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container Multiple plants in a container
- Thread starter PepperDaddler
- Start date
well today i got tired of seeing them all bunched up there were alot like this ,didnt think the seeds would all take.. focused on the scotch bonnets today had one pot with 5 in it had 2 pots with 3 plants in them and 2 with 2 plants.. i dumped the potted "dirtball in my hand then knocked off the bottom dirt back in my bucket then laid the plants on my tray and poured my watering container over it letting the water wash the roots the 5 was kinda hard they were close together and the oldest of the bunch , but i dont think i broke any roots they all are in there own pots now ,i have a whole new row of plants now
I'm not growing in containers so this may not apply. But I have two cases of two plants right next to each other and one solo plant that were all transplanted at the same time. All Annums. The two spots with doubled up peppers are producing much, much better. Like 3-4 times as many pods between the two (1.5-2 times as much per plant). Maybe they would do even better seperate, idk, not a controlled experiment I guess. Might just be the varieties.
Trying to find out an explanation for this the best I could find was in the old farmer's alamanac:
"Start pepper seeds three to a pot, and thin out the weakest seedling. Let the remaining two pepper plants spend their entire lives together as one plant. The leaves of two plants help protect peppers against sunscald, and the yield is often twice as good as two segregated plants."
Trying to find out an explanation for this the best I could find was in the old farmer's alamanac:
"Start pepper seeds three to a pot, and thin out the weakest seedling. Let the remaining two pepper plants spend their entire lives together as one plant. The leaves of two plants help protect peppers against sunscald, and the yield is often twice as good as two segregated plants."
My attempt at pairing a couple sets of plants together is a fail. I had planned on separating them, but left them too late and they rooted together, so I put them in the ground as pairs.
At this time they are quite stunted about half the size of my individual plants.
At this time they are quite stunted about half the size of my individual plants.
I have two 20 gallon tubs next to each other, well 3' apart. In one I transplanted one plant. In the other I transplanted two at opposite ends of the tub. The three plants are not genetically identical but very close, they all came from the same parent plant and one shows a difference in dominant genes but all were growing at the same rate.
The plant alone in the tub is shorter, presumably not having to compete as much for light, but has about 20% more peppers on it as each individual plant in the two plant tub. I expect this % to increase because the plants in the two plant tub are shading each other more and more with each passing day.
To put it in perspective, the lone plant has close to 400 peppers large enough to count on and the two sharing a tub, over 600 and soon to grow double what the last node split did. My take on this is that if you have a limited grow area, more plants per that area can catch more sun earlier in the season, but that ultimately if you can devote a larger grow area you are better off using more pots to do so. If you get the soil and nutes right, what remains is how much sun they catch. The longer your season and the larger the plants grow, the more having them in close proximity causes a slowdown in growth rate and yield by reducing the solar energy they collect.
On the other hand if you have a short season, get as many light catching leaves out there as you can early though even then, if they are in separate pots you can spread them out as they grow.
The plant alone in the tub is shorter, presumably not having to compete as much for light, but has about 20% more peppers on it as each individual plant in the two plant tub. I expect this % to increase because the plants in the two plant tub are shading each other more and more with each passing day.
To put it in perspective, the lone plant has close to 400 peppers large enough to count on and the two sharing a tub, over 600 and soon to grow double what the last node split did. My take on this is that if you have a limited grow area, more plants per that area can catch more sun earlier in the season, but that ultimately if you can devote a larger grow area you are better off using more pots to do so. If you get the soil and nutes right, what remains is how much sun they catch. The longer your season and the larger the plants grow, the more having them in close proximity causes a slowdown in growth rate and yield by reducing the solar energy they collect.
On the other hand if you have a short season, get as many light catching leaves out there as you can early though even then, if they are in separate pots you can spread them out as they grow.
Maybe I'm just a fluke then. The lone plant is definitely bigger on an individual plant level but smaller when you combine the two plants in the other holes. The doubled up ones are slightly taller and produced earlier on and more pods overall. And the lone plant gets more sun where it's positioned but maybe this is a negative. One of the two of each pair was much smaller at first but caught up. And they produce much better overall now. Again, this is in the ground where root space likely isn't an issue.
Healthy competition maybe? Lol. In pots I would definitely say one per container though.
Healthy competition maybe? Lol. In pots I would definitely say one per container though.
With the more I think about it I am now wondering if my pairs that were doubled up may have been more root bound when I transplanted to the garden..
That may account for the stunted growth. They just never have "took off" like the individual plants did after settling in..
That may account for the stunted growth. They just never have "took off" like the individual plants did after settling in..
