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-   -   Vegetables and Fruits to Grow in 4 Gallon Containers (http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=14185)

John3 April 18, 2010 10:26 PM

Vegetables and Fruits to Grow in 4 Gallon Containers
 
I have been googling for information on the type of vegetables that can be grown in four gallon containers and how many of each plant to grow in the container. A local bakery is saving them for me and I have picked up about 30 so far and they are round in shape.

one Tomatovillian shows how to grow strawberries in 4 gal containers.

some Tomatovillians grow one tomato plant per 4 gal container (most are using a 5 gal container)

What about Beets and other vegetables and other fruits besides strawberries?

What are you growing in 4 gallon containers?

Has anyone made them into EarthTainer's?

Here's some I would like to know what container size I should use
peppers - sweet and hot
carrots - little fingers, thumbilina and reg long types
collards
turnips
mustards
corn
pole beans
crowder beans
limas - bush and pole
herbs
leeks
red and white onions
scallop squash
butternut squash
swiss chard
eggplants
yellow crokneck squash
rutabaga
bunching onions
pak choi
spinach round leaf
kohl rabi
sweet snow peas
watermelons
luffa gourd
mixed lettuces
cabbage
cucumber
garlic
okra

habitat_gardener April 19, 2010 01:45 AM

I have red potatoes growing in 15g pots and fingerlings in 5g pots. I've grown tomatoes in 5g pots at the edges of the garden where they didn't get any extra attention or water, so they produced some tomatoes but not as many as in-ground tomatoes.

I've grown some hot peppers in 1g pots, but am still researching which of my pepper varieties this year can go in pots. The small eggplants will go in containers this year.

Herbs!

I grow all my peppermints and spearmints in containers, mostly 1 gal. or less. I usually divide them every year, and move them around the garden (with saucers to prevent them from taking root in the garden). I'm thinking of dividing my lemon balm and moving it to a big container, because it's slowly spreading out.

Whenever I cut back my herbs, I propagate some of the cuttings. I keep the cuttings in small pots until I either find a space for them or (mostly) give them away. Oregano, thyme, sage are easy to propagate and do ok in small pots for a while. I've even had a small lavender in a 1/2 gal. pot for a couple years.

I've had chives in a 2-3 gal. pot for years -- very pretty when they're in flower, and they grow in a nice clump.

Comfrey will survive in a pot, even in a small pot, but it won't really take off and set lots of flowering spikes until it's in the ground.

Suze April 19, 2010 02:00 AM

A few quick thoughts for what could be grown in 4 gal containers.

Peppers - Tollie's Sweet and Neopolitan should do well. They would both be good picks for 4 gal containers.

Most herbs and lettuces.

Dwarf / tree-type tomatoes - for example, Lime Green Salad and Golden Dwarf Champion. Maybe even New Big Dwarf - I've grown it in a 4.5 gal container before with no problems. Some compact dets, like Hanky Red and 506. I don't grow many dets and not all dets are compact, others might have more recommendations.

Bush type cukes. Other cucurbits (eg, melons, cukes, squash) might be a bit of a stretch because they tend to like a lot of water and support could also be a problem unless you just let them sprawl.

Corn could be problematic - too tall / sail effect that might easily tip, also high N needs. Perhaps a dwarf variety might work.

Bush beans. If soil is fairly good, I've found one can sow bush bean seed on 4" centers with good results, at least in a raised bed. Pole might be problematic for support reasons, like with the corn. Sail effect, easy to tip.

Garlic and bunching onions - should work if the needs of the plants are met and spacing in the container is sufficient. Don't overcrowd with garlic (unless you are just trying to grow some green garlic / for the tops) or bulb development could be affected.

Bulb onions and other root crops you mentioned - might be worth a go if the depth of the container is sufficient to allow proper development of the root (crop).

John3 April 19, 2010 08:44 PM

Ok so far it breaks down to the following:
1 gal pots containers
hot peppers
herbs
lettuces

4 gal pots/containers
Bush type cukes. Other cucurbits (eg, melons, cukes, squash) might be a bit of a stretch because they tend to like a lot of water and support could also be a problem unless you just let them sprawl.
Garlic and bunching onions - should work if the needs of the plants are met and spacing in the container is sufficient. Don't overcrowd with garlic (unless you are just trying to grow some green garlic / for the tops) or bulb development could be affected.
Bulb onions and other root crops you mentioned - might be worth a go if the depth of the container is sufficient to allow proper development of the root (crop).
root crops:
beets
turnips
rutabaga

OK what about these?
peppers - sweet and hot
carrots - little fingers, thumbilina and reg long types
collards
mustards
leeks
swiss chard
eggplants
pak choi
spinach round leaf
kohl rabi
sweet snow peas
luffa gourd
cabbage
okra

John3 April 19, 2010 10:40 PM

Thinking this might work for herbs, carrots - little fingers, thumbilina and radishes.
Comments and improvements welcome.
[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/y5FwkVSWGks&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/y5FwkVSWGks&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

here's a different ver and different wicking (comments welcome)
[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zeJ6sDYlwGo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zeJ6sDYlwGo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

John3 April 19, 2010 11:22 PM

Ok I found this for 4/5 gal buckets (round) comments and ideals welcome.
BTW some on the posts at the vid sites are saying copper or pvc is not safe to use as they both leech out into the water. Then what are you suppose to use?
[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F7WANal8Jp0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F7WANal8Jp0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Elliot April 19, 2010 11:39 PM

I use the one gallon containers for habenaro peppers. They are beatiful plants.

As for the containers you get from the bakery, make sure they have holes on the bottom for drainage and put some rocks on the bottom to prevent the holes from cloggng up.

Elliot

John3 April 19, 2010 11:58 PM

[quote]As for the containers you get from the bakery, make sure they have holes on the bottom for drainage and put some rocks on the bottom to prevent the holes from cloggng up. [/quote]Elliot is this a one bucket system elimataning the need for the second bucket insert?


Adding trellis for cucumbers to bucket (comments improvements welcome)
[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UPi0X9MICbI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UPi0X9MICbI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

John3 April 20, 2010 07:07 PM

I haven't found any free sources for one gal buckets/pails but I did find out that McDonald's is getting their 3/16" crinkle cut pickle slices in 2 gal buckets/pails. So the 1 gal vegs could grow in them but at adding the double of the cost of planting mix.
On sweet peppers like bell peppers would 2 gal be ok or should I use the 4 gal or 1 gal?

habitat_gardener April 20, 2010 08:05 PM

[QUOTE=John3;165820]On sweet peppers like bell peppers would 2 gal be ok or should I use the 4 gal or 1 gal?[/QUOTE]

Depends on the peppers. I'm still researching this for my peppers this year, but I think smaller pots are ok if the plants and the peppers are small, and if you're not trying to maximize production. So, without knowing specific varieties, I'd put the largest-fruited varieties in the largest pots. I'd also research the plant sizes, and put the largest plants in the largest pots. I think Tatiana's tomatobase lists some peppers, or you could start a new thread in the pepper forum to ask about plant sizes of specific pepper varieties.


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