I bet that sliding a 6 foot long root ball out of a straight sided pipe is an interesting proposition. I've used the Stuewe Treepots, in the 1,2 and 5 gallon sizes. The problem is keeping them upright. (the 5's aren't too bad.) The smallest ones, about 4x4x15 fit 9 to a milk crate quite nicely. The #2 will fit 4 to a milk crate. Note that serious production will get the local milk companies annoyed with you as too many crates vanish from behind 7/11s. You can get legal crates teh same size from Shippers Supply. The other way to support the #2 size is with concrete re-enforcing mesh. Make a 2x4 frame 1 foot high, and use fence staples to fasten the mesh. You can space the pots in various patterns to give them more room.

The few Bhut we grew again this year are just now setting fruit but are already odd-shaped & wrinkled. Hubby just grows them for powder after he dries & grinds them. They always germinate so slow & grow so slow at first but then catch up to the Barker, Heritage Big Jim, NM Heritage 6 & our own 'Sin Nombre'. Seed purchased from NM State U. in Las Crucws, NM. & they went back to the old original Big Jim & NM 6 seed to 'reclaim' the better chili flavor x those old varieties. Hubby's ten dehydrators & one mixer/blender are kept in the garage & are used for nothing else... the fumes linger there year round!Second picking of the Big Jim & so far have picked 63 lbs. & roasted & frozen; the Barker was roasted, peeled & dried & ground for powder like the Bhut. 'Senior years' has lessened the ability to eat the EXTRA-HOT 'Sin Nombre' any more! Very hot & dry weather here this year so the chilies must like it! They are on soaker hoses on timers. Hatch though has gotten a lot of rain so hope it doesn't hurt their crops this year. Sad as I've heard some 'Hatch' labelled chili is coming up from Mexico but the local stores have the Hatch farms names on the labels so think those are legitimate. Good luck all chili growers with your crops this year!

My one has survived 4 winters. It just doesn't grow much. Grew about 6" the first year but the last two I haven't seen any at all. I'm thinking it's not getting enough nutrients because of my extreme alkaline soil despite using acid fertilizer. I'm thinking of stepping up the amount of fertilizer. Maybe using a liquid type so it's fast access. Here's hoping that helps.

I should have said that they don't have mechanical brakes that trigger when the motor stops driving the drum. Some may have "electrical" braking via the motor but it's not instantaneous and unlikely to prevent a catastrophic failure. Majority nowadays don't have physical bump switches that the drum impacts when oscillating (the "old-style" Maytag Neptunes do have bump switches, probably some others from that time-frame). Balance sensing is by monitoring rotational inertia and characteristics during the slow-RPM load distribution routine. Catastrophic failure of the drum or drum support stops the machine ... the drum can't turn if it's jammed. The control would/should sense the high-current or lack of rotational sensor feedback and shut the motor off but probably not in a way that would prevent damage from occurring. There's not a lot can be done if the drum breaks loose from the support spider at 1,000 RPM+. Maybe (hopefully?) someone will reply to advise in the contrary! My Neptune TL has a device (I believe it's called an accelerometer) on the control board in the console that can sense the vibration if the drum impacts the cabinet. It comes into play during the distribution routine at start of spin. Max spin speed is limited to 500 RPM if an impact occurs at any point during distribution, even it if redistributes and gets a perfectly balanced spin. The sensor remains active during spin on the Bulky cycle but not on other cycles best as I can determine. However, it definitely does not have a spin brake, takes a long time for the heavy drum to coast-down.