A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Pepper Question

Ok, I have about 10 different type of pepper plants planted in my garden this year. They where all bought already growing.
It seems they are not getting any bigger they just started flowering and putting on peppers after I put them in the ground.

I ready somewhere on here that if they start putting on peppers then they will not grow any bigger.

I went ahead and removed all the flowers and peppers off of them? I hope that was the correct thing to do.....they are just to small right now.

That's probably for the best. They can concentrate on growing now.

Thanks! I was just worried I was hurting them by removing them.

You didnt do any harm on the peppers, just will make them bushier......
Now for the next time. Let the blossoms on, they will be your early fruit.
Dont remove them. That is the idea of blossoms. Get the earliest crop....

No harm done. All fruit and veggies come from blossoms.

dodge

Xetox

Just came to my mind what you read on here about blossoms.
You must of read about strawberries.. When you plant new strawberries, You are told to pick off the blossoms the first year.. To get the plant to mature......

However I never do it that way..

dodge

You did the right thing Xetox!
Picking the flowers early will force the plant to put it's energy into growing larger...hence have more room to produce more peppers. I ALWAYS pick the first flowers from my peppers...if I don't..my pepper plants will be small and produce very few peppers.

ChristinaC

That is odd.....peppers grow like weeds her in Pennsylvania...

Hide and watch, we never pick..

dodge

I think you did the right thing, this is only May peppers love HEAT. dodge, try starting some berries and remove the flowers, this really works. I have done this several times. The plant gets frustrated but still needs to grow so it produces a more extensive root system. The following spring you will understand.
ranger

ranger
the problem I normally face, is the berries, get really nice and rot away from the cool nites//

Mine grow so wide around now ?

dodge

Good to know others do this with there peppers!

ranger, I am doing that this year with sb's I planted...next year I should have enough for me my family and prolly the whole street. I planted 45 sb plants this year

I started my pepper plants inside and with this heat wave we had this week they shot up about 2" in my greenhouse.

I'm planning on leaving mine in the greenhouse this year. Should I then snip off the first flowers too?

Xetox,

I see I am not the only one with that problem, but for mines it is to late. I could not figure out why mines stayed so small and would not grow. Now I know I figured I had done something wrong with the dirt or water,but now I know when planting from the store remover flowers quickly.
Thank you for asking the question I kept forgetting to ask.
Nicky

That is all greek to me......removing blossoms o peppers.
I thought stunting peppers is caused by putting them out too soon..

They need warm and quick growing. Cool temperatures stunt them.. I never put them out before May 31 in zone 5.

To each his own.

dodge

Here is a few words from an expert. On peppers
Climatic Requirements
As peppers are of tropical origin, plants thrive best when temperatures are warm. Being sensitive to the cold, planting should be delayed until the danger of frost is past in the spring. Ideal temperatures are 70 to 80 degrees F during the day, and 60 to 70 degrees F at night.

Extremely high temperatures (90 degrees F or above) during flowering often results in blossom drop. Fruit that set when temperatures average above 80 degrees F may be small and poorly shaped due to heat injury to the blossoms. Temperatures below 60 degrees F at night will also result in blossom drop.

A shortage of water at bloom
dodge

Thats pretty much it dodge. I get my main crop of peppers usually Aug. & Sept. just west of Cape Cod.
ranger

Might be your weather ..
We are zone 5 .
Still had frost last nite here.

Gees spring hurry up//

dodge

I planted mine in the garden in mid feb. covered at night I have never picked the bloom mine do great have been eating peppers about a month now. Only frost I have seen is in my freezers.

JV

Well La de daaaaaaaa.
You sound as happy as Texas...........;o)
We had snow in february.. We cant put out peppers in the snow ..Ha ha

Hope you never had a frosted coke eithe...ha ha he he.


dodge

ranger send photo of the peppers progress , maybe one can notice something.

dodge