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To plant single or double?

PeriPeri

PeriPeri

Hi all,

I need tomake decision and I think I may have to get some advise please....

So the time is drawing nearer when I am going to plant the chillies into the veggie garden (this is my first time planting in the soil).

I am considering planting them in pairs. My thinking is that this may promote better growth? That would be as opposed to planting one plant at a time...

Is there any benefit (growth wise) to planting chillies in pairs? If no, why?

Thanks

PeriPeri
 
There are a couple different opinions on this, but I personally am in agreement with ABG. Mostly I have read about people planting in pairs in pots, to save on space and/or the purchase price of pots. I have not read of people planting in pairs in the ground (mostly because I grow in pots.) I am wondering why you are considering planting in pairs - so that you have less holes to dig? Or did you simply hear about someone else doing it and think it was something worth looking further into?

Proponents of planting in pairs (talking pots here) believe that having leaves more closely together (thus creating a denser canopy) protects the pods more and so increases production. However, one has to consider the root system of each plant, too. Some varieties develop huge root systems, so putting multiples into a single pot may decrease production. Other varieties don't develop such extensive roots, so putting multiples into a single pot would be less problematic.

Since you're planting in the ground, the roots will not have the limits of a pot to potentially impede root growth. If the paired planting interests you, you might consider doing some pairs and some singles, and decide for yourself which approach is better for future plantings, given your growing conditions.
 
It also depends upon the weather circumstances in your locality as well.

When I lived in florida, I planted double rows 10 inches apart, so that when the hurricanes hit, the plants would have their neighbors for support.

It worked well... I lost no plants to the wind. The flood on the other hand was a different story. Still kept about 75% of my plants alive.

PLUS the heat, and proximity to the equator in FL are hard on peppers. In august, they all looked like they were going to die. a few did. but they were further apart from the bulk of my plants.

There are disadvantages... It creates a convenient route for bugs and disease to spread really quickly across all your plants. So you'll need to weigh the risks, and benefits for your area...

For me it was worth it.
 
There is no benefit, actually it would be worse, they will grow into each other and the roots will most likely tangle possibly causing an unhealthy root structure. Lets just say they grow fine. Well it would still be hard to tell how the plants is doing and hard to check for pests since the plants will be tangled up growing into each other. I advise against it. It just makes the plants harder to get to and the plants may not grow correctly/ may have health issues. So, I say single is best!
 
I had planted two in a large make shift pot (at least 20" wide) that looked sufficient enough at the time of transplanting, and two months latter I had to dig out one plant and give it a different pot as the growth was very vigorous and I felt they were chocking each other of space :confused:

Lesson learnt I will not plant them closer again, one month old seedlings might look smaller but they do grow in to a small tree by three four months time :P

Regards,
Sujai
 
I have seen pictures and videos of pepper plants double-planted in pots that have looked extremely healthy and were full of pods. I have also seen the opposite. So I can't say that it's necessarily a bad thing, especially since PeriPeri is not planting in pots but in the ground. That's why I suggest experimenting with it this year - some double-planted and some not - so he can determine what is best for his particular circumstances. But yes, having two plants immediately next to each other will about guarantee that if one of them gets infested with something, the other will get it, too.

The "roots tangling" thing doesn't concern me; plants grow closely together in the wild all the time.
 
geeme said:
I have seen pictures and videos of pepper plants double-planted in pots that have looked extremely healthy and were full of pods. I have also seen the opposite. So I can't say that it's necessarily a bad thing, especially since PeriPeri is not planting in pots but in the ground. That's why I suggest experimenting with it this year - some double-planted and some not - so he can determine what is best for his particular circumstances. But yes, having two plants immediately next to each other will about guarantee that if one of them gets infested with something, the other will get it, too.

The "roots tangling" thing doesn't concern me; plants grow closely together in the wild all the time.
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Good point, its worth a try or experiment. But like I said its much harder to see what is going on with the plants since they will grow into each other and like you said that I forgot to mention is if one plant is unhealthy or gets infested with something Im sure it would spread to the other plant. So thats why I was against the idea. But for experiment purposes it wouldnt hurt to see the outcome
 
Hi Guys, thanks for the feedback!

Well, the temps here in SA are 30-38ºC in summer. We also get some pretty hectic storms, pretty much every day in summer. The area I will be planting in is not protected by shade cloth...

I picked up on the concept through a threat somewhere and yes, it was regarding potted plants. While I am planting in the ground, my reasons (totally unfounded) were as follows:

1) Increase growth - possibly plants grow faster, better, bigger due to competition? 2) Stability in storms - two together for extra strength? 3) Larger canopy - better protection from the harsh sun ie more shade? I imagine that in nature a chilli would reproduce by seeds germinating in clusters... dunno??

I didn't think about root infections/bugs spreading easier/faster or bug infestations on the surface.... which already has me thinking this may be a very bad idea lol

I think I will try it on a few plants and see if there is any benefit in doing doubles. lol never thought of root infestations and how the hell I'm going to contain those... how stupid lol

Any guys growing in soil have anything to add?

I will certainly give it a try on a few plants and post my findings on it. It would be very interesting to see if there is any benefits... not to sound like an absolute noob... but how close should I plant chillies if I'm planting in the soil? I'm guessing about 45cm (1.5ft)?
 
It entirely depends upon the variety. My jalapeno plants stay pretty small, and even the main stem is very small. The douglah I overwintered, however, is almost as tall as me and is definitely wider than me. It's main stem is fairly thick.Some pepper plants are very tree-like. I would suggest you look at some nursery sites (such as chileplants.com) to see how large your plant varieties are likely to get.
 
I've only been growing for a couple of years, and I've done so in pots.

I currently have a few pots with paired plants.

I have a pot with a pair of jalapenos, a pot with a pair of "Lucifers dream", and both of these are producing a lot of pods. The Lucifers dream is a new one for me, so I can't compare to anything else.

My fatalii's are in seperate pots this year, but were paired last year. The plants are only slightly larger than last years, but I have noticed FAR more pods this year than last (more than double the production per plant). I don't know if it was the pot and space situation, or if it was a different growing climate this year, but next year I will be planting single plants in larger pots.
 
PeriPeri said:
Well, the temps here in SA are 30-38ºC in summer. We also get some pretty hectic storms, pretty much every day in summer. The area I will be planting in is not protected by shade cloth...

Any guys growing in soil have anything to add?

I will certainly give it a try on a few plants and post my findings on it. It would be very interesting to see if there is any benefits... not to sound like an absolute noob... but how close should I plant chillies if I'm planting in the soil? I'm guessing about 45cm (1.5ft)?
Click to expand...

My dad grows peppers (Always C.annuum)on two or three acre land every other year (crop rotation with rice and sugar cane in between to avoid soil born diseases and bugs) in southern India.... the temps in growing season are same as yours.
Heat does take a toll on the fruit quantity due to flower drop, also on the spacing front spacing 45 cm x 45 cm with a plant population of 19750 per acre is considered optimum by Tamil Nadu Agri Univ and we follow those recommendations....

Regards,
Sujai
 
Thank you Sujai! That is one truck load of chillies. I will be lucky to have a couple of hundred... but it gives me an idea. Geeme, hanks for the leed - looks like I do have some homework to do before I plant. I thought it would be as simple as just planting the chillies... but there are quitre a few things here I have not taken into consideration.

OK... So what needs to be established is whether doubling up plants in a soil environment will produce more pods (higher yield) or whether this will result in a noticable lower yield than a plant planted on its own.

I will do a test. Same type of chillies. Same size plants to start. Same section of the garden. Some single. Some doubled up. And will obviously make sure to water both the same.... and record the progress.

May use Fataliis or Bishops Crowns for this experiment as I have the most of these...
 
HotPeppas said:
I planted a few doubles and triples. Let me tell you they dont grow as good as the singles
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+1
i did the same. And the two or three plants end up taking the light space of one plant, with each one not a big as the single plants even when added together. When planted a foot apart, not so much of a problem as the plants still got big. But 18" apart and more for the 7s and scorps worked out better.
Different plants need different space, something you can take into consideration the second year growing something. We learn and adjust.
Ga gh
 
Well, from what everyone has said... it's starting to look like planting in grous is not a good idea at all... but just to keep me busy I will humor the project and do a few plants and record the findings!

Geez man I can't wrap my head around those funny measurements lol 18" that's like 45cm? Volume gets even more hectic... gallons and cu ft and cups... oz and Lb's lol In the UK they use stones? Yikes lol Thank goodness for that measurement app on my phone lol
 
I've planted some in pairs and some in threes. I honestly don't think it matters much. Chiles get huge. I had to double check one because I thought I had two plants growing together, but it was just one plant that shot off a huge branch near the bottom. One benefit of growing pairs or more is that you will get more genetic diversity (noticeable or not). One of my red Jamaican Scotch bonnets turned out to be yellow out of a bunch of three. I grew a total of 4 and got a yellow one for some reason.

As you can see I grow them in a canopy fashion:
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It gets really windy here. No plant has had wind damage! They also support each other. I only needed one stake for one of the peppers that got too many pods. I just drove it in front of the pepper and didn't need to tie it. I go for diversity, so I prefer to grow them in large groups to form canopies. Within the canopies I have few that paired or have 3. You can't see the African birds eye in here (it's covered). However, it produces a lot and is healthy. You know what likes the canopies a lot? Spiders! I have tons of spiders in there. Banana spiders, wolf, jumping, and others I can't identify. They destroy the caterpillars that try to eat my chiles :) . I even spotted a praying mantis, lol.
 
Here's a conversion site I use: http://www.metric-conversions.org

Yeah, like I said, people have very different results with planting double. Some love it, some hate it. I'm going to try to keep watching this thread to see how your experiment works out.
 
This year I've tried to plant two young Douglah plants in one single 50 liter Accelerator air pruning pot and results is amazing, right now they both producing great amount of pods on every single branch:

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