My take on 5-1-1 COST: as Ohiofem's ~~$3 per cu-ft (average). But it took me some time to figure out to get WHAT from WHERE. Conifer bark (mostly pine) is bagged and marketed as MULCH. They come in all shapes and sizes from CRUSHED, mini/small nuggets, medium and large nuggets. But because they are sold as landscaping mulch, often have a lot of sapwood ( a no no for 5-1-1). So the difficulties about 5-1-1 Are: ---- Finding the right stuff. --- even after finding the RELATIVELY right stuff you may have to need to screen. --- Then you have to make the mix, per recipe'. ( add perlite, peat moss, lime, crf ) I think, for someone who can do all the work, 5-1-1 is a better potting mix, REGARDLESS of being economical or not. I have done a lot of studying on this subject, b,c I was going to do a lot of container growing this season. Right now I have about 22 potted peppers and tomato, all filled with 5-1-1( Slightly modified formula) . I have even used it in the tomato planting holes. I estimate that I have made about 14 cu-ft of it. The most expensive part is perlite ($17.00 for 2 cu-ft). The rest of ingredients cost around $2.25 per cu-ft So as Josh said, You have to have some experience and feel for potting soil and adjust to your climate. For me, in PNW the 5-1-1 mix is almost perfect. We have cool weather and more rain. So drainage is important. If I was going to use it say in Central Texas I would modified it with MORE peat moss and/or Floor Dri (OptiSorb). I can say in summary that perhaps 5-1-1 is not for everyone.

I don't know about others, but I do not lump them all together. With "peppers" and tomatoes, you have got at least 10.000 varieties of each. Growing tomatoes and bell peppers in one setup and with one nutrient isn't the worst you can grow together, though. Bell- and hot peppers (generally speaking) are not unlike tomatoes, best grown with high Potassium and relatively low Nitrogen formulas. Well, tall bell pepper plants are often growing fast and can use more Nitrogen than their smaller relatives. And, most hot peppers (c. chinense, c. baccatum, frutescens and pubescens are much happier with lower nutrient concentration but don't mind somewhat more Nitrogen (in respect of lower concentration) as tomatoes. PH is compatible anyways, all in all - no big deal to grow them together, as long as you follow these rules that aren't a big secret anyway. ;-) Btw: your Cajun Tabascos should be capsicum frutescens, and in case, they grow slowly and build up quite a structure before going to blooming and fruiting stage (what you aim for in fact) - and hence they will take several month to mature and grow best with low nutrien concentration and high potassium content (as seen earlier). The good thing about them is that they are quite robust and forgiving, if treated decently... Btw: Capsicum frutescens is what grows best here in Thailand and in this "rough" climate.

A possible use for your packing peanuts: Get a pot about 2 inches bigger than your plants pots all the way around including taller. Put peanuts in the bottom of the big pot and set your plant on top of them inside the pot. Stuff peanuts around the side of the big pot evenly around your plants pot. Maybe it would help insulate your plant and also let air get to the plant pot too. Try it with 1 pot and see.It'll only cost you whatever the bigger pot costs. If you have wood you could make boxes with drain holes to do the same thing. You could even make the boxes with bottoms that hold the plant off the ground a few inches. If you wanted to go crazy with it you could route the boxes with a design or use a wood burner to decorate them. Make a Stencil to use to spray paint/stain/waterproofing a design or whatever on the wood so they all match. Shouldn't be hard to cut a bunch of them out at once. Like making a birdhouse without a roof or bottom-just sides of a box. Don't really need a bottom,use a couple screws that go through the sides to set the pot on and staple some fiberglass(non metal) screen on the bottom to hold the peanuts in. Wood would probably insulate the plants some and peanuts between should be better than airspace. They don't conduct heat well and might allow for a limited amount of air to curculate so the wood dries out and doesn't rot from gettig watered and rained on etc. If you have a tablesaw you could rip a bunch of sides out of plywood pretty fast.Thats if your pots are pretty close in size to each other. Some places cut the wood for you for pretty cheep-so much a cut. Might be easier to pay acouple bucks to get them pre-cut rather than taking all the crap off of your saw or clearing all the junk out of the way so you can work on them and just decorate or seal the wood and slap them together. A stapler or nail gun would make it real fast too...if you have access to those kinds of toys. Better yet someone who could show you how to use theirs because you want to borrow it....Could ya show me just one more time? :)

I have several pepper plants in a raised bed that also has cucumbers. The cukes have to stay consistently watered or they will droop and they might make bitter fruit. The peppers in that bed are on the same soaker hose and get a heavy deep watering every other day. They are in full sun and flowering/fruiting very well right now in our 100 plus degree weather. That could be because of the temp drops we had here in early July... I would guess that they would be fine on the same line as your toms, but if it's possible to to do two different lines then I would do that, in your situation. It won't kill them if you have to make do until you get to the store, though.