bucket. my soil sucks. plus it allows me to rearrange my plants as I see fit, and brings them a solid 16-18" higher off the ground. I'm 6'-5" tall with back problems, so that last part is a pretty big deal to me.

with that said, the plant that I put in the ground as an experiment got to be 5-6' tall and 9' across. that same plant overwintered is substantially smaller in a bucket, but has given me lots more pods than it did last year.

Several years ago I tilled up fresh ground, moved all the dirt to one side and tilled again in order to get down deep as my soil is basically decomposed granite over clay. Mixed in as much organic content as I could get ahold of and even treated the soil with Soil Sulfer in an attempt to release the locked-in minerals. Then once the heat kicked in I had to build a structure over the bed (15 x 20ft) to support shade cloth.

After all that effort the results were mediocre at best. So I started container gardening. From recommendations posted in one of the GW forums I decided to use the Gritty Mix for soil. Sourced and sifted all the ingredients. Again much effort with mediocre results as I didn't have a good nutrient regimen in place. Watering was a pain in the butt too.

Flash forward a few more years to this one where I chose the easy way out with Miracle Grow Moisture Control Potting Mix. Growing in containers allow me to start earlier as I can set the plants on the warm, south side of the house in full sun, and when things heat up move them to a shady spot. There was still much effort keeping the plants watered when temps climbed over 95 until I finally went to a drip irrigation system.

Conclusion? Best year ever and looking forward to next to start off with all I've learned this year.

Good luck in your next season, and thanks to this forum for all the help received.

This post was edited by mecdave on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 11:17

Raised beds.

It takes YEARS to turn the soil here into something that will grow healthy plants and buckets are difficult to keep watered evenly in the summer *Southern California, zone 10.)

bucket: easy to move around, completely seperated from other roots (disease resistance), You control whats in the soil easier,
bucket: you have to buy everything, "restricts" root growth

ground: "unlimited" root growth, "free"
ground: can't move, shares soil with surrounding plants, you don't know what pests are down there

Currently all of my 43 plants are in ground in 2 12x20 spaces. Plenty of room; however, become a pain a** to cover/uncover as temps start to fluctuate.

What size "buckets" are you using, 5gal?

Are you seeing in growth restrictions w/ bucket?

I like the portability factor of buckets; however, am worried about any growth restriction b/c of bucket. Thinking next yr I'll do couple raised bed(s) a/ some buckets a/ see if any variances occur, as result of planting arrangement.

Johnny

Johnny,

i do both, with as many as i grow, i try and put the stuff i might wanna keep or the stuff that might be late in pots so they are easy to move. Smaller buckets = smaller plants. 5 gallon is a good size. i do alot of 3 gallon also but they are much less produdtive. i have grown stuff out for seed in as little as 6 inch pots before.

Considering real estate availability, I much prefer garden over pot. It is so much simpler and requires much less care.

OTOH, I don't mind growing small plants in pots, not HUGE ones. This past season all my peppers were in pots, tomatoes in ground/raised bed.

Seysonn

I've mostly grown in pots since I've started growing peppers and never had issues with yield unless its the fact that I always want more lol

I experimented in ground with both great and poor results, but still prefer to grow in pots, the luxury of moving plants during bad weather is a bonus. Yeah pepper plants are great at recovering but why put the plant through that.

Pine bark and perlite are a container gardener best friend.

Pots. I've grown a few plants in the ground and they became a salad bar for the slugs, snails & rabbits. Plus I can extend my season by a few weeks by moving the pots indoors. Only downside is the added cost and a little extra work when planting.

johnny as far as bucket restricting going these are the observations from my grow.
1 gal = 3ft tall plant with few side branches, or 1 ft bush
3 gal = 5ft tall plant with few side branches, or 2 ft bush
5 gal = 6 ft tall plant with decent side branches, or 4 ft bush
10 gal = dunno haven't tried but i'd guess 6ft tall with many branches, aka 6ft tall bush.

Of course some of the plant shape/height etc is affected by how you trim (if at all) and other other variables. these are just my personal observations.

With the way we grow trying to be most productive plants possible it's hard not to just go for 10 gal and get that monster plant lol.. But 5 gals were just fine. you have to trim the tops if you want them to bush out more in july / august (for that big sep/oct harvest)