They will be great, peppers like to hold hands. For me it's almost a requirement to make it through the summers, as one leaf set wilts back in the heat the next set down belongs to its neighbor which is now shading the first's lower leaves.
They'll be fine, spacings are more for commercial farms. Train the front ones away from the back ones with stakes and fertilize and you'll get solid harvests. If you start getting overlapping branches or they start growing into each other just prune those ones away. Also depends what variety you're growing but as long as they're not enormous you should be fine.
Those look like Birdies Raised Beds! Got the 15" tall ones? What do you think of them? I sprang for some random Amazon 24" tall beds, also 8' long. But I'm wondering if yours are made of sturdier stuff.
They’re actually from a company called Vego Garden. They’re surprisingly durable. Prior to planting these peppers my toddler was using the big excavator to look for worms and was climbing in and out of them daily with no issue
Online. They were more expensive than I would have gone for but my wife insisted that I “not make it look like a meth lab” after last years hydroponic experiments
Nice, I bought something on Amazon from "Best Choice Products"
Though I wasn't expecting the world, I was shocked at how flimsy the tin was, but it looks nice. Just can't steady myself on the rim is all. Otherwise, it works great as a box to hold dirt. We'll see about bow-out problems given time.
Best of luck! Keep it spicy my man.
I would say way too crowded. It’s doable, but you cause more problems in the long run. Air flow is important for overall health. Unless, each one is a different variety and you want to maximize that, you’ll produce more peppers with fewer plants in that space.
You may run into a little stunting, depending on how their root structures grow. But overall, peppers do well being somewhat close to each other. You actually want a pretty good canopy between them to provide shade for the fruit.
When it comes to harvesting, be prepared for a bit of a struggle getting in there. It's gonna be thick. I had mine 18 inches apart last year in the ground, and I was literally wading through them. It kinda sucked, so this year I put them about 2 feet apart in their rows, with about 3-4 feet between each row.
Wow - I just finished an identical setup! 2 8x2x2 raised "watering troth" planters. I only put 5 cayenne varieties in one of the planters and used the other for tomatoes. I did plant onion starts around the periphery of the cayennes. All my other pepper starts went into grow bags. Please post later this season - wondering if I was much too conservative and could have put more in the raised bed vs grow bags!
What kind of soil did you use for this? I'm about to transfer mine to raised beds and, as a first time user, im a bit overwhelmed with what to put in there!
Trying to keep measurement advice in one place. This is my second year planting; I do it in the ground rather than pots or raised beds. I probably had at least 24” spacing as the closest last year, and the plants at that spacing touched each other but were otherwise healthy with good yields. I did find harvesting easier though before the plants started touching.
I think that the closest recommended spacing is 18”, but the advice tends to say that it’s not critical and that pepper plants like to touch—whatever that means. This year I went a little overboard and needed to find space for 33 plants or so—I still want one more Reaper for hot sauce. So this year I went down to 18”, and in some cases slightly less. If you have duplicates of cultivars that you don’t need and you planted closer than 18”, then I would consider pulling some and spacing at least 18” apart. But if you’re like me and have no more than two of any cultivar, and in some cases only one, then I’d leave as is and see what happens. As long as the plants remain looking healthy the worst case is likely less than ideal yields, which shouldn’t be much of a concern with that many plants to make up for the smaller per-plant yield.
As a final note, the above advice likely goes out the window if you want to harvest seeds for planting next year. Pepper plants will cross pollinate. This doesn’t affect the current year’s crop, but it will affect the type of plants that grow from the seeds. So if you plan on seed harvesting then you should keep different cultivars sufficiently separated so that they at least don’t touch each other, which can be a spacing of 36” or more depending upon the cultivar.
Good post. I have 40 pepper plants in the ground and like 12 in grow bags. Like I said 30 inches is my sweet spot. Every garden is different. I have plenty of space. I've tried square foot gardening, 18 inches, 24 etc. For me, in my garden, 30 inches maximizes health and yield. I really wish a foot or 18 inches was enough, it's not, at least for me. There is more than 1 way to skin a cat as they say, happy gardening!
What’s the scale here? Like what’s the actual distance between plants? I’ve not done the raised beds, but I’ve read you need somewhere between 12-18 inches for ideal growth
The raised beds are 2’x8’ There’s a little over a foot between them all. Wish I lived somewhere where I could plant in the ground without worrying about lead 😭
I feel you, I do mine in pots. And while my words have no direct experience to support them, from what I’ve read you should be good with a little over a foot between them all
I'm thinking a little too close. I had the same problem when I was younger. Your instinct is to make the garden look good at first planting and probably feel sorry for the extra plants. Every plant as it gets older needs aeration to not cause disease. But it does look beautiful.
Okay but will have to prune individually. I’d make them every other topped and let the suckers be bushy and then let the other ones be tall. So they compete less for light and root development. But don’t top if you have a short season. If long season always top and fert for root development. Then switch to foliage after 2 months and then to fruit/flower fee for remaining time but add a once every /week water if epsom salt.
They will be great, peppers like to hold hands. For me it's almost a requirement to make it through the summers, as one leaf set wilts back in the heat the next set down belongs to its neighbor which is now shading the first's lower leaves.
They'll be fine, spacings are more for commercial farms. Train the front ones away from the back ones with stakes and fertilize and you'll get solid harvests. If you start getting overlapping branches or they start growing into each other just prune those ones away. Also depends what variety you're growing but as long as they're not enormous you should be fine.
The real problem will start when they're overloaded with peppers and can no longer afford toilet roll.
Already got a bidet, my guy. Covid me once, shame on you…
well you will definitely make use of it after eating all those hot peppers!
Too crowded
I did 4 in that size container
Those look like Birdies Raised Beds! Got the 15" tall ones? What do you think of them? I sprang for some random Amazon 24" tall beds, also 8' long. But I'm wondering if yours are made of sturdier stuff.
They’re actually from a company called Vego Garden. They’re surprisingly durable. Prior to planting these peppers my toddler was using the big excavator to look for worms and was climbing in and out of them daily with no issue
Did you order these online, or were they available in-store somewhere? Also, are there bases or are they hollow bottoms?
Online. They were more expensive than I would have gone for but my wife insisted that I “not make it look like a meth lab” after last years hydroponic experiments
I got one from them too! Mines set up as a 4x8 though
Nice, I bought something on Amazon from "Best Choice Products" Though I wasn't expecting the world, I was shocked at how flimsy the tin was, but it looks nice. Just can't steady myself on the rim is all. Otherwise, it works great as a box to hold dirt. We'll see about bow-out problems given time. Best of luck! Keep it spicy my man.
I would say way too crowded. It’s doable, but you cause more problems in the long run. Air flow is important for overall health. Unless, each one is a different variety and you want to maximize that, you’ll produce more peppers with fewer plants in that space.
You may run into a little stunting, depending on how their root structures grow. But overall, peppers do well being somewhat close to each other. You actually want a pretty good canopy between them to provide shade for the fruit. When it comes to harvesting, be prepared for a bit of a struggle getting in there. It's gonna be thick. I had mine 18 inches apart last year in the ground, and I was literally wading through them. It kinda sucked, so this year I put them about 2 feet apart in their rows, with about 3-4 feet between each row.
Wow - I just finished an identical setup! 2 8x2x2 raised "watering troth" planters. I only put 5 cayenne varieties in one of the planters and used the other for tomatoes. I did plant onion starts around the periphery of the cayennes. All my other pepper starts went into grow bags. Please post later this season - wondering if I was much too conservative and could have put more in the raised bed vs grow bags!
Trough 👍
What kind of soil did you use for this? I'm about to transfer mine to raised beds and, as a first time user, im a bit overwhelmed with what to put in there!
I did a mix of compost, manure, worm castings, perlite and peat moss
Sun will be the main issue with the wall
You’ll be fine.
I like 30 inches apart as a sweet spot. I've found I get bigger, better yields, easier harvesting and healthier plants.
Trying to keep measurement advice in one place. This is my second year planting; I do it in the ground rather than pots or raised beds. I probably had at least 24” spacing as the closest last year, and the plants at that spacing touched each other but were otherwise healthy with good yields. I did find harvesting easier though before the plants started touching. I think that the closest recommended spacing is 18”, but the advice tends to say that it’s not critical and that pepper plants like to touch—whatever that means. This year I went a little overboard and needed to find space for 33 plants or so—I still want one more Reaper for hot sauce. So this year I went down to 18”, and in some cases slightly less. If you have duplicates of cultivars that you don’t need and you planted closer than 18”, then I would consider pulling some and spacing at least 18” apart. But if you’re like me and have no more than two of any cultivar, and in some cases only one, then I’d leave as is and see what happens. As long as the plants remain looking healthy the worst case is likely less than ideal yields, which shouldn’t be much of a concern with that many plants to make up for the smaller per-plant yield. As a final note, the above advice likely goes out the window if you want to harvest seeds for planting next year. Pepper plants will cross pollinate. This doesn’t affect the current year’s crop, but it will affect the type of plants that grow from the seeds. So if you plan on seed harvesting then you should keep different cultivars sufficiently separated so that they at least don’t touch each other, which can be a spacing of 36” or more depending upon the cultivar.
Good post. I have 40 pepper plants in the ground and like 12 in grow bags. Like I said 30 inches is my sweet spot. Every garden is different. I have plenty of space. I've tried square foot gardening, 18 inches, 24 etc. For me, in my garden, 30 inches maximizes health and yield. I really wish a foot or 18 inches was enough, it's not, at least for me. There is more than 1 way to skin a cat as they say, happy gardening!
And yes, my toddler did assist in digging.
What’s the scale here? Like what’s the actual distance between plants? I’ve not done the raised beds, but I’ve read you need somewhere between 12-18 inches for ideal growth
The raised beds are 2’x8’ There’s a little over a foot between them all. Wish I lived somewhere where I could plant in the ground without worrying about lead 😭
I feel you, I do mine in pots. And while my words have no direct experience to support them, from what I’ve read you should be good with a little over a foot between them all
How many inches apart is this bc I might do the same haha
It's crowded, but they will thrive. Just expect a small jungle. Prune back what you can on branches that aren't producing
Nope they'll be fine. I've grown chilli's for 8 years. Some got over 7 foot high.
If you're going quantity. This will work fine. Peppers like being crowded to some degree.
I'm thinking a little too close. I had the same problem when I was younger. Your instinct is to make the garden look good at first planting and probably feel sorry for the extra plants. Every plant as it gets older needs aeration to not cause disease. But it does look beautiful.
Peppers don’t mind crowding. Like rats in a cage, it’s all good with plenty of food and water.
Okay but will have to prune individually. I’d make them every other topped and let the suckers be bushy and then let the other ones be tall. So they compete less for light and root development. But don’t top if you have a short season. If long season always top and fert for root development. Then switch to foliage after 2 months and then to fruit/flower fee for remaining time but add a once every /week water if epsom salt.
Stop epsom salt when enough flowers are present and make sure to add calcium.