How soon can I repot again?

Neel

Neel

Hello all,
 
First time posting on this forum. Have been reading for some weeks and am amazed by the amount of information there is to be found on here so I guessed this would be the place to ask my question. Short introduction: spice lover living in the Netherlands, grew some cayennes 3 years ago when I still lived at my parents and was able to plant them in the garden. Loved the process of growing my own peppers and cooking with them.
 
Decided to try again this year, except with some more interesting seeds (bhut jolokia purple, jamaican hot chocolate, fatali chocolate, devils tongue chocolate, jalapeno, goats horn, czech black, ancho and mulato isleno)
 
I'm growing some chili's on my balcony(south facing luckily). Because of somewhat limited space I've planted 2-3 plants per pot (although I now understand this might not be the best way to get higher yields in smaller spaces). I'm noticing they are growing realy slow, they have grown between 5 and 14 inches high in about 3 months. I understand that patience is important when growing peppers but if I compare my progress to some of the glogs on here  I seem to have some very very patient plants.
 
Figuring they might need more space for their roots I repotted them into 10 liter(2,6 gallon) pots last week. Now I'm doubting if these are big enough containers or if I should've gone for bigger ones straight away. I have a set of 25 liter(6,6 gallon) pots I was planning to make their final homes.
 
Would it be smart to repot them again this week or should I wait untill they settle into these pots first? Clearly the roots haven't had enought time to fill the current pots. Or should I just be more patient?
 
Will try to get some pictures tonight if those help.
 
Thanks :) -Folkert
 
Welcome! 
 
Repotting can cause transplant shock, which will often slow growth. You can help this by giving a little bit of root stimulator right after you transplant. IMO, though, wait a week, regardless. 
 
With your location, you have probably been experiencing some rather cool weather (though this week's temperature forecast for your area looks great!) Temperature swings will impact growth, slowing during cooler temps. The big key is not to compare your plants to others who don't have similar growing conditions. The people who live and grow closer to the equator have a much longer grow season than you or I have. I used to live in Houston, TX where it is warm to hot most of the year, but now live in the Cleveland, OH area, where it is cool to cold most of the year, so I can personally attest to the growth difference.  My plants are still small compared to the plants of people who live in the south. They are trying to bud and flower, but they will slow their growth further if I allow pods to form so I am currently plucking the buds off as soon as they get big enough to do so. You might consider doing the same.
 
So yes, patience is in order. Regarding pot size, the 25 liter pot will be ideal final living space for most of what you are growing. However, you won't need that large of a pot for the jalapenos, as jalapenos tend to have small root balls. The goats horn will likely be fine in the 25 liter pots, as well. Generally speaking, annuums have smaller root balls than chinenses, but the anchos I've grown tend to have larger root balls than most other annuums, though still smaller than most chinenses. 
 
With your likely growth season, the annuums will likely produce first and continue to produce through the summer for you, into the fall. But some of your chinenses likely will need to be brought inside for pods to finish ripening. So when considering pot size, think about how many plants you are going to have space for when the temperatures get too cool. I generally start bringing the plants inside at night for a while once it gets down to about 35F at night, but as long as it warms to at least 50F during the day, I'll put them back outside to get sunlight. Once the temperatures stay below 50 both night and day, though, I bring the plants inside for good. Since you've been reading the grow threads (an excellent thing to do), you likely know to put a fan on them after you bring them inside. This will keep the surface of the soil stay dry and help prevent molds or mildews from taking hold. 
 
I have kind of rambled here, but feel free to ask if you have any further questions about this.
 
I wait for the roots to start poking out the bottom and if they've covered the sides. Once you take the plant out the pot, brush off the sides to expose the roots some more. I like to put mycorrhizae on the exposed roots and the bottom the new pot and repot accordingly 
 
Welcome! I have had great success in pots on a west facing balcony in Washington DC. I find that 3 plants of various sizes, one small, one tall, one bushy work well in a 10 gallon pot. This year I am trying one plant per large pot but conditions have been miserable. Hard to judge what is best.

Pics?
 
Thanks for all the warm welcomes and advice :D
 
I guess I will train my patience some more, the weather should be improving by the end of this week so hoping to see some progress.
I've already started pinching flowers of the Jalapeno, only one that is flowering so far. Usually the daytimetemps don't dip below 50f here untill october/november so I'll move them in and out as long as possible. Luckily I have quite a big windowsill that's facing south so should be able to move most of my plants inside in the end, although it might make my living room a bit junglelike.
 
Also, if I'm careful repotting when they're flowering shouldn't be too big of an issue right? Will the yields still increase because of the bigger pots or is the effect minimized?
 
Pictures will come later, last 2 days have been extremely stormy so lighting was quite bad.
 
It's good you have some 6 gallons to transfer to. I would definitely put the Chinense in them for final home. I transplanted twice in a relatively short period this year and had transplant shock with 2 and they haven't fully recovered from it. I would wait a bit..
 
 
 
if I'm careful repotting when they're flowering shouldn't be too big of an issue right? Will the yields still increase because of the bigger pots or is the effect minimized?
Click to expand...
Some of the aforementioned ones I transplanted were flowering and they became fruits not longer afterwards. The 2 that had transplant shock dropped the flowers they had. So it's essentially a gamble with transplant shock being a risk. Yes, yields will increase for you so long as they grow well in the bigger pots and your season is long enough.
 
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