container-growing Growing on balcony

SadisticPeppers

SadisticPeppers

eXtreme Business
My townhouse has a south-facing balcony that gets sun the entire day, and I'll have room for ~20 plants or so if I use 5-gallon Home Depot buckets. Does anyone have any experience growing their plants on a balcony?

I'm looking to use a drip system to water and fertilize the plants on a timer, since I already have the container for liquid fertilizer, and can get the drip system set up fairly easily. Will 1 gallon/hour for 1-2 hours be enough? Also does anyone have any advice on how to set up proper drainage, since my balcony is on the 2nd floor, and I don't want the runoff to drip in front of my entrance, but more off to the sides.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: My HOA has thankfully been very lenient on people putting plants on their balconies, several people have a couple plants short of a forest on my street alone. Plus, my townhouse is zoned for commercial. I wanted to get stated at least before looking for a larger growing space, perhaps renting/buying land somewhere after I get some extra money coming in.
 
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I grew in my SE facing patio and walk-way in Jupiter for years and it was just the perfect amount of sunlight. The people above me had just as good of luck balcony growing. Everything was in 5 gal buckets too. 1 gallon in the morning until summer, and by July everything got 1 gallon in the morning and 1 gallon at sunset.

You'll have some fun.
 
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DementedWelder said:
I grew in my SE facing patio and walk-way in Jupiter for years and it was just the perfect amount of sunlight. The people above me had just as good of luck balcony growing. Everything was in 5 gal buckets too. 1 gallon in the morning until summer, and by July everything got 1 gallon in the morning and 1 gallon at sunset.

You'll have some fun.
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Good to know, thank you sir! I confirmed the measurements and can put 2 rows of 5-gallon Home Depot buckets, which I already have, drilled holes on the bottom and all.
 
I got quite the opposite effect. I had holes and notches in the bottom of my buckets. It was always moist under the buckets that had no rocks in them and usually dry under the ones with rocks. When I was cutting everything down and emptying the buckets when I was moving, everything that had rocks in it was moist and everything that had no rocks was like a drying sponge. Those plants I always had to shade because they'd always seem like they were drinking water up quicker, but I think it was just the rocks helping insulate the mix from the concrete. The plants with rocks always had fruiting fungi too.
 
DementedWelder said:
I got quite the opposite effect. I had holes and notches in the bottom of my buckets. It was always moist under the buckets that had no rocks in them and usually dry under the ones with rocks. When I was cutting everything down and emptying the buckets when I was moving, everything that had rocks in it was moist and everything that had no rocks was like a drying sponge. Those plants I always had to shade because they'd always seem like they were drinking water up quicker, but I think it was just the rocks helping insulate the mix from the concrete. The plants with rocks always had fruiting fungi too.
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Fungi... definitely not good! Don't want those contaminating my plants/pods
 
Not all fungi are bad

Don't you use myco?
Mycorrhizal fungi are beneficial fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots.

Other than that I don't know any other beneficial fungi for peppers.
 
Saprophytes and mychorrizae fungi are your friend. A lot of starter mix and organic potting mix already comes inoculated. They help drastically with soil life and water uptake for your desired plant. I have a lot of leaf mold in my mix as well as around my grow area. When I moved onto this plot of land I inoculated my hard so I wouldn't have to water as much, if at all, and it's a drastic difference in the levels of green growth compared to my neighbors.

en.wikipedia.org

Mycorrhiza - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Cool! I'll be getting some stuff from Home Depot when it's time to pot my plants. One thing I'm not looking forward to is hauling 24 bags of soil up a flight of stairs, but it'll be so worth it once the plants get going.
 
Oooh bonus! I just found out that the guy that lives immediately behind me has set up a butterfly garden to help with pollenating plants in the neighborhood. Since it's ~35 feet from my balcony, I should get some decent pollination once my plants start getting blossoms. And I'll be sure to keep an eye out for caterpillars who want to munch on the leaves
 
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