Set a liquid ant bait pack (Terro makes them) next to the pot. It's perfectly safe & will only take a day or so to rid the area of ants. Copy/paste to your browser to see: http://www.terro.com/products.php?product=liquid_ant_bait Al

REWRITTEN: As I am planning to grow some peppers in pots(Due to space shortage) so am trying to educate myself on the container planting of peppers. I have done some study on the potting mix. I think I have covered that base pretty good. NOW COMES POT SIZE: The objection to smaller pot is often stated as : ROOT BOUNDING. That maybe so true and more relevant for the plants that are going to be around for longer than one season. Also, This might be applicable to growing peppers as perennial in SO> CAL and Florida. For the rest of us, by the time the pepper plant has become root bound it will be out of commission: Mission Accomplished. Thank you. Another issue (and this is my personal observation and take) is that when a plant is given an opportunity to grow in a large container and then on top of that you give em lots of fertilizers, it will just waste a lot of time and energy trying to grow lots of root and foliage and less concentration on growing fruits. So then, in this case getting root bound is actually signals to the plant to get on with the mission, grow fruits(seeds) All said so far, I am leaning toward smaller pots ; 2 to 3 gal. range. I am not worried about small pots getting too hot , b,c in our PNW climate that is not an issue. This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, Nov 8, 13 at 6:42

Dale- The cages are about 2.5 feet tall. I take CRW (concrete wire ) make the cage, then cut them in half. Some of the peppers grow right out the top. Last year my Anaheims were pushing 4+ feet tall. I put the cages around them to help protect from the wind. When the get heavy with peppers, it really helps. What are the varieties? I will try to do it from memory. Hot Peppers: Grande Jalapeno Jalapeno M Jalaro Big Chili Hot Banana Purple Jalapeno Carrot Lemon Drop Orange Habanero Red Habanero White Habanero Brown Habanero Cayenne Thai Medusa (for the front porch) Bells: Fat n Sassy Red Knight Bianca Orange Sun Ariane Purple Beauty Tequila Chocolate Hybrid Lafayette Flavorburst Sweet Peppers: Cubenella Sweet Banana Cornio De Toro Red Cornio De Toro Yellow Gypsy I think that is it. I use lots of them for my pepper jellies. I also sell lots of peppers at farmers markets. I can't get too crazy, the super hots don't sell. However, the colors of bells are always a hit! TiMo- I live near Clay Center. About 2.5 hours straight west of you on Highway 24. I have several friends who also live in the KC area.

Now that looks like a whole tomato (perhaps a cherry tomato?) was buried there. One possibility comes to mind, something which has happened to me several times, creating a similar mystery - mice. Mice like to stockpile food, sometimes in odd places. I pulled out a tarp this year, and found a mixed collection of seeds (some from my garden!) hidden inside the folds. Mice have also been spreading my ground cherries all over my property. Another year, after tilling my garden, several very dense clusters of soybeans came up... apparently seeds gathered into one place by mice. If you have mice, something similar may have happened to one of the components of your potting mix.