advice with pot size for peppers and chili

[weeclop]

hello grapes

i am wondering about potting on my small seedlings that have grown.
they will be kept indoors untill it is warmer. if i pot up one plant each in 5 inch pots will these be big enough to leave in for the full growing time or will they need to go to a larger pot when a lot bigger.
thanks for any advice

weeclop

[sewer rat]

Some peppers (both sweet and chilli) can be grown in pots but I would think that a 5" pot is too small for most. If yoiu tell us which varieties you are growing, we may be able to give more specific advice

[weeclop]

cheers the rat
i have got orange bell and kaibi sweet pepper
the chillis are bartletts bonnet and cayene
scottish by the grace of god.i like that im a jock as well

[HotStuff]

hello grapes

i am wondering about potting on my small seedlings that have grown.
they will be kept indoors untill it is warmer. if i pot up one plant each in 5 inch pots will these be big enough to leave in for the full growing time or will they need to go to a larger pot when a lot bigger.
thanks for any advice

weeclop

Hi weeclop, welcome to the Vine.

The normal way of doing things apparently is to gradually increase the size of the pots as the plants grow. So 3in, then 5in, then 7in, then 9in or bigger. Each move being prompted by roots showing out the bottom of the current pot. I'm still fairly new to this so not sure why this is, maybe they feel lost if you put them in too big a pot too soon

[Alison]

As Hotstuff says, it's best to pot on gradually. With regards the eventual size of pot, I grew Orange Bell in 10" pots last year.

[COMPOST CORNER]

Chilli's and peppers apparently don't like "wet feet" so if you move them up too quickly the roots get too wet from the surrounding compost, and the plants don't do as well.

[SarzWix]

That's it CC They definitely do better with gradual increases in pot size, and, try not to water at night for the same reason - cold wet compost doesn't suit peppers or chillis.

As for final pot size, well, chillis and peppers will generally grow to suit the size of pot they're in. Big pot = bigger plant, higher yield, but later to ripen. Small pot = smaller plant, smaller yield, but earlier to ripen. So I usually compromise, and go for somewhere in the middle. Chillis I usually put in a final size of about 5 litres, and peppers in 7 - 10 litre pots (flower bucket size), with just a couple of plants of each kept 'downsized' in small pots to get an earlier, but small, crop.

[solway cropper]

Ooops, I've never gradually increased pot size. I just go from the 3 inch pot they're sown in straight to a 9 or 10 inch final one. And I still manage to get a helluva crop of peppers.

[Shadylane]

I put some of my chilli plants in too big pots last year and they sulked big time. They just sat there and did nowt for ages. They did eventually do ok but I'm sure it slowed them down quite a bit.

[rustylady]

I pot mine on gradually, starting with five seeds sown in a 3 and a half inch pot in the propagator, pricked out into cells or individual small pots. When the roots fill those pots they go into bigger ones, and so on. Ended up in 10 inch pots last year and had a great crop.

[snakeshack]

I pot mine up in 3 stages,first 3 in pot then 5 in pot then finally flower bucket.
then they go into a bottomless flower bucket standing on top of a manure pocket and mulch around the bottom to keep weeds down.

[greenman001]

So when I've finally potted in say 9 litre pots and eventually the roots stick out at the bottom I just leave it like That?

[the big lebowski]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URPPQi903ZY

1st attempt at a link

[Scarlet]

So when I've finally potted in say 9 litre pots and eventually the roots stick out at the bottom I just leave it like That?

I pot into the biggest pots I can find - and maybe just do it in 3 stages.
What are you growing?

[Chris11]

That's it CC They definitely do better with gradual increases in pot size, and, try not to water at night for the same reason - cold wet compost doesn't suit peppers or chillis.

As for final pot size, well, chillis and peppers will generally grow to suit the size of pot they're in. Big pot = bigger plant, higher yield, but later to ripen. Small pot = smaller plant, smaller yield, but earlier to ripen. So I usually compromise, and go for somewhere in the middle. Chillis I usually put in a final size of about 5 litres, and peppers in 7 - 10 litre pots (flower bucket size), with just a couple of plants of each kept 'downsized' in small pots to get an earlier, but small, crop.

That's an excellent post I've just seen for the first time on this old thread.

SarzWix explanation of the balancing factors makes more sense to me than the 'bigger is always better' approach.

I've got limited space for all the varieties I grow, so I've also deliberately limited pot size sometimes. I get an earlier ripening from at least some plants, and room to fit in more different varieties.