All my plants are in 1 gallon containers, some have completed their 3rd year and I am satisfied with my yields.
Have you ever gone to a nursery and purchased a pepper in a 4" container and the plant is almost a foot in height? (I am guessing the 4" is about 1/4 of a gallon).
So that kind of questions container size and growth. I put my hot lemons that I purchased in 4" pots(they were the ones that were a foot in height) into 1 gallon containers and they showed only marginal increase in height but fruited fine. I have fresno in 4" containers and they are still producing.
I am finding the key to production is starting to point towards how one gets the plant to produce multiple stems(branches) where the fruit can grow. I witness that with my goatsweed and 1 hot lemon once other solid shoots started they became big producers. The thing is I don't know how I got them to do this.
I would think though if you can get away with 2 gallon sizes that would probably be preferable.
(the reason I use 1 gallon is because my growing season is so short and July is hail season and our weather persons can not predict if hail is in the forecast until about 15-20 minutes from the storm hitting. So, I keep my gallon plants in totes, all together so if I have to react I can get my plants in the house or garage in a hurry. Growing hot peppers in the ground is not an option for me as we can get snow in July and August, it doesn't stay but a cold 1" blanket of snow on a hab is not good. Secondly, I have a ledge in my basement window, facing south that is about 8 feet long, this is where I put the plants starting about March/April(2 gallons would fall to the ground), the rest of the time they stay in their totes in a semi lite room so they can sleep, usually Dec/jan/feb.)
