I agree. I planted them way to close. They're all bearing fruit right now, so do you have any suggestions on how I should thin them out? I don't want to ruin anything.rainbowgardener wrote:It's looking good! But those Italian peppers in the second picture are WAY too crowded! You will get a lot better results if you thin a bunch of them out. Better to have a few plants that are happy and productive than a ton of unhappy plants that don't do anything.
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DownriverGardener
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rainbowgardener
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If you have more room, you can dig some up and replant. They might drop flowers and fruit, but they should survive and start producing again. But to adequately space all those plants would take a LOT of room. Minimum spacing of pepper plants is one per square foot.
If it were me, I would get real hard hearted and just cut some of them off at ground level (that way you don't disturb the roots of the ones left). It's a little heart-breaking to kill plants that look like they are okay and producing. But it is one of those too many people in the rowboat questions. Does everyone starve or do we pitch a few overboard to save the rest? A little easier to do when they are pepper plants not human beings.
Probably something only a gardener with some years of experience in seeing what happens could bring themselves to do!
If it were me, I would get real hard hearted and just cut some of them off at ground level (that way you don't disturb the roots of the ones left). It's a little heart-breaking to kill plants that look like they are okay and producing. But it is one of those too many people in the rowboat questions. Does everyone starve or do we pitch a few overboard to save the rest? A little easier to do when they are pepper plants not human beings.
Probably something only a gardener with some years of experience in seeing what happens could bring themselves to do!