My tiny balcony hit 50 peppers in one season and now I think small space is better

Everyone in the balcony groups talks about getting huge plastic pots and trellis systems. I went the opposite way. Used six small 6-inch terracotta pots for my Thai chili plants. Packed them tight on a shelf. Thought it would fail. Watered twice a day in Houston heat. Came home from work in August and counted 50 peppers off those little plants. Now I think cramming plants close together with good airflow beats big containers. Anyone else get way more yield than they expected from tiny pots?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden7201mo ago

Right, was it the heat that made them go nuts? I had the exact same thing happen with habaneros in some dinky 4 inch nursery pots I was too lazy to transplant. Kept them on a south facing windowsill, just water and some basic liquid fertilizer every two weeks, and I got 45 pods off three plants. Buried them in a raised bed the next year with way more room and got like half that. It almost feels like the stress makes them produce more.

janaf761mo ago

Read that stress can trigger a survival response in pepper plants. Makes them think they are about to die so they put all their energy into making seeds. That would explain why the cramped pots did better than the spacious raised bed.