A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Pepper plants not growing tall

So my pepper plants look to be very healthy and growing new leaves... However, they aren't growing tall. They just seem to be growing wider. They are currently only about 6-8 inches tall. They've been in the ground outside for almost a month now and I'm not sure what to do.

Any suggestions?

Hi Luckkyseven! I have a suggestion on what to do: nothing! It's too soon in the season to see a growth spurt on peppers. You should be hoping that energy is being channeled to establishing a good root system.

But here's also a suggestion. Take photos once a week of your garden, and close-ups of things in a spacial context (like, two plants together in a photo, or against a backdrop). This will accomplish two things.

First, when you compare this week's to last week's pics, you will probably see undeniable growth! (Like watching your kid grow, unless she's going through a spurt, you just don't notice that she's getting taller, but what does Grandma say?)

Second, photos are one of THE best garden records, especially if you have digital photos in a program that you can add comments to. So next year, when you are thinking that the peppers are growing properly, you can go back & see they look teh same as last year, and last year they wound up being 4' tall!

Good luck!

Marica, you're right on about using photos to see how you're progressing. I agree with the plants developing a good root system first as well.

Lukkyseven are you feeding them any fertilizer? Sometimes our soil just doesn't have enough "food" to help our plants grow. I like to use a general fertilizer with my peppers....something like 20-20-20. But I've had peppers that you just had to have patience with until........then off they went. Good luck.