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potsize/plant variety?

Celeste

Celeste

reading the potting thread and seeing that most folks feel that 5 gal is fine for first years, I thought of another question that might need its own thread.

I am in the midwest, its cold here now- I probably wont put my plants outdoors overnight till late april or may (depending- we could get a hard freeze after April 15th, on the other hand, it could be 80 degrees by May 10th)

I've been told to start my Trinidad Scorpions indoors now- but wait till later to start the habs. Will I want to be moving the Scorpions to a bigger than 5 gallon pot, later, becuase it will be growing longer?

Do some varieties have naturally much bigger plants?

NOw I have thought of a dozen more questions. Okay, I need to go get that pepper book so I understand about pepper species, I think- goody, something new to study! :onfire: (well, after algebra)
 
I would say no, the 5 gallon should be fine. Some peppers, like Bhut Jolokias can take upto 5-6 months to be ready for harvest. I ready on a seed seller site that Bhuts are 152 days to maturity, thats just shy of 5 months. Being our grow season is pretty goofy in the past few years (I am just north of you in Iowa) its hard to tell what old mother nature is going to throw at us. You can always take them inside at night if there is a temp warning and put them back out in the day. And yes, some plants naturally grow bigger plants, it depends on the pepper.
 
I usually start all my C. chinenses(and C. pubescens) around the same time in January and C. annuums and others in February. There are always exception though, like pequins and tepins which I start in January too.
Personally I wouldn't worry about using bigger than 5 gal pots unless your plants get rootbound, at which time its quite easy to pot up.
 
If I decide to overwinter something, is it then a good idea to put it in a bigger pot? or wait till the following season?

are there peppers that cant be overwintered?

How do you tell if they are root bound in a 5 gallon?
 
Tap the sides of the pot a little and kind of turn it upside down on an angle, if the soil/root mass seems to slide out from the pot easy it's probably root bound. Have a look at the sides of the soil to see if there are many roots showing and holding the soil together. If that is the case remove the pot and check the bottom of the soil, should be a mass of roots there too.

I suck at explaining :D
 
You are good at explaining, Nova- I have seen plants like that- when I grew African violets I would transplant them when they stopped flowering and I always noticed that condition- they were root bound! I just didnt know the term for what I observed. thanks!
 
Celeste...as you probably have read, I only use 5 gallon containers...this past season, my scorpion plants were the tallest and largest of any of the plants I grew....they were well over 6' tall...I did not transplant them on up to 7 or 10 gallon containers and I think I should have...most of my chinense (Bhuts, 7 Pot, Scorpions, etc) were totally rootbound at the end of my season...but then again my grow season is almost 9 months...I would say to look at how long your grow season is and if it is greater than 5 or 6 months, pot on up to a 7 or 10 for bigger/better production...JMO...
 
I agree AJ, i love bigger containers, they seem to make a plant pump for me. I love the ground even better though!
 
I grow some of mine in white 5 gallon buckets from the paint store. You can get the buckets new for $2 each, or less. And, the white color helps keep the root zone cooler when the plants are in the sunlight.

Alan
 
I had a problem with the sun this past year too...was afternoon burning sun....from 1-5 right on the black containers...definitely could tell the difference in the plants as the containers got more shade....I have an old 1" X 14" X12' fat pine board from my great grandfathers old home place and just leaned it up against the row of pots in direct sun and they caught and passed the others...
 
Plants in containers will usually get root bound, and that means a lot of the heat that is absorbed by the black containers heat up the roots beyond the comfort zone of the plant. This is especially true for the roots that are in direct contact to the pot. I've heard of people wrapping their containers with sheets or pillow cases or some other materials to insulate the pots and keep the roots cooler. It's just easier for me to use a white container.

Alan
 
In my climate I definitely think the black pots help to warm up the plants but I can see this being a dissadvantage to some in warmer climates
 
I may try and spray paint mine white this year...at least the side facing the sun....I can see it now...me with a bunch of zebra striped containers...wife will think I have gone nutz.......
 
AlabamaJack said:
I may try and spray paint mine white this year...at least the side facing the sun....I can see it now...me with a bunch of zebra striped containers...wife will think I have gone nutz.......
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Check your local supermarket, I bought two dozen five-gallon containers from the local Giant Eagle that were used for bakery stuff, white containers, a buck a piece.
 
Hokay. I have got one great huge container that could be dragged indoor come winter. The scorpion sill get to live there!
 
I actually use smaller pots. Like, 1 gallon & even smaller. I don't have much real estate for plants since I just put them out on my balcony. Also, since it's just me consuming the fresh peppers, I really don't need huge plants. Just as long as they bear fruit, that makes me happy.
 
My plants start out in buckets (2 gallon) after i transplant them from styro cups and then they either get put in the ground or transplanted to a bigger steel drum (around 4 gallon, i get these free from work). They do go alright in these drums but they love the ground so much more, they get root bound in around 3 weeks. I currently have only one plant (a yellow 7-pot) left in one of the drums and four plants in other containers ranging from approx 40 gallon up to about 60.

IMO get the biggest container you can find if you want maximum production, otherwise when using smaller containers feed often with stuff like bone meal, fish emulsion and the like. Also keep the water up to them (at least in our climate).
 
Celeste said:
Hokay. I have got one great huge container that could be dragged indoor come winter. The scorpion sill get to live there!
Click to expand...
Personally I cut plants back, roots and all and pot down for overwintering. Otherwise all my winter plants would be in containers too big to fit in the house, and the roots don't grow much without extra light during the winter anyways.
 
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