So at the beginning of the year (I know it's still a ways off, but I like to be prepared), I plan to try my hand for the first time at growing peppers. I plan to do it in containers. Thanks to Hendrix1326, I will be getting seeds for Bhut Jolokia, Orange Habanero, and Yellow Fatalli. I've been reading up as much as possible on growing peppers, but haven't yet found a clear answer to how many times I'll need to repot them. I'm planning on using Jiffy pellets, so I know that I can get some decent growth out of those before repotting. I've seen around that a lot of people recommend 7 gallon pots for the plants. So if I start with pellets and end with 7 gallon pots, how many intermediary pots per plant will I go through and what sizes?
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How many times to repot?
- Thread starter compmodder26
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The less you can repot the better. It does stress them out a bit. I would start in a pint . Once you can see some roots popping out from the bottom move them to a 3 gal or bigger. 
Some like the step up technique. From 1/2 pint to pint to gal to 3 gal to 5 and so on. Just depend how fast the plant is growing .
Some like the step up technique. From 1/2 pint to pint to gal to 3 gal to 5 and so on. Just depend how fast the plant is growing .
The less you can repot the better. It does stress them out a bit. I would start in a pint . Once you can see some roots popping out from the bottom move them to a 3 gal or bigger.
Some like the step up technique. From 1/2 pint to pint to gal to 3 gal to 5 and so on. Just depend how fast the plant is growing .
So pellet -> pint -> 3 gal -> 7 gal?
Repotting is generally only done for two purposes; either the plant gets too large for its container (rootbound), or for the convenience of the owner.
You could start the seeds directly in the 7-gallon containers, but some of the questions you have to ask yourself are:
- Do you have room for all those containers?
- Do you have sufficient lighting for all of them?
- Will it be convenient to water them?
- How much do you anticipate having to move the containers?
I see you're in Kentucky, so it will definitely get too cold in the winter to just grow them outside.
If your answers to the above questions indicate you should start them in smaller pots, then I would suggest starting with the largest pot that you can handle, given the same factors above. In other words, if you can skip the pellet and even pint stages, go for a gallon, as an example. Like I said, it's all about convenience to you.
You could start the seeds directly in the 7-gallon containers, but some of the questions you have to ask yourself are:
- Do you have room for all those containers?
- Do you have sufficient lighting for all of them?
- Will it be convenient to water them?
- How much do you anticipate having to move the containers?
I see you're in Kentucky, so it will definitely get too cold in the winter to just grow them outside.
If your answers to the above questions indicate you should start them in smaller pots, then I would suggest starting with the largest pot that you can handle, given the same factors above. In other words, if you can skip the pellet and even pint stages, go for a gallon, as an example. Like I said, it's all about convenience to you.
I did 72 hole extra deep plug trays -> 3x3x5.5 pots -> 5 gal pots or In ground
I would love to start them in 1 gal containers, but as I understand it I need the soil temp to be around 80. During winter, the ambient temp in the house is ~72. I'll need a heat mat to get the soil to 80 because all of my appliances give off no heat (at least that I can tell). I'm going to attempt 5 seeds of each (so 15 total seeds). 15 1 gal pots obviously will not fit on a heat mat, and I'm a cheapskate, so I only want to buy 1 mat. So that's why I was going to start with the pellets inside a propagator.
So the 5 gal containers worked well for you?
you don't have to keep em at 80 they will still grow at 72 just not as fast, my TS plants have been in the ground for over a year and we had some very cold weather here last winter.
Hmm... that is encouraging. Considering I'm going to be starting these at the beginning of January, I think I should have some time to spare for them to grow.
Yep, that's why those of us in the north who grow in containers start with tiny, then move up. There is no hard and fast "move to this size at X weeks...." type of rule - it depends upon your growing conditions and thus, how fast your plants grow. A lot of us go from pellet-sized starters (I don't use pellets) to 18-oz beer cups with holes cut in the bottoms (and sides, for some.) I personally then move to gallon-sized pots, and that's where they stay until they're planted outdoors in large pots. But I don't keep the room they grow in very warm, so they haven't outgrown the 1-gallon containers. Like Prehensile said, they'll still grow at lower temps, it will just be slower.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I've got a much better idea on what to do now.
I prefer to repot several times so that I don't have a tiny rootball in a large container, leaving a large space of potting soil with no roots, especially during the spring when it rains all the time. With no roots to take up the water at the bottom of the pots and heavy rain the bottoms could stay too moist for too long. Also, roots are not nearly as fragile as people think in my opinion. Every time you pot up you should break up the rootball and look for knots and kinks and get the roots separated and pointing outward and downward, especially if they've been rootboot for a while, in which case you'll see a lot of roots circling the bottom and growing upwards. You don't want the roots growing upward or becoming tangled and choking the plant. I've been pretty rough with the roots when cutting back plants to overwinter, I pull all the large roots apart and untangle and separate them before cutting them back, and the plants are just fine. Highly tangled and knotted roots are more of a concern than disturbing the root ball imo.
As a commercial greenhouse owner and avid hot pepper grower I start mine as soon as jan in seed starting dirtless soil , a heat pad is best as it will get them to sprout faster , from there I put them into 3 inch square containers and label them , then into the greenhouse whereever I have room.
after about a month you will see the good ones and the runts that get thrown out, then the ones I sell go into gallons for 2 months but my collection go into 5 gallon pots that I keep.
what I found is a naga will grow in a 3 inch pot but only get so big and stop, so you want to go as big as you can as soon as you can so the plant grows big and produces alot.
after about a month you will see the good ones and the runts that get thrown out, then the ones I sell go into gallons for 2 months but my collection go into 5 gallon pots that I keep.
what I found is a naga will grow in a 3 inch pot but only get so big and stop, so you want to go as big as you can as soon as you can so the plant grows big and produces alot.