Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: crilly on January 03, 2014, 14:04
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What do people recommend for growing Tomatoes in, have used grow bags for the last couple of years but was thinking of growing in containers this year, is this a goog idea, and what would a suitable size container.
Secondly, i grew some peppers last year in grow bags but only managed to get about 4 peppers in total, what is recommended to grow peppers in ?
Cheers
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I've always grown peppers in pots and been disappointed, but last year I grew them in growbags and had an amazing harvest - the only thing that bothered me is that the peppers took a lot longer to mature than the chillies
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mine was straight in the ground in the poly tunnel, with a trench of compost. done brilliantly.
done peppers in both pots and the ground with poor results. will be trying a few different methods this season to see what suits me best.
my dad grows his in empty 20l containers (i got these from the garage i worked at, used to hold anti freeze). they were put on there side, side facing up cut a large square out and the the opposite side holes drilled.
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I grew mine in a mixture of 12" pots and growbags with growpots insideand the results are about the same. The latter is an adaptation of the ring culture method where you water the outer pot to encourage the roots to grow out into the surrounding soil. I didn't get mine on eBay but here is a link to show you what they look like: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-x-PLANT-HALOS-Green-Watering-Support-Solution-Grow-Bags-Raised-Beds-/170791154548
I never get much joy with sweet peppers though chillies do well in my greenhouse and I am still picking them. I would like to try peppers in a grow bag but space is always an issue - maybe I will give them a try and not bother with cucumbers this year :)
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I grow mine in supermarket flower buckets (often given away free).
The ones sunk in the greenhouse border have holes in the bottom so roots can grow out, and need a bit less watering - but not much difference in yield between those and the ones sat in saucers. I fill the pots with multipurpose compost and use a liquid feed as per label.
Peppers in pots are easier to bring indoors for overwintering, though ;)
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I have used the same method for tomatoes and peppers / chillies (in a greenhouse) for the last few years and it has worked for me.
Tomatoes are planted into a ring culture set-up using the content of a grow bag in the pot and sitting on soil that has had levington compost added to it.
The peppers / chillies are planted one per 10" pot filled with a mixture of levington compost and grow bag.
All plants are regularly fed with comfrey tea that I brew at the lottie and bring home to dilute.
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Trusty b&q orange buckets works every time for me! When planted,I mound the soil/compost up the stem of the plant so it looks like its on a hill, pat it down firmly, then when I water them the water flows around the rim of the bucket and doesn't touch the stem of the plant.
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I grow half of my sweet peppers in large pots and plant half outside as soon as the frost have gone. Every year I get twice as many from the outside plants but of course they take longer to mature. Chilli's grow like weeds where ever I put them.
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Trusty b&q orange buckets works every time for me! When planted,I mound the soil/compost up the stem of the plant so it looks like its on a hill, pat it down firmly, then when I water them the water flows around the rim of the bucket and doesn't touch the stem of the plant.
Just for the sake of others who might read this, make sure you put holes in the bottom of the buckets first!
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Exactly Yorkie... just think of them as huge bright orange plant pots! :D
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Supermarket buckets for me as well, especially as they are free.
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I've had good results growing tom's in the green house, both in pots and in the ground. I tend to plant the larger varieties in the g/h borders and cherry sized ones in pots. The pots sit in a tray with 1" of water in the bottom to prevent them drying out in the summer, 2 or 3 feet off the ground on staging. I water them every day during warm weather (less when the weather cools) and had excellent results last year. I still had fruiting plants into November :D
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I tend to grow chillies and peppers in 25 cm pots as I found planting them in the ground they spread out too much. Tomatoes are grown in those ring cultures very successfully in the greenhouse.
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Supermarket flower buckets for me too.
Last year I baulked at the cost of compost to fill them. As I have access to lots of horse manure (picked every day from a field and left to rot in a big heap, so no straw to worry about) I filled the bottom half of each bucket with that, and topped up with compost. I had the most magnificent tomatoes I've ever grown.