container Containers vs. Raised Beds

[ThrowHeat]

Since this is my first year growing more than a couple of pepper plants, and I am already planning on growing 3x-4x more plants next year, I figured it might be wise to start a discussion with people who have many more years of experience than I do.

So with that said, which do you prefer and WHY?

 

[rickster]

i use wally bags and grow in the ground
wally bags- seem to be bigger plants. must water everyday this time of year. can be moved to more shade in summer.
ground plants- a little smaller, holds water and nutes much longer. have to use shade cloth.

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

I grow in raised, ground and pots.
 
Raised and pots I control the soil 100%, pots over raised only when I need to move the plant or want something very easy to isolate whole plant. 
 
My ground plants are awesome producers and I amend the area with 25 gallons roughly of compost each spring.
 
Raised beds like square foot garden take minimal space and you can harvest mass production if you are good  

 

[twilliams386]

I grew in pots first year, wally bags last year, now a raised bed this year. I've got 14 plants in a 5'x10'x16" bed and I've never had better production. Planted out in March after starting from seed under lights and as of right now I have 9lbs in the freezer. Containers/bags are great for portability, and possible isolation, but they do limit growth to whatever size the container/bag is. Can't say I'll never use them again, but I do prefer my raised bed with pvc drip irrigation. I will say to be mindful of growth habits of you do go the raised bed route. I've got a couple Aji plants that are growing through and around quite a few of the others. They'll get their own bed next year if they don't push through the mild south Texas winter.

 

[Peter S]

I'm growing in poly bags for the first time this year and like them a lot. Only issue was not all the drain holes were punched through, but I fixed those before planting. I tried one walmart bag last year with a Reaper, but the bag started splitting open on me along the sides.
 
Here's a pic of one of my pairs of poly bag rows I took yesterday. It's a mix of 10 and 7 gallon sizes.
 

 

[juanitos]

both are good options, can't go wrong.
 
i prefer containers though.

 

[ako1974]

I do both. I have a set - but large enough - in-ground garden space for all my veg. They're somewhat raised beds that I amend with compost, mulch, etc. The reason I do both is because there are always more peppers that I want to grow than I have space for in-ground and, most importantly, after years of reading and playing around, I get a lot of success out of my potted plants (5 gallon or larger). (I also germinate more than I need and have trouble chucking healthy plants.) In total, I planted 20 peppers in-ground and about 10 in pots. 
 
Going along with JoynersHotPeppers above, the cool thing with pots is changing the medium a bit, the location, etc, so I can see where in my yard different peppers perform best. In actuality, most of my potted peppers look fuller this year. I don't think I pinched off enough of the initial flowers for some of my in-ground peppers.

 

[Tarzan]

I have tried containers, in-ground and this year, raised beds. Container grown plants were the most unhappy for me, they did get larger and grew more pots than those in ground, but they eventually got fungal infection turned pale and they suffered until it was time to plug the switch in late fall. Those in ground were more healthy and grew a bit less, because they were not nearly as well fed as those in pots. The raised beds, however, combine both worlds - better drainage than pots, good fertile soil that can be replaced every year if needed, higher, but not too high soil temperature and most important, less slugs.

 

[seussiii]

Ground garden here. It's my first year in this patch but I am trying the mulching methods from that "back to eden" documentary. 
 
Will likely double the in ground garden next season and then add pots as well next year.
 
Trying to get the spacing down.... after following suggested spacing of 12-18 inches on most of my peppers ... just seems way too crowded.

 

[peppernovice]

    I've used containers for years. I've had great results. I planted a few in ground for the first time this year. They're healthy, but not as big as my containers. I also like the portability of pots, but I can see the pros/cons of each method. I say try all three and do what works best for you. I have posted several update videos if you want to take a look at what's possible with containers.
 
 
  Tim

 

[MadDog]

3 years growing airpots, standard pots, self watering "garden pickers", and in ground. All same seedlings, fed the same, watered the same, hands down the patio pickers outperform my other 3 methods. Why... Because they wick the water and are obviously smarter than me.

Next best (for me) are ground, then airpots, then standard.
 
The garden pickers have another huge advantage over these other methods, they have a 2.5 gallon water reservoir and can go a few days even in the hottest temps without having to be watered. Very nice if you have to go out of town.

 

[Justaguy]

I use 3 and 5 gallon buckets for isolation and in ground for production.

 

[mlh5953]

My preference is to grow in a raised bed. But, I've grown my peppers in 5 gallon grow bags for the last two years as a way of rotating crops in my small garden. Currently all my beds are covered in black plastic with the grow bags sitting on top.
Next year 'll probably grow at least half of them back in the raised bed. The plants are usually larger and bear more fruit when in the beds, though I could probably get the same results if I bumped up to a 10 gal bag.