r/HotPeppers • u/paapsuave Zone 6a, Enthusiastic Noob • Oct 05 '24
Legit question: are my plants TOO big? Discussion
Have seen several posts like this one (https://www.reddit.com/r/HotPeppers/s/uuByKV8END) of a person bringing in their 4yr old plant that looks to be about 12"-18" tall.
All of my mature plants dwarf these sizes by a couple of feet and it makes me wonder if there are pros/cons of larger vs smaller pepper plants when we're talking about plant health and productivity.
All of my plants are healthy and producing. Just curious if I should change what I'm doing or keep growing monsters.
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u/paapsuave Zone 6a, Enthusiastic Noob Oct 05 '24
Here's a link to the bucket system I use: https://youtu.be/7rQ1GQq1d84?si=AMZBuaKsvFrXMMAd
This helps prevent overwatering. One lesson learned is to ignore when he says to fill up the bucket to 3"-4" from the top of the bucket. If you're using potting soil (which I used 1/2 potting soil, 1/2 compost/manure), it settles after a few sessions of top-watering....fill that bucket up to the top!
When they were seedlings and in their "adolescent" stages, I used Garden-Tone vegetable fertilizer from Lowes in the States. Stinky stuff but they loved it and the high Nitrogen promoted a lot of really good green growth.
Once they matured and were ready to flower/fruit, I switched over to Flower Fuel fertilizer (1-32-34 NPK) which had lower nitrogen and high concentrations of potassium and phosphorus to promote flowering and fruit production.
Watered about every day and a half except during super hot season where I was watering every day. Fertilizer once a week. NOTE: with the flower fuel, FOLLOW THE DOSE INSTRUCTIONS! That stuff is super concentrated and likely to burn your plants if you overdo it....you've been warned.
Hope this helps!
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u/PerroCerveza Oct 05 '24
Yeah! I wanna know too! What fertilizer, pesticides if any any, etc!
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u/paapsuave Zone 6a, Enthusiastic Noob Oct 05 '24
Answered your stuff up above.
Oh and for pesticide I just used neamm oil spray as needed. Otherwise I have a healthy ecosystem of outside bugs (mantises, ladybugs, spiders) that helped keep most pests at bay.
Also used a japanese beetle attractant/trap for those pesky jerks.
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u/AlarmingBandicoot Oct 05 '24
Nah. It's mostly going to depend on your specific climate, sun, soil, and nutrients you give. For reference most of my mature plants are like 5ft tall with thick bushy branches after being outside about 5.5 months now (none were overwintered). Only my hab and thai hot created a smaller bushy shape instead of up and out.
Over a few years you'll notice trends of how they grow/produce depending on the pot size, location, fertilizers, etc.
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u/CaliMad21 Oct 05 '24
I wish I could get my plants that big. Mine tend to die 😭
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u/paapsuave Zone 6a, Enthusiastic Noob Oct 05 '24
My sincerest condolences ❤️
I've had a couple die as seedling due to mite infestations in my garage 😭
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u/AlexanderLex Oct 05 '24
The plant you linked was actually cut down over the years for overwintering. You can see the older pruned branches if you zoom in. Yours are a decent size or small compared to a lot of others ive seen.
It all depends on how much of a harvest you want in the end
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u/PiercedAutist Oct 05 '24 edited Oct 05 '24
No, they're not too big. They're looking pretty awesome, actually!
The plant you used for comparison is an established specimen in the process of being overwintered. It is not actively growing the same way your plants are. The text there says it was brought inside because of a 4°C low temp, so it's been intentionally cut back and is basically in a state of semi-dormancy from the cold.
Because it-s an older plant that's been through this before, there's a nice, big, thick trunk supporting it, and a well-established root system in that grow bag that's just itching to explode with longer arms, foliage, and fruit in the spring, at which point it'll look a lot more like yours do in these photos.
Don't worry. You're not doing anything wrong by growing them this large! The bigger the better, IMO!
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u/ROD3RLUD3 Oct 05 '24
Plants grows depending on the pot size (depending on the species), you are growing them in a 5-gallon bucket and the post you showed has less capacity, so it's normal to have bigger plants and no, it's not problematic, you can see this one being gigantic in a bigger container or this one in a can that is just small. And well... productivity does have to do with the size of the plant, but plant health and productivity depends in a lot of other factors like weather and nutrients.
Also, personal note: I love your SIP containers! I want to do it too but it's expensive for me, they look great!
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u/Final-Hero Zone 7a / Experienced Grower Oct 05 '24
I don't mean this to be negative, but your plants are not big at all. They can get bigger - Let them grow!
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u/chilledcoyote2021 Zone 9b Oct 05 '24
Sorry, too big, won't fit.
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u/stolen_pillow Oct 05 '24
Nope, I have poblanos that are over 6’ tall. Just have to stake them up really well or they’ll fall when getting heavy with fruit.
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u/ArcanineNumber9 Oct 05 '24
Subjective AF dude lol
If you’re not having any space issues and they’re healthy then there isn’t a “too big”…
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u/_undercover_brotha Oct 05 '24
I made the mistake of letting mine get that big last year. Our growing season in NZ’s South Island is too short and I got very few good sized peppers.
If your season is long and warm, let ‘em grow!!
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u/Due_Platform_5327 Oct 05 '24
Go BIG the bigger the better. Bigger plants have more Real estate for growing peppers. This year hasn’t been the best for me but last year was hot and dry since I was able to control watering my plants did spectacular I got over 700 ripe pot from 3 plants. My plants were all monsters over 3 feet across. This year I have huge plants loaded with peppers but the season is gonna come to a close before they will all ripen. I still have gotten a decent harvest but not as good as it could have been.
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u/refuseresist Oct 05 '24
Why are there two buckets?
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u/Elon_Bezos420 Oct 05 '24
You should see one my pepper plants, it’s almost as tall as me, and I’m 5’6
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u/Astral_Peppers Oct 05 '24
I currently have plants at about 6 ft 3 inches and I know they can get bigger. Peppers can get huge.
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u/TrippinDeath85 Oct 06 '24
Nah, my plant looks that tall, too! My wife told me the bigger, the better! That's what she said, thou.
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u/PoppersOfCorn Tropical grower: unusual and dark varieties Oct 06 '24
My biggest plants are over 1.5m and pump out fruit. They look good, so keep doing what you're doing
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u/Washedurhairlately Oct 06 '24
This Chef Jeff’s “Reaper?” is about 5 ft tall x 7 ft wide and has at least 100 pods scattered throughout with more popping up every morning. Two years ago a similar sized plant produced hundreds of “reapers?”Unseasonably hot & dry weather all Spring/Summer impaired pod production until recently, so I’ll likely be making sauce with green pods by the time the cold weather gets here. I’m going to save this one, though, and try to overwinter it and get a jump on next year’s pepper season.
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u/Elegant_Height_1418 Oct 05 '24
No such thing as a plant being to big… my pepper plants are all bushes… and my pot plant is a tree
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u/Alive_to_Thrive5 Oct 05 '24
Nah, I got pepper plants in 25 gal air pots that provide me with steady peppers almost year round since I live in 9b. Keep growing and over winterize if you need to do you don't have to keep starting over every year.
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u/Specialist-Phone-111 Oct 06 '24
I would prune the leaves, cut back anything that isn't growing flowers or fruit. It is taking energy away from the peppers. There is far too much green coming out of those plants.
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u/jayNov01010 Oct 06 '24
Mine always get about 4 -5 feet tall. I pinch out the flower buds until they’re about 2 feet tall. And then I give it a vegetative state fertilizer two times a week like urban farms offers. When you have at least three months left before the first frost, you can switch to a flowering fertilizer which urban farms also offers. My current grow I’ve used Neptune harvest, but it’s a lot more expensive and not for everyone. You should have drainage for your pots use nothing smaller than 5 gallon but preferably something larger. Allows the roots to grow bigger and you have a bigger plant that way. Those look to be about 2 feet tall so nothing too Out of the ordinary you could actually get much larger.
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u/_YellowThirteen_ CA, USA 9B Oct 05 '24
Keep going! Bigger plant = more potential for fruit.
I have a monster sugar rush stripey this year that I've harvested about 200 peppers from already, and there's about 100 more on the plant and even more flowers than that opening up... I'll be swimming in these things! I plan on potting it up again next year.