Clumping plants together

kevokie · May 23, 2009

Hello all,

Today, my wife and I went to pick up or son at his grandpa's house. He has a fairly large garden and has done something that I haven't ever seen or heard before. He got the idea from a neighbor across the street from him. It seems like a good idea. What he did was take 4-6 of the same pepper plant, ie jalapeno or hungarian wax in the same hole. He said the idea was that he would put one of those small cheapie cages you get from walmart around them and that they will also support each other as they get bigger. Anyone else tried this? How would the pepper plants like being crowed together like that? I am thinking that he had a couple of feet in between each clump of plants. Would there be a risk of foliage disease?

shelleybean · May 23, 2009

I've only done this with two plants in one hole, but it worked fine. I had no problems.

**nctomatoman** · May 23, 2009

I envision a mess more than anything else! I think the question becomes competition of each of the plants for water and nutrients. An interesting study would be to look at the total yield of one plant per planting hole vs many - and suspect what would come out is that yield per plant drops off in a clump, but the total yield would be a bit higher than the single plant.

Blueaussi · May 23, 2009

I would also be concerned about them shading each other as they compete for resources. I'd hazard a guess that one or two of the plants become dominate and get larger than the others.

kevokie · May 29, 2009

Yeah, the more that I think about this idea, the more I don't like it. I can definately see production issues being a problem. Of course that would also go hand in hand with the whole "competing for resources" as well. It still might be a good idea if you have limited space. I am not sure what he is going to do with all the peppers if they really do produce good, maybe sell them I suppose. We will see how good this turns out.

He also told me that his neighbor across the street does this same thing with tomato plants. He plants them 4-5 in a hole. Now that I can see not being a good idea. That guy sells his produce in his yard and my FIL was saying that his tomatoes are always much smaller than normal.

Granite26 · June 3, 2009

I used to pack my garden trying to get everything possible in.

When I started planting less with more space everything seemed healthier and more productive.
Rather general I know but it improved everything planted moving rows farther apart as well as plants in row.

May 23, 2009	#1
kevokie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 157	Clumping plants together Hello all, Today, my wife and I went to pick up or son at his grandpa's house. He has a fairly large garden and has done something that I haven't ever seen or heard before. He got the idea from a neighbor across the street from him. It seems like a good idea. What he did was take 4-6 of the same pepper plant, ie jalapeno or hungarian wax in the same hole. He said the idea was that he would put one of those small cheapie cages you get from walmart around them and that they will also support each other as they get bigger. Anyone else tried this? How would the pepper plants like being crowed together like that? I am thinking that he had a couple of feet in between each clump of plants. Would there be a risk of foliage disease? __________________ Kevin "A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins."- Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking

May 23, 2009	#2
shelleybean Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 2,648	I've only done this with two plants in one hole, but it worked fine. I had no problems. __________________ Michele

May 23, 2009	#3
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	I envision a mess more than anything else! I think the question becomes competition of each of the plants for water and nutrients. An interesting study would be to look at the total yield of one plant per planting hole vs many - and suspect what would come out is that yield per plant drops off in a clump, but the total yield would be a bit higher than the single plant. __________________ Craig

May 29, 2009	#5
kevokie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 157	Yeah, the more that I think about this idea, the more I don't like it. I can definately see production issues being a problem. Of course that would also go hand in hand with the whole "competing for resources" as well. It still might be a good idea if you have limited space. I am not sure what he is going to do with all the peppers if they really do produce good, maybe sell them I suppose. We will see how good this turns out. He also told me that his neighbor across the street does this same thing with tomato plants. He plants them 4-5 in a hole. Now that I can see not being a good idea. That guy sells his produce in his yard and my FIL was saying that his tomatoes are always much smaller than normal. __________________ Kevin "A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins."- Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking

May 23, 2009	#4
Blueaussi Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: South Carolina Zone 8a Posts: 1,205	I would also be concerned about them shading each other as they compete for resources. I'd hazard a guess that one or two of the plants become dominate and get larger than the others.

June 3, 2009	#6
Granite26 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Western WI Posts: 359	I used to pack my garden trying to get everything possible in. When I started planting less with more space everything seemed healthier and more productive. Rather general I know but it improved everything planted moving rows farther apart as well as plants in row.