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container Container Size and Plant height

D

dragon49

This is my first attempt at a 100% indoor grow. I'll be transplanting my Trinidad Scorpion Moruga into a bucket sometime before April. My grow room is in a apartment and I need to plan things out, such as where to hang the lighting to make sure that the top of the plant isn't higher than it.

With this in mind, can somebody give me ballpark figures on the maximum height that this can reach, per size container:

1 Gallon
3 Gallon
5 Gallon
 
Not sure...but I think it was Patrick that had a Bishop's Crown in a solo cup that was about 8 feet tall no joke. You can grow big stuff in small containers, it's all in what you feed them, how often and grow conditions. Also, you can have a bigger plant, but not necessarily taller or vice versa. A light starved plant will stretch but be just tall and spindly, but one with good lighting will stay compact and really branch out. I had some in 5 gallons at around 5.5 or 6 feet last year. 3 gallon I am thinking 2-4 depending on conditions and the 1 gallon 1-2...all these could be stretched a bit to a little bigger. Best judge isn't height...check the rootball if it's full and circling the pot...pot up, if not wait.

As far as how to hang the lights, use something flexible...go as high as you can and use chain or cord to lower them and raise them, or attach them to an adjustable shelf. The type of light is important too...if you have a MH or HPS it will need to be a couple feet above the tops, where floros can almost touch the tops...
 
Look for plant height and width on a nursery or garden site, regarding pot size, or ask people here about specific varieties. Jalapenos generally grow about 18-24" tall, and aren't going to get very large their first year, so a gallon pot is ok for them. Also, they tend to have small root balls, when compared to other varieties. How do you know the root ball size? Ask, or at the end of the season, pull them out of their pots, wash the dirt off, and look at how much roots you have. (I always repot mine, and prune both the stems and roots.) Cayennes can get much taller, and so I tend to go with a larger pot for them.

Chinenses are all over the board, height-wise, but generally have much larger root balls than annuums, so they are good candidates for your largest pots, as a general rule of thumb. Even though my douglahs are in good-sized pots, I find they are FULL of roots by season end. Other chinenses have larger root balls than the annuums, but not quite as large as the douglahs. The big key here is to watch what's happening, so the plant doesn't become root bound. It will slow production if it does. How do you know if it's becoming root bound? Easiest thing to do is pick the pot up and look at the drain holes. If you aren't seeing roots starting to come out of them, you're probably ok keeping the plant in that size of pot, at least for the time being.

Chileplants.com lists the moruga scorpion as getting 24-30 inches tall, on average. That's not very big, so they'd likely be fine in a 3-gallon pot the first year.
 
Too many variables. You could be using crappy soil mix or soil less and hydro nutes. Most of my first year plants in ground clear 4 feet easy and are usually wider than tall. The great thing about peppers is you can prune it to any size you want. Too big? Prune back and start all over again.
 
I agree that their are a lot of variables but I think a good rule of thumb is that Annums can get by with 2-3 gallon pots the first year. Chinese would be good candidates for the 5, 7, or 10 gallon pots. They can grow pretty big roots. I think 1 gallon is too small for any chile for the whole season.
 
Well you may need to prune your plant (add mycorrhizae) transplant to a larger pot as needed add whatever fertilizer or soil amendments you want I recommend (Supreme Growers) (Kelp, Rock dust or fish emulsion).
 
geeme said:
Look for plant height and width on a nursery or garden site, regarding pot size, or ask people here about specific varieties. Jalapenos generally grow about 18-24" tall, and aren't going to get very large their first year, so a gallon pot is ok for them. Also, they tend to have small root balls, when compared to other varieties. How do you know the root ball size? Ask, or at the end of the season, pull them out of their pots, wash the dirt off, and look at how much roots you have. (I always repot mine, and prune both the stems and roots.) Cayennes can get much taller, and so I tend to go with a larger pot for them.

Chinenses are all over the board, height-wise, but generally have much larger root balls than annuums, so they are good candidates for your largest pots, as a general rule of thumb. Even though my douglahs are in good-sized pots, I find they are FULL of roots by season end. Other chinenses have larger root balls than the annuums, but not quite as large as the douglahs. The big key here is to watch what's happening, so the plant doesn't become root bound. It will slow production if it does. How do you know if it's becoming root bound? Easiest thing to do is pick the pot up and look at the drain holes. If you aren't seeing roots starting to come out of them, you're probably ok keeping the plant in that size of pot, at least for the time being.

Chileplants.com lists the moruga scorpion as getting 24-30 inches tall, on average. That's not very big, so they'd likely be fine in a 3-gallon pot the first year.
Click to expand...

My best guess is that in my grow room, from floor to ceiling, is around 9 feet, so it looks like a 3-galon pot should be fine. I may recruit a friend to help with the light hanging.
 
Just a heads up. You can probably get five gallon buckets (or for that matter dollar grocery store woven bags) for cheaper than 3 gallon pots. nine feet should be plenty of room.

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- Mega
 
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