Newbie struggles - Too much?

Sicilian-Najdorf

Sicilian-Najdorf

Hi All
 
I've decided to start growing my own Habaneros - This is my first time so I have zero experience with this. 
 
So, I got some seeds, some potting soil and a pot
This is what transpired....
 
IMG_20190306_183611.jpg

 
 
 
I've realized that it's way too much for one pot.
Question is, how many do I remove? Which ones do I decide to keep? Is there anything to look out for when deciding which ones to keep?
Some are much further along than others because I started with 1 or 2 seeds, saw them start growing, got excited and planted a whole lot more. 
 
The pot is about 60cm in diameter. 
 
 
Thanks
 
Typically,  you want one per pot, so the roots don't intertwine and affect the growth / health.  What I do is, look for the strongest / healthiest ones to keep.  Also, how many plants would you like to keep?
 
Major Pain said:
Typically,  you want one per pot, so the roots don't intertwine and affect the growth / health.  What I do is, look for the strongest / healthiest ones to keep.  Also, how many plants would you like to keep?
Click to expand...
 
 
Thanks
I'd love to keep all of them :) - Kidding
 
I guess I'll have to start getting some more pots and start moving them across. 
Some won't make it because I doubt I'm gonna go out and get that many pots. 
See the biggest one on the side there, is it safe to remove the ones in the middle and then move that biggest one to the middle of the pot?
 
Is 2 per pot for a pot that size maybe ok?
 
 
Thanks
 
Yeah, you can move them.. just carefully.  For now, you can keep them in that pot but.. their roots will fill up the pot and run a risk of running into each other. If I had a time frame to say when.. ehh.... maybe two months max.  Ideally, one per pot though.
 
 
 You'll fit right in here... there are some people that are growing 75+ plants.  My first grow, I had 12 Red habs.
 
Thanks for the advice
Do you think this could work....
 
  • Relocate the little ones to their own separate pots.
  • Keep the the 2 bigger ones in the current pot but just move them to opposite sides of the pot. 
 
I know I'm a bit stubborn about 1 plant 1 pot but according to my zero seasons of experience, the pot is big :)
But then again, I have no idea how big the plants are gonna get so perhaps my big pot is actually too small for 2. 
 
 
Not sure how to proceed. 
I want nice healthy plants but I also want lots of chilies  :drooling: 
 
 
 
Thanks 
 
You can try it as an experiment as long as you have some to fall back on. (The ones in their own pot.)
 We're all stubborn about our plants.. my girlfriend never understands when I tell her "it's a pepper thing."
 
 
 
 EDIT:    Habs can get big.  A lot of people put one plant in a 5 gallon bucket ( 30cm wide, 44cm high), and the roots can fill it up.
 
Major Pain said:
You can try it as an experiment as long as you have some to fall back on. (The ones in their own pot.)
 We're all stubborn about our plants.. my girlfriend never understands when I tell her "it's a pepper thing."
 
 
 
 EDIT:    Habs can get big.  A lot of people put one plant in a 5 gallon bucket ( 30cm wide, 44cm high), and the roots can fill it up.
Click to expand...
 
 
Thanks
Ok - I don't really want to experiment and hope for the best (promised my wife some decent chilies in about 3 months).
I'm rather gonna keep it safe and evict all but the biggest one from that pot. 
 
I've read that 2 plants in one pot will yield roughly the same amount of chilies as 1 plant in the same pot. 
 
You can keep 2 plants per pot easily.
I always do 2 on larger pots such as 5 gallon bucket or 7 gallon nursery container. Your harvest per bucket would be about the same with 2 plants as 1 plant though. I prefer the doubled chance of survival.
 
thegreenman said:
You can keep 2 plants per pot easily.
I always do 2 on larger pots such as 5 gallon bucket or 7 gallon nursery container. Your harvest per bucket would be about the same with 2 plants as 1 plant though. I prefer the doubled chance of survival.
Click to expand...
 
 
Thank you for the advice. 
I'm gonna post back once I've reconstructed everything and I can see more visible growth. 
 
This is my first time growing so I'm hoping for the best. 
 
My experience is that if you want big crops then one plant per (large) pot is the way to go.  However, if you want quick crops then a smaller pot which restricts the roots encourages them to flower and fruit quicker.  I have a short growing season (in UK) so plan to have most things in fairly small pots this year.  I know I will get smaller crops but there's a better chance of them ripening.  Last year in big pots I had quite a few that never produced or ripened.
 
As you're in the southern hemisphere, this is a slightly odd time of year to be starting chillies, isn't it?  Do you have mild winters there so you can grow all year round?  
 
You have plenty of seedlings so you can experiment with pot size and multiple plants per pot.  Do report back - it will be very interesting.
 
Mitzi said:
My experience is that if you want big crops then one plant per (large) pot is the way to go.  However, if you want quick crops then a smaller pot which restricts the roots encourages them to flower and fruit quicker.  I have a short growing season (in UK) so plan to have most things in fairly small pots this year.  I know I will get smaller crops but there's a better chance of them ripening.  Last year in big pots I had quite a few that never produced or ripened.
 
As you're in the southern hemisphere, this is a slightly odd time of year to be starting chillies, isn't it?  Do you have mild winters there so you can grow all year round?  
 
You have plenty of seedlings so you can experiment with pot size and multiple plants per pot.  Do report back - it will be very interesting.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the reply. 
 
I reconstructed the whole pot yesterday. 
We are just coming to the end of summer but it stays warm here well into April. Our winters are cold but we don't have snow.  
 
 
 
Thanks
 
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