Chillis and Peppers - potting advice please

[mrscorpio]

Good Morning All,
I am growing a pack of Johnsons Chilli and Pepper collection seeds. It contains the following
Sweet Banana (Sweet) - tasty and thick walled, up to 20cm in length.
Corno do torro rosso (Sweet) - mildlly flavoured, up to 25cm in length.
Fresno (Hot) - versatile, pick and use at any stage, up to 7cm in length.
Jalapeno (Hot) - classic, thick walled chillies, up to 7cm in length.
Purple Beauty (Sweet) - Thick walled, blocky peppers, to 10cm long.
Red Cherry (Hot) - fiery cherry shaped fruit, average 3cm in length.

I am also growing a standard sweet pepper (capsicum)

They all need to go into their final pots, What size do you recommend.
I do have many sizes up to and including Morrison flower buckets.

Also How tall do they get. Im starting to think I may need to remove the shelving from my GH so they can sit on the floor.

Thanks in advance
Ian

[rustylady]

I've found that chillies do best (i.e. produce more fruit) when the roots are a bit restricted, so I wouldn't go as big as flower buckets. I had loads of fruit last year, and the biggest pot I used for a single plant was a "long tom". 6 and a half inches diameter, 7 and a half inches deep, 3 litre capacity. I grew sweet banana, Joe's Long, Cayenne, and some unidentified ones from a Chilli Shake mixed pack of seeds.

[sarraceniac]

I have never found any substantial difference between potting on into a palm pot of about the size rustylady says and a Morrison's black pot. I do however find the larger pots start to flower a little bit later. They do say that if you ask 5 gardeners a question then you will get 5 (or even 10) different answers. A friend of mine in our local club who is highly respected says 'The bigger the pot, the better'. So maybe the difference is not that great. I do find that they grow much bigger in a Morrison's pot though. So if that is what you use, then either move the shelves or buy a good pair of secateurs.

[Alison]

I usually do mine in pots about 10" diameter but have used smaller ones. Last year I had 2 very good dwarf peppers on the window ledge in 5" pots which produced about 6 small and beautiful red peppers each (until they both died when I went on holiday at the end of July )

[Capsid]

On Gardener's Question Time last Friday, Bob Flowerdew said that the main concern is to keep the roots cool. So try and shade the pots with the plants in sun, somehow.

[chilliking]

chillies are pretty resilient. try not to over water them and get them as much light as possible. half strength tomato feed when they start fruiting will help. all varieties are different sizes and the height of plants will vary depending on the source of seeds and condition grown in. on average probably about 18"-24" tall.

i usually end up with most varieties in 10" pots.

more tips in the link in my signature if required ;-)

[Wendie]

I kept my chillies outside last year against a southfacing wall. They bore fruit until October when the frosts came. I kept them in 10 inch pots - kept them watered well and fed them tomato feed once they had started flowering.I haven't a clue what kind they were but they didn't go red.
This year i bought a packet of seeds from Asda -different varieties - not known. They are about 6 inches tall at the mo and am keeping them in a plastic greenhouse. But i shall do the same with them and put them outside in the next few weeks.
Hope they turn out well for you, Mrscorpio