Judo - You should have taken the person up on the 2 - 3 gal pots. The peppers don't need as much room as tomatoes. I have mine in 1 to 3 gal pots and they do just fine.
John A

What's up JP. I use only 5 gallon buckets for superhots. I have 19 of those suckers all over my patio, and a dozen more scattered throughout the yard. My wife says the same thing about the tackiness. I've heard tips about scouring the alleys behind restaurants, delis, bakeries, etc. where empty 5 gals are discarded. The ones I got were scavenged from an ice cream shop.

I had an issue using "inferior" potting soil in 5 gals, it wouldnâÂÂt drain properly leaving the soil soaked and the plants yellow. (I actually used "gardening soil" instead of potting soil one year - dumb). Using proper potting soil, with a decent amount of perlite it's not an issue. I drilled 10-12 half inch holes in the bottom, that seems to be sufficient, IMO, no need for rocks.

I hear 3 gal is fine but if you have a long growing season like you and I, I feel that 8-10 gallon is better. I used 5 gal last year for some and they were all root bound by the end of the season.

Just make sure you have plenty of holes drilled. I use a 3/8" bit and pepper the bottom with holes -- no rocks needed.

Also, mctiggs is right about the medium. But I would get potting MIX, not SOIL. The MIXES tend to have more bark, less peat... better drainage. An ORCHID Mix is also good stuff. I would also supplement the mix with about 25% coarse perlite. Available at Home Depot in 2 c.f. bags for about $17... I get mine 5cf/$15 at a local mom and pop nursery.

My Lowe's has a "recycle" container rack -- free for the taking. Sometimes I can go in and get 10-15 gal tree containers.

Kevin

based on everything I've read on here and elsewhere, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with your statement about peppers not needing big pots. their roots like to grow deep. the 7pot was over 2ft tall, the other two at least 1.5ft.

and the thing is, they were already in 3 gallon pots. I wanted them to move up. the plants are pretty big, and when I pulled them out of the old pots, there was a lot of root bunched up at the bottom. I wouldn't call it root bound, but they were on their way to being root bound.

with that said, I still graciously accepted the free 3 gallon pots. you can never have too many. especially since I plan to expand my collection next year.

the question is: are 5 gallon buckets big enough? or will I have to move them up again if I successfully overwinter them?

I potted them using a mix of 'Just Natural' brand potting soil and mushroom compost (roughly 4:1 ratio), with a fair helping of bone meal mixed in. the potting soil has a lot of bark in it, and in my experience seems to be very well draining.

I know I probably should use perlite as well, but that stuff is kinda expensive, so if I don't absolutely need it, it's an expense I can cut out. the wife is already complaining about how much I'm paying for the pots and soil. we are moving in 2 weeks and I'm giving up my well paying office job to probably work in the service industry while I'm in school, so every bit I can save is a plus.

in this Florida heat (it's 90 degrees outside right now, and feels "nice" compared to the past few days of 95+) I think a bit of water retention is a good thing, my plants are under a tree and I still have to water at least every other day as it is, and the leaves are usually already really droopy by day 2 if it doesn't rain. but I've heard that hotter environments produce hotter peppers, so maybe it's a good thing.

thanks guys for all the advice. I don't say that enough.

When I overwinter, I trim them top and bottom, and put them in 1gal pots at largest.

There is much debate on pot size. For most folks, 3gal is about the smallest size they use. Though there are some here that use smaller. Others stick to the 5ish gal range, and some go larger.

Kevin mentioned the length of growing season, to there's that. Also, some plants are larger than others so that could come into play as well.

Bottom line, I think you could get by with 3gal, but, it sounds like 5gal would be better for you. The larger volume would help keep the roots cooler and hold water a bit better.

Most of my container plants are in 3 Gal cat litter buckets (Cats are good for something..) I am having no issues at all with the 3 or 5 Gal containers. Drill holes and away you go.

Bill

here's a question: some of my plants damn near folded in half at the base with the recent winds we had down here. I've got them staked back up now, but how long should I wait to repot them after something like that?

If the buckets are the final home for the plants (3-5 Gal) I would just stake and leave alone. I have stakes or Tomato cages on all my containers because of the high winds here.

Those buckets should work fine. I put mine in 5 gal Menards buckets this year. Like Lowe's, I got them for $2.50 each. I got the Menards ones because my wife didn't want orange Home Depot ones lining our deck. Here is a photo of some of mine from 10 days ago. I drilled holes all along the outside of the bottoms.
Bruce

Here is a close up showing the holes that I drilled in some of them.
Bruce

nice setup esox. did you attempt to write what kind of pepper it is on the buckets? my wife is warming up to the idea of big blue buckets in the back yard. the way I see it, it adds color.

what I mean is the ones that had bent really bad are some of the ones I haven't repotted yet. I intend to repot them soon. should I just go ahead as planned and re-stake them when I finish?

Yah, I wrote the names of the peppers on the buckets when I potted them up in mid may. The sun bleaches it off. So much for "Permanent" markers. I did it last year with Duct tape and the same thing happened. I guess I could keep redoing it but I guess I just gave up. I suppose there is something I could use that wouldn't fade but it just isnt a priority, I guess. I did it more for pictures than myself as each plant has a little plant marker inside to keep them straight. Here is a photo back in mid May.