pot size?

[pwb]

Hi, in what stage should i go to bigger pots? My plants are 2 months old and is in 0,75 gallon pots. Should i move them to directly in to 5 gallon or could i move them to 2 gallon and to 5 gallon later? Could they stay in 3 gallon or do then need to have 5 or bigger? I need to have them in pots and not in the ground.

 

[JutsFL]

Honestly, there's an opinion for most any size pot. With 2-3 gal or larger, I'd say you OK (larger end being better though). As far as "planting up" - I've never seen the need. There will be differing view points, but I've taken mine from solo cups to 5gal buckets in one step. The root system is at a set stage (In whatever pot you have them in), as long as the new pot has good drainage they won't sit in water. In fact, you'll just have to water far less, which is a good thing IMO until the roots spread out. Once they fill the pots you'll be watering quite often, depending on the weather.


This is the size of mine when I went from solos to 5gals:

...and the measly little fellows in the buckets:

Same fellows as of a couple weeks ago:

 

[juanitos]

3 gallon is my minimum recommended container size.
5 gallon is normal recommended size.
10 gallon if you got a long growing season and want big plants
50 gallon if you are crazy and can care for a plant that big.

 

[Gotrox]

1 set in gallon pots, 1 set in 3 gallon pots-------going on 3rd season for some.
2 of the 3 gallon and all 1 gallon pots have 2 plants in.
 
But we are talking basically "hydro-in-dirt" here, and "semi-bonchi" in the 1 gallon pots.
 
For planting out or potting up----4" pots or solo cups to start (areogarden to sprout) then out to their final home.
 
After a few seasons, my potted plants will get one more try out in the dirt for a final "hurrah!".
 
I have a load (22 or so) in very small pots and planters as an experiment, and all my "perpetual peppers" will be in 5 gallon hyrdo "Root Spa's" this year---instead of doing over winters.

 

[geeme]

As far as "planting up" - I've never seen the need. There will be differing view points, but I've taken mine from solo cups to 5gal buckets in one step. 

One's location makes a huge difference. You are in Florida, so of course you don't see a need for potting up. I grew up in Houston and we always direct-sowed in the ground, so I also saw no need for potting up. However, I am now in N.E. Ohio where the weather is basically opposite of yours - we have roughly 9 months of cold and only about 3 months of warmth. I'd never get pods from much of anything except an annuum if I direct-sowed here - it's May 16 and our low today is 40F with a high of only 54F. You may get random days like that, but we've even had snow in May. 
 
pwb is in Norway, so likely has weather more like mine. I start seeds in January and put them in large Solo cups to start with. Once they get too big for those, I move the largest ones to one-gallon containers (note that there is no standard between pot manufacturers.) Then I just try to keep the temps cool for them to slow growth until I can move them to their final pots outside. The reason to pot up is simply for available space - I can't take the plants outside yet, they've become too big for the Solo cups, but I don't have enough room inside the house to put all into their final containers. It's purely a practical move based on local conditions.
 
That said, the question is whether you are ready to take your plants outside or not, pwb. If you are not, then try to back off on feeding and temperature to slow the growth until you are. However, if you have enough room inside or are ready to take them outside, the relative size of the adult plant will help you decide on the final pot size. Most annuums that I've grown have had very small rootballs when I repotted them, so a 1-2 gallon pot is fine. Many chinenses get rather large, however, so those I put into 5 or more gallon pots.   

 

[JutsFL]

One's location makes a huge difference. You are in Florida, so of course you don't see a need for potting up. I grew up in Houston and we always direct-sowed in the ground, so I also saw no need for potting up. However, I am now in N.E. Ohio where the weather is basically opposite of yours - we have roughly 9 months of cold and only about 3 months of warmth. I'd never get pods from much of anything except an annuum if I direct-sowed here - it's May 16 and our low today is 40F with a high of only 54F. You may get random days like that, but we've even had snow in May. 
 
pwb is in Norway, so likely has weather more like mine. I start seeds in January and put them in large Solo cups to start with. Once they get too big for those, I move the largest ones to one-gallon containers (note that there is no standard between pot manufacturers.) Then I just try to keep the temps cool for them to slow growth until I can move them to their final pots outside. The reason to pot up is simply for available space - I can't take the plants outside yet, they've become too big for the Solo cups, but I don't have enough room inside the house to put all into their final containers. It's purely a practical move based on local conditions.
 
That said, the question is whether you are ready to take your plants outside or not, pwb. If you are not, then try to back off on feeding and temperature to slow the growth until you are. However, if you have enough room inside or are ready to take them outside, the relative size of the adult plant will help you decide on the final pot size. Most annuums that I've grown have had very small rootballs when I repotted them, so a 1-2 gallon pot is fine. Many chinenses get rather large, however, so those I put into 5 or more gallon pots.

Good point... I've been in FL my whole life, so I never really though of it that way

 

[OneHighJedi]

Reposting from the sticky.
 
 
OP I would keep them in 3 gallon pots for now and transplant them to 5 gallon buckets when they rach the "adult" phase.
 
 
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Adolescents
Past the hard part, now we just need to keep providing good conditions for our plants to keep growing!
If you're going to top / prune, its best to do it in the middle of this stage when they have around 4 - 6 sets of true leaves.
 
Process:
1. Lighting setup for 18 hours on, 6 hours off (question on lighting? see lighting section)
2a. Water every 2-3 days. Let the media get somewhat dry before watering again (soil / ground)
2b. Hydro/Aero do your spraying or water pumping.
4. start watering with 50% diluted fertilizer / nute solution every 4  or 5 waterings (approx 1-2 weeks)
3. When they are 12in tall / 6+ sets of nodes(places where leaves/branches come out) go to adults
 
Examples:
https://lh6.googleus...0225_201903.jpg
http://driedhotpeppe...14_Grow_021.JPG
http://imageshack.us...6/4266/kt5h.jpg
=========
 
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3rd Transplanting:
Plants need more room to grow! we want the biggest plants with most peppers! This ones pretty easy, just increasing size. Make a hole and stick it in.
Grow Area: 3-100+ gallon container, the ground
Grow media: Soilmix, hydroton, the ground
 
Process:
1. remove whole root mass / plant from adolescent container
2. place the whole root mass/plant into grow area
3. bury them stem in media up to the first set of leaves(cotys) for more stability.
4. water them asap
 
Examples:
https://lh6.googleus...0407_131222.jpg
http://i26.photobuck...zpswvdx7uut.jpg
buckeye pepper planting
=========
 
=========
Adults:
Yay we should have peppers growin!
Grow Area: 3-100+ gallon container, the ground
Grow media: Soilmix, hydroton, the ground
 
Process:
1. Hopefully you are using the sun by now because the plants need LOTS of light!
2a. Water every 2-3 days. Let the media get somewhat dry before watering again (soil / ground)
2b. Hydro/Aero do your spraying or water pumping.
4. water fertilizer / nute solution every 4 or 5 waterings (approx 1-2 weeks)
5. Spray leaves/flowers with epsom salts every 2 weeks
6. visit diseases/deficiencies/pests section if you're having problems
 
Examples:
http://driedhotpeppe...13_grow_057.jpg
http://driedhotpeppe...row_Log_139.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/s9YLOwE.jpg?1
buckeye pepper field

 

[pwb]

They are not ready to move out, still cold at night, down to 40F. I'm building a greenhous so they can move out and get more light, maybe its ready next week. Today they get light from LED in my basement, i have had them out in the sun for some hours. They are fra 2" to 12-15" One of them got pepper on it, its 8 nice peppers :-) Many of them is starting to get flowers. Today they are in 0,5-0,75 gallon pots or smaller. I will get bigger pots to have them in. When i move them to bigger pots, should i take soil up to where the first leaf is/was?
 

 

 

[Dave2000]

There will be differing view points, but I've taken mine from solo cups to 5gal buckets in one step.

 
Same here, even though my grow season is nowhere near as long I still see no benefit from potting up with one exception.  Right now some of the pots I'll soon use for peppers are occupied with a spring herb crop that I continue to harvest and dry in the available space I have to do it, a couple pots at a time.  The peppers destined to go into those pots have outgrown their solo cup sized pots so they were put in roughly 1 qt pots to tide them over till the larger pots become available.  I could just get more pots and mix up another batch of soil instead but then I'd be staring at the empty pots the herbs were in and feel compelled to grow more peppers so the next year I still ended up in the same situation of needing even more pots and soil.
 
As for pot size, 5 gallon is really convenient since there are so many buckets out there, but 10 gallon is closer to optimal as it is the point where you start to reach diminishing return on going larger unless you are in a very hot, dry climate and wish to water less often, OR if it is an overwintered plant.

 

[geeme]

... should i take soil up to where the first leaf is/was?

There's no harm in doing that.