New Pepper Grower!

Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:45 am

Hello,

Hey guys Im new to growing pepper and I passed by lowes today and took some pics to see what u guys recommend to start. I am going to grow jalapeÃƒÂ±os and I was wondering what is usually the best size pot to put them in, the lady at the store recommended 12" but it just look too big. I have attached some pics of potting mix and fertilizer/plant food to see if any are good or have been used by any of you. let me know what u think or recommend. btw as you can see the plant foods all have the npk`s listed except the last which is 12/4/8.

Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:34 am

I start most of my seeds in open 1020 nursery flats. From here I prick out and transplant into 4" plastic nursery pots. 18 - 4" pots fit in a 1020 flat. The 4" pots are either sold or transplanted into 5 gallon buckets or larger.

I don't grow in containers so at the 4" pot stage they go into the garden.

I don't support Scotts Company chemical or so called organics, so someone else will have to comment here.

Eric

Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:59 am

When I grew peppers in containers, I mixed my own potting soil. It was one-quarter organic potting soil, one-quarter my own soil, one quarter peat moss, and one quarter compost. Then I added a bunch of perlite to keep the soil light and moist. I have an old bathtub in my backyard that I use just for mixing soil.

I found you can use a 12" pot with them, but they will produce better for you if you go at least a step above this, like a 14'. The last time I grew them in containers, I used 18" pots. It depends upon what kind of peppers you are growing, though. I've got some Super Chilies in a very tiny space this year, and they are producing like mad. I bet they would produce equally well in a 12" pot. My other two varieties would prefer an 18" pot.

I haven't visited the container forum here, but I'll bet those gardeners would have all kinds of advice for a nice organic mix that is considerably less expensive than commercial potting soils. The best will use some perlite or vermiculite, I think. They would also know the right size pot, but you will need to let them know what type pepper you are growing

Back in the days when I was growing container peppers, I fertilized with s seaweed dilute and with diluted fish emulsion. There is also some great stuff called Drammatic. I used to go through gallons of the this until it became too expensive :roll:

Nowadays, I use compost tea to fertilize.