Container or in-ground?

3 years ago

I'm growing a lot more peppers than usual this year, and I would like some advice on how to proceed with the season.

In the past I've grown cayenne, tabasco, jalapenos, Thai hot peppers, and something else that I don't remember. I used to have a pergola that was in full sun, and I would put the peppers in containers under the pergola. But they still really had too much sun and it would often burn the leaves.

Last year I set up a small greenhouse in a dappled-sun area (mainly to salvage some plants over the winter), and last month I began to use it to germinate orange habaneros (my favorite), purple habanero, peach scorpion, a hot scorpion of unknown cultivar (it came from a friend), aji mango stumpy, and red, yellow, and orange sweet peppers. All are sprouting now except for the peach scorpion, but it's still early so I'm not worried :-)

As they grow, though, the questions are:

1. Should I put them each in large containers, or plant them in the ground?

2. Should I put them in full sun areas, where they'll get plenty of dryer heat but could burn their leaves? Or part sun areas? Or even leave them in the dappled-sun greenhouse where they'll get the most heat with more humidity?

Note that I'm in western NC (USA), zone 7A. I have problems with moles, voles, black ants, worms, and now fire ants (to which I'm severely allergic!) that tend to destroy any other foods that I grow in the ground, but they usually leave my peppers alone.

My full sun areas are not enclosed so they'll be subject to rabbit and deer, but the part-sun areas are fenced in.

Featured Answer

beesneeds

2 years ago

I grow a lot of different peppers every year. For me, what size pot depends on what size plant. A good sized pot should help keep the plant bottom-heavy to help prevent blow overs, and enough medium to keep your roots happy. Big enough to put in plant supports, but not too big to move around easily. I use nursery pots, 5 gallon buckets, and even recycled kitty litter buckets in large and small. I use big storage bins for really big plants.

For the peppers you list. I'll put peppers up to 24" tall in a 3 gallon depending on the growth habit. Thai hot pepper is listed as 15", so I would put that in a 3 gallon pot. If you are growing a short cayenne, that could go into a 3 gallon as well. Peach scorpion is listed under 24", but your unknown scorpion might get big enough to need a bigger pot.

Peppers over 24" like some cayennes, jalapeños, tabasco, habaneros, aji mango stumpy I would put into 5 gallon pots.

Peppers over 48" tall or have large/heavy growth habits I will put into storage bins to provide enough room for supports.

Your sweets will depend on the cultivars, but they are the same for pot sizes as the hots for me.

For supports, I recommend tomato cages. They are useless for most tomatoes, but are pretty good for peppers to support their stems and branches and they can fit nicely into pots.

I wouldn't keep them in a greenhouse unless you can really keep it cooler during the heat of summer. If you have some dappled shade or afternoon shade outside the greenhouse that can be nice. Some of the peppers I grow don't like all day sun and prefer some afternoon shade. If you are having sun scorch issues, perhaps consider setting up a shade cloth over your pepper patch.

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Comments (10)

four (9B near 9A)
3 years ago
In your case, containers. because relocatable. Placements according to conditions, and according to plants' endurance. Provide make-shift shading /filtering as needed.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC thanked four (9B near 9A)
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
3 years ago
Any suggestions on the size of containers? I think I'm going to have to go buy a bunch :-/
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four (9B near 9A)
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
For any given type of growing medium, larger container retains more moisture and longer than smaller. Which may or may not be desirable, depending both on plants' utilization and on their susceptibilty to root rot.

Plants whose roots remain restricted do not grow as large as plants whose roots grow unrestricted. Often I increase depth of medium, when it becomes necessary, by cutting bottom out of pot (plant and medium inside), and stacking it into pot of similar size that is less than full of medium. Sticks through the full depth stablize the upper pot. This method reduces the space otherwise occupied by wide pots.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
2 years ago
Great information, thanks!

I did some research on my peppers, and from what I can find their average height will be:

Sweet Peppers - 2-6'

Aji Mango Stumpy - 5'

Purple Habanero - 5'

Unknown Scorpion (looks like a Trinidad Moruga) - 3'

Orange Habanero - 3'

Peach Scorpion - 1.5'

The sweet peppers were kind of a joke... I buy mini sweet peppers at the grocery store to make a pasta dish, and just for kicks I scraped the seeds out of them one time, let them dry, and planted them when I did the others just to see if they'd come up. I have no idea, though, whether these are true mini peppers or if they're modified bell peppers, so I'll find out when / if I see the fruits! LOL

Bell peppers are common in my area, and since I don't care THAT much about them then I put just put them in the ground...

For the hot peppers, though, I have a ton of nursery pots, but most of them are less than 1G :-/ I have a couple of containers that are monsters (like 1' deep by 3' in diameter), and I'm torn on whether to put a bunch of the same peppers in one pot together, or to go buy new ones and spread them out. Spreading them out would help ensure against pests killing them or too much / little sun hurting them, but it will also cost a lot more money, so...

The Aji Mango and Purple Habaneros are my biggest concern, I think. Apparently they can get over 5' tall!

https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/aji-mango-stumpy/

If they all come up then that'll be 12 big containers that I need :-O The potting soil alone is going to become a major expense on this one.

@beesneeds, I have dappled shade aplenty :-D I cleaned out a large area on the Western side of my house over the winter, so I have a good spot that's shaded by the house until around 11am, and then I can either give them direct sun until around 3 or move them farther West and they'll get dappled sun the rest of the day.
beesneeds
2 years ago
In a 1'x3' container, I think you can do your Peach Scorpions, and probably 2-3 per container. Try the sweet peppers in that size container too- a lot of commercial cultivars are on shorter plants, so if yours don't throw sports it's likely yours will be shorter as well. Your 5' plants could also probably go into that size container, but I would limit it to 1 plant per container and make sure you got good supports.
K Marie
2 years ago
Hey, I grew peppers in containers for years in NC near you (Charlotte area). If you go containers, here's what worked for me.

I used to use plastic "self watering" pots from big-box stores happily - 12" or 14" ones run < $15. But over time I learned the "self-watering" cheap pots are risky, particularly if you also buy cheap potting soil.

I switched to fabric 2 years ago and I strongly prefer them and HIGHLY recommend them. Even better if you put yours on the ground! Since they get some capillary action. But if you keep them on a deck, that works too (mine were on a balcony).

You can get a pack on Amazon for really cheap! Don't bother with the overpriced name brand, just go to Amazon or Ebay - they're all the same felt. You can get some with handles, and my favorite, ones with velcro sides so you can easily remove a plant if you change your mind.

Size: YMMV but I found 5 gallon is about right for most peppers. (This is a 14" or so pot). The only one of your varieties I grew was orange hab's and I found mine did well in a 5 gal.

5 gallons is actually a bit big for peppers, mine rarely seemed to use all that pot space when I cleaned my containers out.... but 3 gal is just a bit too small to deal with easily in our climate, so I default to 5 gal. I move to 8 gal for really big plants like Poblanos. I put Shishito's in an 8 gal last year but will probably go 5 gal this year.

For your big sweet peppers, I don't know if I have a good pot size rec. I never had luck with bells in containers. My container success maxed out at like salad pepper/Poblano/Shishito size. But on a balcony I also had less room and limited sunshine.

Hopefully any of that helps.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
2 years ago
Oh my gosh, @K Marie, I had no idea those existed!! Thanks so much, you're gonna save me a LOT of money! I found these for $1.50 /each:

https://www.amazon.com/ACSTEP-Aeration-Thickened-Nonwoven-Handles/dp/B08QJJMQ78/

I currently have 42 sprouts (and waiting to see if 6 others sprout). I have a ton of nursery pots, but they're all way too small for this. I was worried that I'd have to buy the $15 ones!! Or let a lot of them die :-(

Any suggestions for good yet inexpensive potting soil? I usually use Miracle Grow, but it's $15 for a 50 quart bag! I think that would be enough for 2 1/2 pots, and it's hard to justify $300 in soil :-O The ground soil in my area is mostly red clay (what we call Carolina Clay), and I'm not sure that it would be healthy enough to use for any of these.
four (9B near 9A)
2 years ago
Did you read the comments in Amazon?
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
2 years ago
I did... I'm not too concerned with the thickness of the material, I probably won't reuse them annually or anything.

I read some concerns that they aren't really 5G, but that'll be easy to determine; it says that the dimensions are 12" diameter by 10" height, and that's 4.9G, so I'll just measure when I get it. If it's not then it's Prime with free returns so I can send it back :-)

Container or in-ground?

beesneeds

Comments (10)

four (9B near 9A)

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
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four (9B near 9A)

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
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K Marie

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
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four (9B near 9A)

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
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Container or in-ground?

beesneeds

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four (9B near 9A)

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NCOriginal Author

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four (9B near 9A)

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NCOriginal Author

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Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NCOriginal Author

four (9B near 9A)

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NCOriginal Author

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