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Spacing

F

fudgey

I have read some other posts on this subject, but I would like some opinions on my specific circumstance. I have a 4x12 raised bed and need to grow as many pepper plants as physically possible, +2 tomatoes. How would you space them?
 
Just make sure the tomoatoes are situated so they won't block the light from the peppers. They will grow taller. Something like this:
 
 
 
              P    P     T
SUN          P    P 
              P    P     T
 
I'm looking to squeeze around 48 into my new 4'x12'x12" beds.  I know they should be spaced further apart but I have too many plants and have had good luck grouping them closely in the past.  1 cubic foot of space equals about 7.5 gallons of dirt so we'll see how it goes!
 
are you trying to get as many pepper plants as possible for:
A. variety
B. Volume
C.  best yield for area
D. best variety for this area
 
????
 
what tomatos are you using?
 
what media are you going to grow in?
 
shadrack said:
I'm looking to squeeze around 48 into my new 4'x12'x12" beds.  I know they should be spaced further apart but I have too many plants and have had good luck grouping them closely in the past.  1 cubic foot of space equals about 7.5 gallons of dirt so we'll see how it goes!
Click to expand...
 
way too many; half of that would be way too many
 
Just to give you an idea I have 9 tomato plants and some garlic around the edge of this raised bed which is 8x4 and 3 feet deep. These tomato plants will get much larger too. If I were going to plant 2 tomato plants in here I would only plant 6 pepper plants.
 
As you can see this picture should be titled " Welcome to the Jungle !  "
 
 
 
 

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I like to space my peppers 18-24" apart, depending on variety.
In a 4'x12' area, with 2 tomatoes, I'm guess the most peppers I'd plant would be 22.
 
P      P      P      P                         P      P      P      P
                                       T
   P       P       P                               P       P       P
                                       T
P      P       P       P                        P       P      P      P
 
 
 
 
In my 4x22' space, I plant 10 - 12 peppers per row.  2 rows = 20 - 24 plants.  Sometimes they're still crowded.  This year I'm going to try for the 10 per row.  We'll see.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I definitely will not be smashing 48 plants in here. No offense, but that probably won't turn out too well haha.
I am growing all different varieties, just deciding which to put into the bed and which will go into containers. I am thinking about putting only superhots in the bed (reapers, douglahs, moruga, yellow 7, etc) and my others in containers. I have plenty of supers to fill the bed, I'm just looking to get the maximum possible number of plants. I don't need a thousand pounds of peppers, I just want a lot of variety (1 or 2 of each plant). I haven't decided on what kind of tomatoes yet. That will be up to my wife. Any recommendations on tomato species?
 
Haha you guys are probably right. Definitely some wishful thinking going on here because I have roughly a 150 plants this year compared to 25 last season.

So I take it that square foot gardening approach won't work with 7ft tall baccatums? Lol...I guess I am going to rent a rototiller and grind up my entire yard!
 
NickP said:
 I haven't decided on what kind of tomatoes yet. That will be up to my wife. Any recommendations on tomato species?
Click to expand...
 
Depends on what kind of tomatoes you want - cherry - grape - paste - slicers - 5 oz., 12-16 oz., larger?  Color - red - pink - black - green - yellow?
 
catherinew said:
 
Depends on what kind of tomatoes you want - cherry - grape - paste - slicers - 5 oz., 12-16 oz., larger?  Color - red - pink - black - green - yellow?
Click to expand...
I'll have to talk to my wife, but probably just the most basic, red tomatoes. Maybe some cherry tomatoes. I dunno. I'll ask her haha What's easiest to grow?
 
shadrack said:
Haha you guys are probably right. Definitely some wishful thinking going on here because I have roughly a 150 plants this year compared to 25 last season.

So I take it that square foot gardening approach won't work with 7ft tall baccatums? Lol...I guess I am going to rent a rototiller and grind up my entire yard!
Click to expand...
 
Take a look at Chris Joyner's glog from last year. He grows all his Thai varieties in a raised bed that he has sectioned for square foot gardening. His Thai plants get freaking huge. He has no problems with them growing close together.
 
Not sure about adding the tomatoes in there. Maybe grow them in containers? I grow mine in big rubbermaid roughneck totes. I think they're 17 gallon or something and work great
 
Scorched said:
Take a look at Chris Joyner's glog from last year. He grows all his Thai varieties in a raised bed that he has sectioned for square foot gardening. His Thai plants get freaking huge. He has no problems with them growing close together.
 
Not sure about adding the tomatoes in there. Maybe grow them in containers? I grow mine in big rubbermaid roughneck totes. I think they're 17 gallon or something and work great
Click to expand...
can you link his glog
 
For the record, I have 18 plants in a 4x8 bed. I have no real experience though, but that seems like the max to me. So for you it would be 27 plants. 
 
I'm liking what I saw in Chris blog . They fight for the light and grow taller faster and they are right on top of each other in the square foot garden.
 
I used to have this same debate with myself on my big bed, then I grabbed some cedar I had left over and got some dirt from the field behind the fence and built a new 4X4 bed just for tomatoes... and then ummmm... well... built another.  :rolleyes:  So now I have a pepper bed, a tomato bed, and a whatever the hell pops in my head during the season bed.  :dance:  It always seemed that when I gave the tomatoes plenty of space with the peppers they grew small and narrow and then when I would space them tight with the peppers they grew into big  :censored: plants.  The peppers and I are both happier with them doing their own thing. If you have some scrap wood or cinder blocks to make a small bed for tomatoes I recommend it, plus it gives you more room for peppers  :cheers:
 
With chili I go 18" or 24" depending on variety, but that is spacing down the row.  Tomato are an entirely different story because of the cage or other way to keep them up.
 
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