Welcome, this is a great place for info and help.

kendra

Welcome, and Hello to a fellow St. Louis grower.

Thanks guys...sorry I didn't online for a while.

I'm new as well. I have 5 different kinds of hot pepper plants and I am absolutely loving it!!! This is my first year growing anything and I went kinda crazy with it. I have 15 different plants in 5 gallon containers. I seem to be having a problem with fruit size. Hungarian wax peppers stop growing at about 4" long. Hot cherries stop at about 1" in diameter. Jalepenos stop at about an inch & a half long. Cowhorn won't grow at all. I have tons of peppers on the cherry and Hungarian plants, just seem undersized. Maybe I'm wrong. Everything I read suggests that they should all be bigger. Any input?

I have noticed when it is exremely hot my plants produce much smaller pods. What are the temps in your area?

Well, we have had 7 heat waves this summer already in Philadelphia. So it has been pretty hot. I did my best to shade all the plants. I used a makeshift tarp (a bedsheet) and kept the soil and foliage moist throughout the hot days. I noticed that the plants would wilt in mid day and 20 minutes after getting water they would spring back to life. I thought maybe the containers played a role in fruit size. All of my plants are in 5 & 10 gallon containers. I thought that was sufficient since the hot pepper varieties don't get huge like tomato plants. The extreme heat sounds like a logical reason. Anything I can do besides shade them during the midday sun?

"I noticed that the plants would wilt in mid day and 20 minutes after getting water they would spring back to life."

there's a bit portion of the problem. You want more consistent moisture instead of severe swings. I'd recommend figuring out how to get a more constant supply of water to your plants. Perhaps and aquaglobe or even a 2-liter bottle with small holes in the bottom. The idea is to get the water to go in slowly to fully moisten the soil without waterlogging it.

Thanx hubris! I will give that a shot. I do my best to water them slowly and consistantly, but it's difficult with my schedule. I'm out the door @ 6am and home by 6pm. I always water my plants first thing in the morning. Since they are in containers I am always afraid to over water the pepper plants because I know (according to all I've read) that they should be watered every other day unless the soil is completely dried out. The fact that we have had so much hot weather up here also confuses me when it comes to how often I should water. My plants are also (most ppl think this is strange) on my roof! Obviously it's a tad bit hotter up there.
Im definetly going to try your 2L tecnique. Caring for these plants would be much easier if my wife were as enthusiastic about them as I am. Lol, she thinks I'm crazy.

Nitti if the containers are sitting on the surface of the roof, they might be picking up some heat from the surface of the roof through the bottom of the pots. this would heat up the roots, which could be causing the size problem. try setting the on some small pieces of wood to get the pots off the surface of the roof. Might help

Or better yet, put them on white styrofoam.

I never even considered that. Obviously the surface of the roof gets smokin' hot! Lol, I can't believe I missed that. Please excuse me, I'm laughing at myself and it has broken my train of thought. I'm an engineer for a commercial produce packing company. I deal with problems like this (how will the hot tar roof affect the solar field on the roof, etc.), all the time but missed it at my own house. Well, I didn't even realize it could be too hot for hot pepper plants in the first place so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad.
Thank u for all your input and help hubris! I appreciate it. Very happy I found this website. These forums helped me out tons!

Peppers come from the shadegrowing family also. They do best with morning sun only. Depending on how ur house sits on the lot, put the peppers(if in pots) on the side of the house that gets the most morning sun. The house will act as a shade in the heat of the day.

Also container veggies and fruits wont do nearly as well as ones in the ground. I live in an area where I cant grow outdoors year round, so what I do is, grown in the ground during the summer and winterize some in the fall. I also start new seedlings indoors during the winter, so when they go in the ground, I'm already 2 months ahead of schedule as to have yield all summer long.

I will be writing a book/website in the coming months.....

**Checkout my rainwater collection system in the pic also ;-)**

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1189833}}

FlFerrari, I love ur garden! Unfortunetly for me, I live in a row home in Philadelphia. Property in our city is sky high for almost no square footage. I have a 25' X 16' (concrete) yard, and a balcony on my second floor which is about the size of the yard. I have the containers on the balcony. It is basically the roof of my kitchen. I figured it was better to keep them out there and safe from squirrels or racoons. Luckily I have access to all the 55gallon drums I want from work. I cut them down to less than half and used those as pots. I thought it would be more than enough space for them to grow and I drilled about 25, 3/8" holes in the bottoms and lower sides for drainage and ventilation.
I have been considering building a raised bed garden for next season. I could use the entire middle of the yard and just have walkways on either side. Just some thoughts I had. Of course I have to clear it all with the boss (wife). Lol. She thinks I'm crazy. Went from 5hrs a night boxing to gardening.
Anyway, I've babbled on enough. I'll definetly check out your book when it's available. Thanx for the tips.

Ohh, I meant to ask, how should I winterize my favorites? I'd like to winterize my best Hungarian wax, hot cherry, jalepeno, & cowhorn pepper plants! What steps do I need to take? I've read that u should cut off all the foliage, put black trash bags around the inside of the container (w/ holes punched in them), on a windowsil and plenty of fertilizer. Is this correct? Any tips or suggestions?

Also, what is the best way to start seedlings in the winter? I'm sure there are plenty of forums for these topics (over wintering and seedlings), but I have a feeling that the ppl who have posted on this forum are well informed enough to tell me what I need to know. What steps to take? Which seeds are best? What equiptment will I need? Thanks again ppl

Starchaserkoa, thank u for bringing the roof surface issue to my attention. Hoping u all can help with my strong desire to continue with all this through the winter (starting seeds, overwintering)! Ttyl guys/gals

nitti.....tough to do alot of gardening in the concrete jungle for sure!!! I would also suggest doing some asking around philly this winter to see if there is anywhere close you can rent some land for next season. (Just an idea for some urban gardening.....a big lot divided and rented space out.)

I start my seedlings in the winter under a flourecent grow light that you can get at lowes, homme depot, etc......
Leave the light on 24 hrs and give yourself about 8 weeks or so and you will have great seedlings! dont forget to water(moist not too much) daily.

I read that you drilled holes in your barrels correct? That will help move water through your plants, but on extremely hot days they tend to dry out and you may have to water in the morning( b4 work) and again as the sunsets. Use fertilizer also but STOP using it once you see ANY knubs of fruit starting to pop.

If you have anymore questions concerning your peppers, feel free to take me some pics and send them to me! I LOVE seeing other peoples set-ups and wouldnt mind helping with what I can.

Thanks!
f1ferrari02@sbcglobal.net

A few pics of some of the yields so far

There are more pics hidden between the ones above. They wouldn't let me post them all at once. U may have to click on the others

It looks to me like you have 2 problems:
1)your peppers are only growing fruit size wise to the size of the containers.
2)They look like they are getting scorched from the sun a little too much.

If I were you NITTI, I would get yourself a regular white bed sheet....probably a double or queen size. Get a couple wooden polls and make a kind of tent-like cover for them and put all of them under it. I would also try to block the one side that can shield afternon sunlight as much as possible, as it is the most intense. REMEMBER: peppers ideal temps are between 70-85 degrees!!!

I've added a good pic of what i am talking about!!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1189842}}

Agreed, I've actually done that recently. I put them closer to the wall and shade them with a makeshift awning. The sun scorch went away on most as they ripened. The container size started small & I moved them into bigger ones as they grew. Is it possible that they were stressed during transplanting? I guess anythings possible. Well, if u take notice of the blue containers the tomato plants are in, that's what I was refering to earlier. Just about all my plants are in containers that size. I have to upload some more recent pics.
Maybe the fact that I moved them 3 times to different containers was too much stress.
Ive gotten plenty of excellent tips & info from these forums. I'll step up my game next season.
Which plants do u guys think will do best for over wintering? When people say, "my plants came back this year", is that a reference to just leaving them outside as they are, letting nature take it's course & they come back on their own in the spring?