V said: "I (and some fig experts on the Ourfigs.com forum) put eight 1 inch holes around the bottom as close to the bottom as possible and I have not encountered problems ...." Why as close to the bottom as possible? Because drilling them above the bottom is a problem. And as far as drainage is concerned, 1 hole is as good as 8 or 100. I assume the experts are expecting the extra holes to facilitate gas exchange, which also serves to compound the issue of the soil drying down too fast. Either way it's hard to justify the holes by way of efficacy. Whenever the oxygen supply to roots is limited, even for periods of time as short as a few hours, there is a resultant loss of potential in terms of growth and vitality. It is as undeniable as the conclusion that breathing through a drinking straw while attempting to run a marathon will limit a runner's ability to perform; and, arrival at the conclusion no damage is done because the damage is not conspicuous is a logical error - a causal fallacy in reverse. The damage isn't conspicuous, therefore it must not exist. We know with 100% certainty that perched water in a container is indeed a limiting factor. Drilling holes through the sidewall, above the bottom of the pot, adds to the volume of excess water in the pot after a thorough watering. How can it NOT be limiting? That the excess water is used rather quickly only suggests that the extent of the damage is limited but not eliminated by the short duration of soil saturation. If you carefully read what I said, you'll see I affirmed that holes drilled only through the side of the pot (with none in the bottom) should be avoided unless the bottom of the holes are tangent to (touching) the bottom of the pot. Even if the bottom of the holes through the pot's sidewall are 1/8" above the bottom, the pool of stagnant water which has no path by which to exit the pot is a perfect place for anaerobic fungi to gain a hold and wreak havoc with root health/ function. There is a reason you have never seen a container available for sale that has holes only in the sidewalls well above the pot bottom. Like orchid pots, they all have holes in the bottom. Even nursery cans in which holes are punched through the sides have a small portion of the bottom removed directly under the holes ..... for a reason. Al

Yes you can. I would use at least a half whiskey barrel size planter unless you are able to water them multiple times a day in August when they are mature and it is very hot.

BUMP Plant out time is here. I like the older threads rather than starting a new thread. There are already some useful information there. This thread dates back to 2011. Since then there has been quite some changes in container growing medium concept. In the past MG potting (and similar brands) used to be the potting soil option. They are mostly pet moss based. Al (Tapla) has made a significant contribution by developing and introducing 5-1-1 mix, It is 5 parts pine/fir bark fine , 1 part peat moss and 1 part perlite. The amount of peat moss really depends on the structure of the pine bark one uses. I, myself, get finer pine bark that does not need any peat moss. So I skip PM and instead I add DE (floor dry) for better moisture retention. DE also facilitates drainage after it is saturated. I have experimented and found out that one pound of dry DE absorbs one pound of water. So my 5-1-1 is 5 parts pine bark, 1 part DE and 1 part perlite. ABOUT CONTAINER SIZE As mentioned bigger pot is better. That is especially true if you have a long growing season, like in CA and FL where growing season can be 8 to 9 months. But in our PNW practical pepper growing season is about 5 months. Last year I used pots ranging from 2.5 to 5 gallons. Most did ok. This year I will use no smaller than 4 gallon nursery pots (= 5 gallon liquid). I got some of those for free from a landscaping crew in my neighborhood.. I also got reusable grocery shopping bags which also are 4 gallons in volume. I prefer these 4 gallon containers over the 5 gallon HD /Lowes buckets which are not very nice looking. Those buckets actually hold no more than 4 dry gallons. Are you ready to pot up ? Seysonn

Akier, If you want to grow more varieties, try smaller pots that even 5 gallon ones. The pots in my pics are either 10 inch or 12 inch plastic pots. Uses far less soil with those size pots. I have 1 seedling in each of the pots I grow. I plant them in the center of the pot, except for the ones that I want growing up the railing. Those get 1 seedling that is put close to the edge of the pot and that side is along the railing. I water my pots every other day, along with all my garden beds. My town is on a mandatory every other day watering, so can't water more than that. It's not that uncommon for the leaves to wilt a bit in the afternoon from the heat and sun, but bounce right back when they sun is more off them and it's later in the day. Even the ones in the ground do that as well. Give the pots you have a good watering to soak all of the soil and every other day should do it. Fran