How To Grow Peppers In Containers and Get a Huge Harvest!

In this video we're going to talk about the four biggest pepper growing fundamentals and how to get massive yields growing peppers in containers just like this in under three months. Rich Blood here from Pepper Guru where we travel the world in search of the best peppers and then teach you how to grow them. Today we're going to be talking about peppers, one of the most widely cultivated and exported fruits in the world. This plant that we have here is actually a Capsicum chinense but you can apply everything that I'm going to teach you today to all five of the domesticated species of peppers. Now peppers are used in spices, seasonings, you can dry them, you can make hot sauce with them, you can make jams, jellies, teas, tinctures, there's a million and one ways to use peppers. So today we're going to learn how to grow them in containers and the four biggest pepper growing fundamentals that can get you plants like this in under three months. And at the end of this video as an added little bonus I'm going to teach you how I turn my peppers into pepper powder. So if you want to start getting huge pepper harvests while growing them in containers be sure to light up that like button and let's get into the video. The first pepper growing fundamental that we're going to discuss is light. All five of the domesticated species of peppers can handle as much light hours and as much light intensity as you can possibly provide them. So don't skip out on this part because it's really really important. One of the biggest reasons this plant is so huge and is producing so many peppers is because in this spot this plant is receiving between eight and twelve hours of direct intense sunlight per day. Now there may be some scenarios in which you might want to employ some shade cloth directly overhead simply because in your region it just gets too hot during midday but that's going to come with a cost of light penetrance to the internode sites within the plant. You really want as much direct sunlight as possible and I can't stress this enough because it's one of the biggest hurdles that new pepper growers are intimidated by. Just remember that peppers form at the flowers and the flowers form at the internode sites and in order to get the densest flower set possible you're going to need as much light penetrating that canopy and allowing those leaves to do their job of photosynthesizing. More photosynthesis equals more peppers. Now that we know that more light equals more peppers we have to think about the containers that we're going to plant them in. So the next fundamental that we're going to discuss is root zone capacity or container size. This just means how much space do the roots have to grow. This one is really really easy to nail down. Just remember bigger root systems equal bigger pepper plants equal more peppers. Which brings us to container dimensions as peppers don't have deep reaching tap roots. In fact the entire capsicum genus has one of the most fibrous root systems of all dicots you'll ever find. Pepper root systems do start out as small radicals at the seed germination stage but it's from these small radicals where the lateral branching roots form. Which is why not only the size of your container is very important but the shape of your container is very important as well. You really want wide shallow containers as opposed to tall thin containers. We use everything from 15 gallon all the way up to 100 gallons for our peppers. Another huge fundamental that I like to include as part of container size is soil quality. For soil I highly recommend that you try to use as much living composted soil as possible. I actually use 100% humus compost as my container mix and if you want huge plants like this that give massive yields then you should do it too. Whether you're making that compost at home or whether you've got a commercial source available close to you, you want to be using as much compost in your mix as possible. Many people that are new to pepper growing often believe that you have to have peat, vermiculite, pyrroli as the main constituents in your mix. But I can't stress enough how moving away from these ingredients and more towards an organic soil will really give you those yield increases that you're looking for. While those ingredients can grow peppers just fine, a true living organic compost is always going to yield superior results. Really though the most important thing about whatever medium you choose to go with is the structure and how quickly the roots can move through it. You want it soft, fluffy and preferably full of organic material that can hold on to moisture while still allowing for good drainage. Just remember you're not going to get that rapid early growth that leads to huge massive plants without your medium allowing the roots to shoot through it quickly. The third most important fundamental to growing peppers in containers and getting huge harvests is continuous nutrient availability. And this just means that there's nutrient or fertilizer in every single watering session. Just like in nature, every single rainfall contains a diluted concentration of nutrient that is easily absorbed by the plant's root system. Think about it. Do you ever see someone out in nature dumping fertilizers on plants in the forest every two weeks? No you don't. That flow of nutrients through the soil layer is an ongoing process that occurs with every rainfall. As that deadfall and plant debris that make up the soil layer in the forest is decomposed, it's processed into highly available nutrients for these plants by the soil microbiome. And a lot of new pepper growers mistakenly believe that pepper plants don't need or can't handle a lot of nutrients in the medium. And this is a mistake because while it's not advisable to dump on heavy doses of fertilizer every two weeks like those labels always instruct you to do, it is important to understand that these plants can take a lot more nutrient than most people believe. And that brings us to another highly misunderstood aspect of capsicum cultivation, which is NPK ratios. We now know that when taking assays from the plant material that the best NPK ratio for capsicum is 3-1-2. And this simply means that when scientists actually test the plant material, they're finding nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the plant material at a ratio of 3-1-2. So that makes things really easy for the new pepper grower. When you're looking for a fertilizer, all you have to do is shoot for the numbers on the label to read 3-1-2. Everyone's soil is not created equal. Your medium may require a more balanced NPK, so this is why trying to shoot between that 3-1-2 figure and 1-1-1 or 10-10-10 or 20-20-20, it's all the same. The only thing that changes is the dosage. While I'd recommend trying to stick with organic inputs, synthetic fertilizers are just fine too. The most important thing here is balance. My favorite fertilizer for growing peppers in containers is homemade fish hydrolysate. Now, there's nothing wrong with commercial hydrolysates either, so long as you're fitting between that 3-1-2 and that 1-1-1 NPK ratio range. Do not listen to influencers who are telling you to use bloom boosters, etc. or high nitrogen regimens early on and less nitrogen later. Don't listen to that. Stick with 3-1-2 to 1-1-1. Sticking between that 3-1-2 and 1-1-1 is what's going to get you the highest yields on your pepper plants. Now, the fourth most important fundamental to growing peppers in containers and getting huge harvests is temperatures. The entire genus evolved at the equator in South America along the Andes mountain ranges. Those regions experience temperatures between 65 and 95 degrees year-round. So, what does that mean for you? Well, it means that so long as you can provide temperatures for your plants between 65 and 95 for a minimum of three months, then you too can have plants like this that yield as many peppers as you see here. Many new growers make the mistake of putting too much emphasis on their zone or their region, but as I've demonstrated, these plants were just planted out three months ago and this really is the sweet spot for that rapid early growth that I keep talking about. If you have a growing season with a minimum of three months with temperatures between 65 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, there's no reason you can't get plants like this. In my 30 years of growing peppers, I've been able to help many new growers understand this concept and get past that delusion that northern growers can't get big yields off of plants or can't grow massive plants like this. It's simply a fallacy. There are way too many bad ideologies, myths, and excuses that are circulated throughout the pepper cultivation community and it's not their fault because they see so many influencers on YouTube spreading these bad ideologies and so it's just human nature to believe that they're telling you the truth. And my recommendation for new pepper growers is to surround yourself with people that uplift you and inspire you and tell you that you can get these types of harvests off of pepper plants even if you live in a northern zone. Try to surround yourself with people who uplift you and inspire you to achieve your goals and dream big. After all, most people's goals when growing any type of crop is higher harvests and higher yields. Peppers are no different. So it's the end of our season here. Frost has definitely hit and it's time to pick these last few peppers while they're still good. So what we're going to do is we're going to take these peppers inside and we're going to begin showing you how to process them into your own pepper powder. After harvesting the peppers, you give them a good rinse in the sink. We're going to slice them into uniform slices. When we're dehydrating them, we want them all to dry at the same rate. You can leave the seeds in or you can remove them. For this batch, I'm going to leave them in. I prefer to dry my peppers at the lowest temperature setting possible for the longest amount of time because that keeps and retains the most amount of phenols and terpenes within the fruits. Basically, it just means that it's going to taste better. Now, you can dry these in the sun if you wish, but today I'm just opting to use this cheap Bronco with the stackable trays. You can find these on Amazon. They're pretty cheap and affordable. After about six to eight hours on low, we're looking for them to sound like this. Once your peppers are completely dry, you can use your favorite mochajete to hand grind them or if you just want to go the quick and easy way, you can use your favorite spice grinder. It's probably a good idea to wear one of these respirator masks while you're doing this because when you go to open these things up, it's going to get you. Once you're done blending up, you just put it in your favorite spice jar. I like to leave mine pure pepper flakes, but feel free to add your favorite salts or any other spices that you want depending on which dish you're going to use it on. How you doing today? Yeah, just peppers. This right here is why we grow these peppers. Let's get some of this pepper powder that we made on this pizza and take a bite. Okay, so let's get real for a second. Hopefully the main thing that we learned here today is that the only thing standing in the way of you and getting huge harvests on your pepper plants while growing them in containers is you. I promise you that if you follow these four pepper growing fundamentals that I've shared with you today, you will not fail this coming season. None of this is new information or secret hidden knowledge. We aren't reinventing the wheel here. Gathering data points from as many sources as possible is good, but you gotta make sure that you don't get lost in the sea of advice from people that don't have good looking pepper gardens. The main skill that separates good pepper growers from bad pepper growers is simply paying attention. So pay attention to these four pepper growing fundamentals that I've shared with you today. Well, really four plus two bonus tips. If there's anything you'd like me to discuss in future videos, be sure to comment down below after hitting the like button. And with seed season closing in fast, if you want to know more about germinating pepper seeds and you like cool time-lapse footage, be sure to click this video right here.