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Why bigger containers are better....Root bound

Proud Marine Dad

Proud Marine Dad

This is the root mass from a Canna plant grown in a 5 gallon Lowes bucket.
The root mass contains very little soil so the plant had no place for nutrients to be stored for later use.
The roots did not wrap around but the mass was taking up almost the entire area inside the bucket.
I wonder how peppers compare in this regard? I am sure the results are similar as far as root bound goes.

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armac said:
I posted a picture of a thai pepper a month or so back, looked very similar.

Next year, already started actually, I am going to use only 10 and 15 gallon fabric pots. 5 gallons is too small.
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I agree my friend. Plants get by in 5 gallon but don't reach their full potential. Those "Root Pouches" that someone posted a link to look good and the price is right!
 
A suggestion....I. bought 10 ten gallon Viagro pots from homedepot.com about 6 months ago. One has already failed. I contacted Viagro and told them of the failure, never heard back from them. Stay away from Viagrow.

On the other hand Smart pots are very durable and their customer service is top notch.

I have 5 fifteen gallon smart pots a few ten gallon and a few seven gallon smart pots. That wil be my containers for the upcoming crop. No more 5 gallon buckets, just too small.

Also put in a nice raised bed.....
 
tylerdodd25_92 said:
since you are in cali how much did you yeild off a 5 gallon... was it outside or inside..
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It was grown outside with only compost tea and a little Earth Juice during the last weeks of flowering. It is hanging to dry now so I don't know the yield yet as it will be significantly lighter weight than it is now.
I would guess about 2-3 oz off one plant and about 1-1/2-2 oz off the other.

armac said:
A suggestion....I. bought 10 ten gallon Viagro pots from homedepot.com about 6 months ago. One has already failed. I contacted Viagro and told them of the failure, never heard back from them. Stay away from Viagrow.
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Thanks for the heads up.

On the other hand Smart pots are very durable and their customer service is top notch.

I have 5 fifteen gallon smart pots a few ten gallon and a few seven gallon smart pots. That wil be my containers for the upcoming crop. No more 5 gallon buckets, just too small.

Also put in a nice raised bed.....
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I will have to look into all my choices. I am still wondering how Jute bags would work as I can get them for free from work.
Cut the top half off the Jute coffee bags and it would be a 20 gallon bag still I would think.
Congratulations on the raised bed. They are awesome and I would love to make my garden that way as well.
 
Its quite amazing how fast a pepper plant can use up its soil space provided & you can pretty much tell once the plant has used up the soil space bye its growth/non-growth, i found out bye doing a 98% grow in buckets mainly 4 & 6 gal. but imo for a first year plant and being that i have a short season it worked out okay because once they used up there space they started producing pods faster then the couple i put in the ground ...the potted ones were 50% smaller in foliage then the ones that were in the ground...the ones in the ground got bigger bushy healthy looking plants But those plants had the luxury of using a unlimited space for there roots to grow so that's what they did grow grow while the potted/rootbound ones were already producing pods and for some of the super hots that have a longer growing season it makes a lot of difference if you have a short season.
I would thing that people who live in zones 8,9 etc would want to use at least a 7 gal container for a first year plant and double or triple that for a 2yr old plant.
I had a 1yr old plant that i put into a 20gal smart pot end of last season when i took that plant out this year it did the same thing as the ones i put in the ground growing growing and late setting pods even though it was one of my first plants to be outside this year and it wasn't cut back from last year, its in my garage semi cut back with un-ripen pods still on it.

Bigger bucket size over 6gal for a first year plant imo is best for people with longer seasons...this is only my first year growing and this is how i feel about it.
pic of a bucket garden 65% of plants you can see some of the plants didn't get real big.
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tylerdodd25_92 said:
since you are in cali how much did you yeild off a 5 gallon... was it outside or inside..
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Just weighed the two plants after drying for 9 days. I only got 1.7 oz. from one plant and 1.45 oz. from the other.
The clones were bought too early and it ruined them as they tried to flower too early and then reverted back to vegetative growth.
 
Growing anything in small buckets will become root bound quite quickly. Canna and peppers produced root systems below on average as big as the growth above. Once they are root bound even if you continually feed, there is only so much uptake and maintained growth that is possible. Bigger the pot bigger the plant. Although if done right you can still pack it with buds/fruit. It's an art ya'll
 
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