I post on another channel on their gardening thread. Gardeners from all over the world post there too.
Check this out -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgVvNRqc3nc
Here is a another video showing peppers topped and regrowth over a couple of months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8PMd-VNCYc
Soo...I topped mine today, all nine of them. If you're interested here's what went down.
I planted the seedlings on March 7. The weather has remained cool so no significant growth in height but enough of a crown of leaves to top off.
What, how, and some suggestions:
1. I had snipped off lower branches starting about week two. Wondered if that was a bad idea as the plants weren't doing much in our cool weather. But enough leaves sprouted at the top to form a small crown.
2. You can prune them without whacking them and making them look ugly. Maybe the sooner the better as the crowns were small and the plants don't look chopped. They look more slender and wispy. I've seen worse at big box stores.
3. Leaves at the crown were small to very small and had about 10-12 leaves on them. Gone! The plant will be forced to branch.
4. I left about 5 to 7 leaves on the stem, cutting the stem so they looked like a new top, sort of.
5. Stems are approximately 6-7 inches tall with remaining leaves above that.
6. I cut mid-day which now I think was a bad idea. I would cut them in the evening if could do over. To prevent shock I gave them a little water and almost immediately the leaves curled on several plants. That will happen anyway when you water mid-day which I feel stunts them. I have no doubt they will recuperate though.
7. I added water because I hadn't watered since Saturday morning and today is Tuesday. If I were to do it over I would water first in the morning.
Brings up a point about the coir I topped the beds with: The beds stay moist for a long time and I have to be careful not to overwater. But none of the plants have ever wilted, no weeds at all, and no bugs. Greens are going crazy and I'm picking daily for salads and Joe scrambles in the mornings.
We have rain 3 out of the next 6 days so I don't see much happening to the pepper plants other then recuperating. They wouldn't grow much in this cooler weather anyway.
Give it a go on a plant or two and see if you can make your own pepper 'bush'! |
