[Baldy]

Looking in my GH I realise that my pot choice for chillis and peppers is, um, somewhat random. What size is best for the final pot for ones chillies?

Pip pip,
Balders

[LotuSeed]

I grew mine in 3 and 5 gallon pots last year and they did well. Might be kind of large for a greenhouse though.  I think pot size is dependent on the variety of pepper, but also on how much space you have to grow them in. This year I put mine in the ground, as I'd like to give them more space, but I'm debating whether or not to put the habanero in a pot because it's seems so much more compact than the others and I could use the space for my fish pepper plant.

[AnneB]

I have got the Chilli book by Matt Simpson from Simpson's Seeds, who are chilli specialists.  In it, he suggests that 2 plants of the same variety will do well in a 15 litre pot.   I have grown lots of different types, so I am going with 1 per 7.5 litre pot, which coincidentally is the same size as a supermarket florist's bucket.

[Baldy]

Hrmm, I was going 'random is ok'' with LotuSeeds answer and now I'm thinking a bigger greenhouse is the only answer.
Many thanks. 


Pip pip,
Balders

[New shoot]

Peppers grow pretty big and a bigger pot for them definitely pays dividends with the amount of fruit you get.  You can do well with them in small pots, but you have to be pretty spot on with the watering and feeding.  That usually proves to be a bit beyond me   

Chillies are made of sterner stuff, so I've had them in small pots before (2/3 litre) and still got loads.  They are more productive anyway, so you can risk having slightly less fruit on the plant and still have plenty 

So random is fine, just pamper the peppers a bit and give them the bigger pots.  There's always room in the greenhouse for more.  Don't give up so easily 

[Dave NE]

I have never grown peppers before and I am a complete newbie so this thread has answered my question. I spent a bit of time yesterday on google and ebay to try and find pots for the above without success, interestingly, there are a few sellers trying to sell EX Morrisons pots at silly prices, the problem I have now though is where to put 12 large pots of bell peppers, Dave

[New shoot]

the problem I have now though is where to put 12 large pots of bell peppers, Dave

There's always room in the greenhouse for more.  Don't give up so easily 

Learn to limbo as you enter the greenhouse and always carry a machete   

Seriously, though, just give as many as you can decent sized pots and cram the rest in in smaller pots where they fit.  You will still get a worthwhile crop off them 

If you want to go for the 2 plants per pot approach, cheap builders buckets with drainage holes drilled in the base are a good option.  I've done this before and it works well 

[mumofstig]

This year I've gone for Shop flower buckets, with their bottoms cut off (ouch!) and stood side by side in the greenhouse border.
Meant I could cram loads in and the roots can grow out looking for water if they want to 

[sunshineband]

Do you have space on your plot to grow them under a large cloche? I had good success last year like this, and watering and feeding was much more straight forward with the peppers being in the ground.

Like Newshoot said, chillies are more forgiving of being in smaller pots, especially the plants that are more compact to start with, but you can get usable crops from plants in seven inch pots tbh

[BabbyAnn]

The majority of mine are in tomato pot size, and lessons learned that the brutes like Ancho, Espelette and Padron are in much deeper pots - more of a top heavy weight issue than for root space.  A couple of years ago I sowed way too many Bird Eye chillies but rather than toss them out (as you do), they ended up on a windowsill in just 3 inch pots.

Peppers grow pretty big and a bigger pot for them definitely pays dividends with the amount of fruit you get.

surprisingly, the surplus plants were far more productive than the cosseted ones in the polytunnel.  In the greenhouse, I planted peppers in growbags with a ring culture ... these just kept growing all leaf and flowered very late with fruit barely ripe before the weather turned cold.    I summised that the stress levels (especially water and compact root balls in dwindling compost) of the chillies encouraged higher numbers of flowers and fruit, whereas the ample root growth of the peppers delayed flowering.  I didn't notice an increase in the yield of the peppers either.

[mumofstig]

I've always found that peppers need bigger pots than chillies do. I grow mine in the greenhouse border with good results.
It seems to me that chillies have smaller fruit, but set a lot of them, so manage in small pots, whereas the big fruited peppers don't set as many fruits without a good root run.
Things like Padron and Hungarian wax are a bit of both - chillies but the fruits are a bit bigger  so makes sense that they need bigger pots.

Peppers have to be started as early as chillies, and make bigger plants, to get high pepper yields you need to pick some green. If you leave any of the first peppers on the plant to ripen it stops more being formed. Difficult if you prefer them red, like me 

Plenty of green ones, and even some red ones, by July last year

[grendel]

oops we have about 50 pepper and chilli plants just potted into little pots in the 6 foot x 4 foot greenhouse, I don't think the wife realised that they might need to go to big pots, as the greenhouse also has about 10 tomato plants in it at the moment.
Grendel