So this year I started my peppers super early. I usually start in March or April. This year I started at the end of December. I bought a 8x20 greenhouse and thought I was going to be able to heat it easily. Well that didn't go so well. So I had run out of room in my kitchen and had to do something about it. So I made a mini grow room in my basement. Im Hoping I can get them all in the green house by March. Does anyone have an opinion as to whether I should pot them all or plant them in raised beds?
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My mini grow room
- Thread starter WillyPete
- Start date
Last year I pulled out 8 pounds of golden ghost peppers. 6 plants, planted in the ground. This year I want to try and keep them alive. Whether I winter them and keep them heated in the green house, or I pot then and bring them all in next winter. I regret not saving the plants from last year.
I put about 35 in the garden and 20 in 5 and 7 gal. pots . I like that added protection of putting them in the garage when potential bad storms hit . I guarantee myself no losses from storms in pots that is . Garden plants fend for themselves . 
By the way Welcome !
This is a large brown paper grocery bag of golden ghost peppers. I pulled 8 pounds of them out in early October right before our first major frost last year. These guys ripened right up in the paper bag. This was the start of my Chocolate business. Not to mention I have more jars of pepper jelly than I can count.
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I would try a bit of both, to see what works best for you.
This year I've got some going in my raised beds, some mixed in the flower/garden beds in the front yard, and the rest in pots.
I think it'll be interesting to see the differences from the growing mediums, and the different microclimates around my home.
Oh, and what kinds of products are you making with your chocolate business?
This year I've got some going in my raised beds, some mixed in the flower/garden beds in the front yard, and the rest in pots.
I think it'll be interesting to see the differences from the growing mediums, and the different microclimates around my home.
Oh, and what kinds of products are you making with your chocolate business?
Nice! Well bagged 
Jubnat said:
I make pepper infused chocolate bars. Here is a link to the facebook page, our website should be up and running in the next week or so.
https://www.facebook.com/willypeteschocolateco/
Last season I put the majority of my peppers in a raised bed, and a handful I left in pots mostly because I ran out of room in my beds. I figured my peppers in the beds would be more vigorous but much to my surprise the peppers in pots did a little bit better than their bedded counterparts. I think it had something to do with the lack of competition.
The biggest pain with keeping peppers in pots is that they need more frequent watering.
The biggest pain with keeping peppers in pots is that they need more frequent watering.
WillyPete said:
Hey Willy,
Nice plants man! I'm downwind from you in Ansonia. Great start and I'm jealous! I started the superhots at the end of January and they are now getting their fist true leaves.
I like to hedge my bets by doing both pots and in the garden. I found a great help for me in our area was to make tunnels from 1/2" x 10' pvc arched over the beds with greenhouse plastic (Growell in Chesire sells cut sizes reasonable) with the option to roll up the sides. Drive some short lengths of rebar into the ground and slide the pvc over and bend. I take off the plastic later in the season and leave the hoops in place for when protection is needed again later in the season.
Congrats on the greenhouse too.
Oh yeah, for me the pots generally produce smaller pods but plenty of em. And I get to move them around and it's an easy for over wintering. 6 year Reapers for me (if the survive the next couple of months indoors) doing the pot method. Though they're showing signs of old age this tiime around. : (
So I have to do some mapping, but I think Im going to plant 1/3 in pots, a 1/3 in in a raised bed in the green house, and a 1/3 in a raised bed outdoors. It should be interesting to see how they all do. Does anyone have any recommendations for pot size? I really would like these guys to produce some peppers. I have been using t5 bulbs in my grow room, does anyone know if I will need to gradually introduce them to sun light and green house light? Or can I just throw them outside?
I've grown in pots, raised beds and a regular garden plot, but seem to do the best in raised beds with infrared transparent plastic mulch on top and drip irrigation hooked up to a hose timer and laid underneath the plastic mulch. The peppers get full sun, adequate water, a warmer microclimate and weed suppression. I also do some companion planting with cilantro, basil and lemon gem marigolds to attract lacewings and ladybugs to groom the plants and remove aphids and mites. Good luck in 2017!
When I first started (I moved and didn't a yard to garden) I went with an earth box. However after the years passed I just started making them myself to save money and wanting more soil per box.
I ended up with something like the below, but I found using cups didn't work well so I replaced the cups with PVC and just drill a ton of holes in them. I also use a mix with premier peat moss as the base since it wics very full and just amend it with perlite. At first I would add dry fert, but lost a plant and stop adding any fert at all and just went with the GO feeding chart instead. I basically went out and purchased generic ferts that closely matched the GO products on the NPK rating again to save money. One of my best producing pots was an overwintered TS that would yield about a lb a week for a couple of months. I basically grow it indoors under HPS until it flowered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvX_oeuUnbU
I ended up with something like the below, but I found using cups didn't work well so I replaced the cups with PVC and just drill a ton of holes in them. I also use a mix with premier peat moss as the base since it wics very full and just amend it with perlite. At first I would add dry fert, but lost a plant and stop adding any fert at all and just went with the GO feeding chart instead. I basically went out and purchased generic ferts that closely matched the GO products on the NPK rating again to save money. One of my best producing pots was an overwintered TS that would yield about a lb a week for a couple of months. I basically grow it indoors under HPS until it flowered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvX_oeuUnbU