Planting Peppers

[Decado]

Do I want to plant part of the stem like I do with tomatoes when I put them in the ground?

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, they are part of the nightshade family, like tomatoes and eggplants. All of the nightshade family can benefit from being planted a little deeper. However, I wouldn't do it as extremely as you can with tomatoes. Tomatoes very readily throw of roots all along the stem. The pepper stems are smoother and don't root as readily. You can bury it up to the cotyledons (seed leaves) or even up to the first true leaves, but I wouldn't bury it any deeper than that.

[Decado]

Ah well I already buried them up to the seed leaves when I uppotted them.

[garden5]

Although I don't have much proof of this, I have heard that if you plant the peppers overly deep in cool soil, they can be stunted in growth for the season. Bearing this in mind, you may only want to plant them slightly deeper than the root-ball. If they are very leggy, you could trench plant them by laying the plant sideways in a trench. This way, they roots are shallower rather than deeper.

[applestar]

I wouldn't be in any hurry to plant the peppers just yet unless you're putting them in some more WOWs. Peppers really don't like the cold and I usually don't plant mine out until the lows stay above 55 at the least. That said, I have 2 in the ground now, shivering under cloches, because we had those 90's/60's weather for a while. The rest of them HAD been hardening off, but have been bundled back in the garage under the lights.

[Decado]

I wouldn't be in any hurry to plant the peppers just yet unless you're putting them in some more WOWs. Peppers really don't like the cold and I usually don't plant mine out until the lows stay above 55 at the least. That said, I have 2 in the ground now, shivering under cloches, because we had those 90's/60's weather for a while. The rest of them HAD been hardening off, but have been bundled back in the garage under the lights.

I'm not planting them yet but in a week or 2 weeks at the latest, they're getting really big and I'm afraid they're going to start budding like my tomatoes are.

[garden5]

Don't worry if you peppers start budding under the lights, mine already are. Just pick off the flowers when you plant them so that their energy goes into root development instead of fruit development.

[BrianSkilton]

Do as garden5 says, pinch of the flowers, so the plant can focus more on growing strong. My pepper plants are huge, and I have some outside already under some WOW, and they are doing alright. Mine are all budding as well, just pinch off the flowers.

[applestar]

Heh. I was thinking "Gee, mine aren't flowering yet. :pout: " but then noticed some little buds forming on them last night before lights out.

Now if the weather will only pull out of this cold slump! Good tomato weather starting tomorrow, but not nearly warm enough for peppers! I think I WILL plant out a couple of peps in WOW. I had to re-assign one of the tomato WOWs to a 3xYellow Squash hill that sprouted already out there when we had the frost forecast. "Sorry, but the squash needs it MORE!" The tomato had to make do with a nursery pot.

[RyanDe680]

I planted my peppers about 2 weeks ago in the garden. We've had some 45 degree nights in the past, on average between maybe 43 and 53 and everything is doing great.

Tomatoes go in the ground this weekend, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s as far as I can see so far.

Peppers seem to be doing just great in the ground now. I have a bunch of them flowering (time to pinch) and I actually have 1 pepper...

[Decado]

So will I have to continue picking the buds until they're ready to fruit? Because that is going to be a whole lot of work considering the fact that I'm planting about 40 pepper plants.

[applestar]

I'm not taking mine off unless the plant is looking stressed. It takes long enough for the peppers to fruit around here without sabotaging the process.

[Decado]

Really now? Do you think the plants will grow big enough if it's giving all that energy to the buds/peppers?

[Halfway]

ok, what's a "WOW"

[BrianSkilton]

Wall of Water

[supagirl277]

Is that kinda like the mound you set melons and cucumbers on when you plant them? Cause they have a moat of water haha

[rainbowgardener]

wall O'water

[applestar]

Really now? Do you think the plants will grow big enough if it's giving all that energy to the buds/peppers?

In my experience, unless you're artificially stimulating the plants to bear fruit with high-number ferts, they abort if the conditions aren't right/they're not ready -- if they're shocked at transplant, for example. Even if they keep the flowers/fruits, if they decide to concentrate on growing roots and leaves, the flowers or the baby fruits will just remain small until the plants can turn their attention to them.

ETA: Also, when I first plant the peppers, the temperatures are not the optimum for fruit production, unlike the warm indoor conditions under the lights -- which, I suspect, also makes the plants have second thoughts about developing the baby fruits.

[garden5]

Yeah, that's probably why they are fruiting inside...it's the warmth. I guess the plant knows what it's doing. If you plant it out, I'd say maybe to pick off all of the existing flowers, but leave all of the others that develop. Sound good?