What do you reckon, does colour matter?

[4390evans]

I've got my peppers in black pots and they are romping away.... at the same time I planted my chillies in terracotta plastic pots and they are only 4-5" tall.

Anyone in the north east got a pic of their chillies so I can compare?

I mean I'm quite happy with just the peppers the as last year's were terrible, but I would like at least one chilli

[Ryez]

What size are the pots? My understanding is that chillies grow larger the larger the pot is.

[Penellype]

I don't grow chillis because I can't eat "hot" food, but I often grow different varieties of the same thing in different coloured pots (eg tomatoes) to distinguish them from each other. I can't say I have ever noticed that the black pots result in bigger plants than the terracotta coloured ones. This year I grew snackbite red and yellow peppers sown at the same time, the red ones in terracotta plastic pots and the yellow ones in black pots. Both grew at roughly the same rate and flowers opened within a day of each other on all 4 plants (2 of each).

[Potstubsdustbins]

A few years back I thought I noticed a difference in yield from green dustbins to black.

The next season I placed a green and black bin side by side both planted with 4 Picasso seed spuds in new compost. They were treated exactly the same, watered at the same time, turned at the same time, I even measured the amount of feed applied to try to ensure the only difference was the colour of the bin.

At harvest the black bin won but the difference was so small less than 6 ounce's that it could have been just a coincidence. Needless to say I don't bother now.

[Nicos]

Terracotta compared to black plastic?
If so...there would be an enormous difference in evaporation rate

[Containergardener]

The only plant I know of not liking black was fuchsia fuschia ...can never spell it

[Containergardener]

Mine are in black , only because most plants bought and reused pots are black.

[Alison]

Terracotta compared to black plastic?
If so...there would be an enormous difference in evaporation rate

I think they're terracotta coloured plastic pots not actual terracotta.

Would have thought it's more down to the fact that chillies are usually smaller plants nothing more.

[Martin H]

fuchsia fuschia ...can never spell it

I used to struggle with the spelling until I learnt the plant was named after a botanist called Leonhart Fuchs. So now I pronounce it differently too.

Sorry, as you were...

[Containergardener]

I used to struggle with the spelling until I learnt the plant was named after a botanist called Leonhart Fuchs. So now I pronounce it differently too.

Sorry, as you were...

That's all I needed..., now I know . I'm not big fan tbh so don't tend to buy or grow them. I have a couple plants I've overwintered for 3yrs in GH now . Other than that .....

[4390evans]

The chillies are in a 3 litre plastic pot, they were all planted and sowed at the same time both on the highest shelf in the gh just the peppers had reservoir trays with capillary matting in (the peppers are in bigger pots) I know if I pulled the chillies they would just come out, their roots haven't reached the bottom or anything, where the peppers have. Ill get a pic on

[4390evans]

[Ryez]

Your chillies look quite small indeed. I saw a video with an experiment where a guy grew chillies in 3 different pot sizes and the ones that he grew in the 10-12 litter pots grew the biggest! He planted them all at around the same time. So I decided that although my chillies had not outgrown their small pots, to transplant them to 12 litter pots and leave them to it and they have grown 3-4 times the size of yours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FWOjX89psI

Here is the video, please to tell me your thoughts! He sais the chilli "knows" the pot size and it affects how much it grows...

[Ryez]

Here I have the progress of one of my chili plants, as I monitor things because I am writing a blog for geeky newbies like myself, for fun! Here is in its small pot at the start of May. It looks slightly bigger than when I got it in March.



I transplanted it on the 20th of May, here it is in the 12 l pot on the 4th of June



The sweet pepper was transplanted to a 12 l pot a month later actually. It seems to grow bigger compare to the chili and not really bothered by the size or colour of the pot.

Here are both on the 27th of June. The chili has doubled in size, the pepper is even taller although only recently transplanted. So for sweet pepper I think pot size didn't matter as much.



Here is the chili today (10 July), I took them out and decorated the garden with them, no space in greenhouse anymore. It is 20 inches tall, with several side-shoots spreading 12 inches across and has many flower buds. Currently getting battered by the rain :-(



My guess is that if I had a proper greenhouse and weather was better and also had a better clue how often to feed, they would had grown even more.

So for a 3 l pot my guess is to not expect a big chili plant. But I would like to hear more opinions, from your experience, on that.

[goosander]

Black pots should heat up quicker as they absorbed more heat.
My black lab lies in the sun and gets to hot to pat and yet the yellow lab beside her is ok.
Bob