so i'd also have to buy the small pots. I might get just 2 or 3 in between pots and check it if it makes any difference compared to going from seedling to final pot.
 
slick said:
Any recommendations for buying the pots? I dont need them yet since the seedlings are just starting out but i want to be prepared. I might look at ebay too later on to see if I can get a better deal. Any other suggestions for places to buy plastic pots?
Click to expand...
If you find somewhere cheap, let me know! I'm sure I was paying around $5 each (for the 300's) last season at K-Mart. I went back the other day to have a look and not only are they now $7 but they look shallower too (not sure). Sorry, K-Mart, but looks like I won't be back.

I have yet to investigate whether or not they can be bought in bulk and get them cheaper from somewhere but as I need quite a few more this season, I should probably get my ass into gear and start looking!
 
slick said:
Since space is somewhat limited I'm a bit unsure about potting seedlings into 2-3 pots before reaching the final pot. I dont have any spare pots at the moment so i'd also have to buy the small pots. I might get just 2 or 3 in between pots and check it if it makes any difference compared to going from seedling to final pot.
Click to expand...
I have an assortment of 100mm, 125mm, and 140mm pots I will be potting up into and then once plants outgrow them, straight into the 300's. Some people poke holes into the bottom of plastic cups to save costs I believe, but as I already have stacks of small pots, I might as well put them to good use. ;)

Not sure about what cups are the best (plastic, styrofoam, etc) but I did try paper cups last season and they were a disaster - the paper started rotting and breaking away and grew all this weird funky stuff. The stupid thing is, I don't know how I didn't see that coming.... have you ever left a Macca's or Hungry's cup laying around that still had drink left in it? I think I was blinded by the fact that not only did these cups have pretty cool looking halloween pumpkins on them but I scored 24 for $2. Anyway, it was a very short lived trial before I went out and bought the small pots. :lol:
 
Bigger is not neccessarily better but 1 gallon containers will likely only allow for a fairly small plant. Plants don't always need huge pots, and there is always a limit to how much a plant will grow. If a plant gets rootbound then it will definitely grow bigger/better if potted up, but just throwing a small plant into a big container never works as well in my opinion as potting up incrementally when needed
 
POTAWIE said:
Bigger is not neccessarily better but 1 gallon containers will likely only allow for a fairly small plant. Plants don't always need huge pots, and there is always a limit to how much a plant will grow. If a plant gets rootbound then it will definitely grow bigger/better if potted up, but just throwing a small plant into a big container never works as well in my opinion as potting up incrementally when needed
Click to expand...

I've discovered a local hardware shops sells black plastic buckets (or fancy grey) on special for 10% of the price of nice a 300mm pot. They're 9 L = 2.3galons and they're virtually throwing them out at that price (80cents AUS). I'll have to drill 3-4holes, use some pebbles or something for drainage at the bottom and maybe use some perlite/vermiculite to keep the weight down (they look like the pastic handle comes off). The material is a bit thinner, might not last very long but I'm thinking of giving these a go. I'll also asked around if everyone's got any spare in between pots. That way I can easily move up to the buckets if the plants get rootbound (thanks for the tip Potawie).
 
It never hurts to ask at plant nurseries to see if they have free or cheap used pots. They often won't re-use pots and just recycle them, and there are often programs there for customers to bring back unwanted pots too

I use the thin black plastic pots, and they last many years
 
thanks for that suggestion but I think postage from US to Australia would be a killer for the sort of quantity I need - still think the best option is to get those cheap 9L/2gal buckets on special and drill some holes in the bottom
 
slick,

I was just down at my local Big W yesterday and they have 300mm pots for just over $4 each. Looks like it is the standard price too. Let me see, $7 @ K-Mart, $4 @ Big W.... Sorry, K-Mart, but I will DEFINITELY NOT be returning!

The best part is, one of my mates gets discount there.... not much, but it's something!
 
I use 5 gal and bigger for final pot size. Making sure there are handles or a good lip to move the thing around if needed. Most local nurseries give their pots away for you can buy them for minimal costs per unit.
 
I use 5 gallon deli buckets. They've worked pretty well so far this season.
I've got a habanero in a 3Gal though, and it seems to be producing far more pods than the habanero in a 5Gal, but they're a lot smaller in size.
 
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