Peppers in Pots?

[HotPepperQueen]

I know my screen name says "pepper queen" but that doesn't mean I know everything! I have always had excellent luck growing peppers in our sugar sand soil here but this year I am growing some more specialty peppers that require a longer growing season than what we have here in MN. I have a friend here that starts a lot of super hot peppers for nurseries around the area. He said that he grows his super hots in big black plastic pots- kind of like the ones that you buy trees in. But he also grows them in a greenhouse with the sides pulled up. Does anyone here grow peppers in big pots at all? What kind of luck have you had? I've grown tomatoes in pots before and they have done okay but I don't think the pots were big enough. Fill me in!

 

[catjac1975]

I have done them in pots with pretty good results. To clarify, I have tried them in pots as season extenders. The problem is when my garden is producing I tend to get lax in my care of potted veggies which I consider to be inferior to my garden grown, (this may all be in my head.) Of course in really hot weather they need a lot of watering.

 

[HotPepperQueen]

We have an in ground sprinkler system that goes off 2- 3 times a day that will hopefully keep them pretty moist when it gets real hot in August. I found a really good deal on Greenhouse Megastore for 5 gallon pots.

 

[NwMtGardener]

I do my peppers in pots primarily. I think it helps the soil stay warmer, which is always a challenge for me this far north. Even in my raised bed they didnt do as well as they do in the pots. The size of the pots is...uh, hard for me to describe, but they're not as big as the ones you're talking about for trees, i use that size for my tomatoes. I guess the size of pots i usually use for peppers is a 1 to 2 gallon size? I really like to put my peppers in the few clay pots i have that size, they seem to dry out nicely between that automatic waterings from the drippers, and the peppers seem to like that. I'll see if i can find some pictures.

Oh, extra benefit of the pots, i can bring them inside for protection if we get an unexpected freeze, you know, for Fourth of July or something :/

 

[NwMtGardener]

Ah here we go: this was a few years ago, the very left pot is a tree-sized one, 5 gal? Both plants on the left are tomatoes. The size of pots I usually put my hot peppers in are the 3 on the right - although the smallest pots in this picture appear to have basil, and that must be some kind of squash on the very right. The date on this photo was June 6, 2012.

Here's a different view of the greenhouse that year, on May 31, you can see my upside down tomatoes.

OH, here's a pic that actually has a pepper in it Actually it has 2, one in the clay pot up high on the left, then a smaller one hidden behind it on the ground. This was Sept. 11, 2013. You can see my plants don't get very big, but I'm just happy to be able to get some peppers! I don't know exactly what variety that is, probably some kind of Anaheim. I have also successfully grown Thai Hot Dragons this way.

 

[digitS']

I have a gardening friend at something like 7,000 feet in Colorado, HPQ.

He has been gardening for a good long time and recently switched, I believe entirely, to potted peppers. He has sold produce at his local farmers' market and has a greenhouse attached to his home. (He may call it a solarium.) I'm not sure how much the peppers are moved around but the whole thing is to provide them with more warmth. He says they do a great deal better.

I can contact him and see what he has to say - more specifically.

Steve

 

[HotPepperQueen]

Thank you all for your help so far!

Nice pictures!

7,000 feet? Holy moly! I can't believe anything can grow up there.

 

[Smart Red]

I have grown peppers in pots-- that is I dug up 5 pepper plants, potted them, and overwintered them in my sun room. The next spring I sunk the pots into the soil and harvested peppers from them, dug them up again to overwinter. They were pretty lush woody plants before I forgot my responsibility to water. Gone!

So I'd say, yes it can be done and done well.

 

[digitS']

There is an old rule of thumb about latitude relating to elevation.

Found it! The "Bioclimatic Law:" Each degree of latitude = 400 feet in elevation.

2,000 ft here at 48°North
6,500 ft Durango, CO at 37°North
11° difference = to 4,400 feet
2,000 + 4,400 = 6,400 ft elevation at 37°North

Except for the wildly changeable mountain weather . . .

Steve
who has sent a few questions south

 

[so lucky]

I'm gonna try this one more time. My reply to Steve's thread isn't posting, just his, small, italicized, like it does when you reply inside someone's post.
Steve, are you saying that your growing conditions are about the same as your friend's in Durango, considering your higher latitude, and his higher elevation?