Peppers in containers
 

I am going to grow Jalepeno Peppers and Cilantro in pots this year....along with my toms. Is a 5 gallon paint bucket going to be big enough for the peppers and cilantro??? I know maters need much bigger. The 5 gal buckets are bigger than 5 gal nursery pots.

I grow all my hot peppers and most herbs in 5 gallon grow bags and they do just fine.

I have grown peppers quite well in 5 gallon buckets too.

[QUOTE=Ed of Somis;399308]I am going to grow Jalepeno Peppers and Cilantro in pots this year....along with my toms. Is a 5 gallon paint bucket going to be big enough for the peppers and cilantro??? I know maters need much bigger. The 5 gal buckets are bigger than 5 gal nursery pots.[/QUOTE]

One 5-gallon per pepper plant. For cilantro I prefer an 8" or 10" plastic pot or trough.

My tomatoes grow fine in 5-gallon buckets so I assume they will work for peppers too since pepper plants are much smaller. One thing though, I would look into grow bags or drill extra large holes and then line with landscaping fabric for air-pruning. Especially since I've read peppers like it dry... That's how I plan to do mine (if I can ever get peppers to germinate for me!!)

I've heard some people say that food-grade plastic buckets are preferable if you're growing plants for food. Your favorite bakery, deli or restaurant might give you their empties if you ask nice:).

5 gallons should be fine for size. Containers need to be watered often if they're outside in hot or windy weather, but you'll still want good drainage.

Let us know how it works out.

Down here in the land of wholesale growers, 5-gallon nursery pots in various styles are in plentiful supply for $0.25 to 0.45 each at a wholesale supplier. If you are using a 5-gallon [i]bucket[/i] instead, then yes drill 3/8" holes on the sides adjacent to the bottom and several more in the bottom itself.

[QUOTE=spacetogrow;399361]I've heard some people say that food-grade plastic buckets are preferable if you're growing plants for food. Your favorite bakery, deli or restaurant might give you their empties if you ask nice:).

5 gallons should be fine for size. Containers need to be watered often if they're outside in hot or windy weather, but you'll still want good drainage.

Let us know how it works out.[/QUOTE]

Try the bakery at the grocery store their cake icing comes in nice buckets.

Yes drill the holes in the side at the bottom not under the container.

Some of my cacti containers I drilled holes all over the sides.

Worth

[QUOTE=spacetogrow;399361]I've heard some people say that food-grade plastic buckets ...[/QUOTE]

What, you want it cheap and healthy too?

You can get away woth much smaller pots for peppers if you know what you're doing. If 5 gal are easy to come by then use those. Peppers don't mind being root bound if properly fed, and usual recommendations are vastly oversized, probably by people who've never tried growing in smaller pots. Jalapenos are incredibly tough, they can even take my clay soil without problems, so whatever you do they are really hard to kill.

Here's one of my Capperino F1 plants - a hot cherry pepper -- growing in a 4"x4"x6" pot. I lost count at 15 flower buds, and several are now blooming. So yes, it is very possible to grow them in even smaller containers.

[IMG]http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/20/je8ada3y.jpg[/IMG]

I've actually had better results for peppers in containers than in the ground. Either a single plant in a 3-5 gallon container, or four plants in an 15-18 gallon container.

Don't forget the dolomitic lime and a little bit of epsom salts along with copious amounts of TomatoTone, GardenTone, or your preferred low-N fertilizer. Also, I remove the first blossom that forms in the first branch or "crotch" of the plant.

I plant my sweet bells and frying peppers in 3-gallon pots and always wind up with more than I need...I dip them in a tray of water and Texas Tomato Food solution once a week, and water from the top as needed. Containers also give you portability at end of season if you need some 'extra time' for them to turn color. I use 10-gallon fabric smart pots for the 'super-hots'.

That's the other thing. You can be mean to your super-hots and withhold water when the fruit is ripening up and they will be hotter than the blazes of heck.

i forgot to add some examples for small pots and peppers in my previous post, i kinda specialized in that direction:

8l, or 2 gal
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Pol3iQV.jpg[/IMG]

a butch t scorpion,7l or 1.8 gal
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/x3tQ1Fpl.jpg[/IMG]

4l or 1 gal
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/DNAUwCy.jpg[/IMG]

3l, or 0.8 gal
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/QFETlw5.jpg[/IMG]

and if productivity is in question (because previous pics were taken right before cutting the plants down before winter), this is a chocolate bhut jolokia:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/yFsahQj.jpg[/IMG]

so yeah, it's possible and even easy. this is also the reason peppers do incredibly well in hydroponic setups, a guy in Finland grows 4m tall pepper trees in 30 cm deep hydro tubs,its insane.