Pruning Pepper Plants 101: Is It Even Necessary?
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- Опубліковано 14 чер 2020
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Topping pepper plants is a topic of much debate, with some growers saying it's a fantastic way to boost production, and others saying it's not necessary at all. So, who's right? As with most things in gardening, IT DEPENDS!
Pruning peppers removes top growth to promote more branching and bushiness. By doing this, you sacrifice your earliest peppers in favor of growing more vegetation and a sturdier plant, which can then lend itself to more flower and pepper production later on down the road.
I prefer to top lanky plants to bush them out myself, especially if I'm still early in the season with plenty of time to let those peppers produce. On larger peppers like bells or banana peppers, I let them be - it doesn't seem to do much besides slow down production.
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Pepper pruning tip of your own? Lemme know what works for you ⤵️
Epic Gardening IMO, depends on your growing season time and pot size. In general,Top early if it is leggy and vulnerable to wind etc. otherwise save the time and let it be, and enjoy! Also when topping you can attempt to clone the toppings.
For me it’s; never top peppers, prune everything below the fork and side shoots looking inside, and support plant if necessary
@@xalapa61 I was going to ask about cloning. Can I clone like we do with tomato plants or does it has to be the top?
Yaria Samavan Carlan I believe it must be a cut at a node, in order to clone more easily.if the plant has a v shape you may be able to cut 1 side of the V shape with out completely topping the plant.
Let the late frost do it for you? That's what happened to me this year lol
Would be nice to see a fast forward of what the pruning actually did.. ✌️
Pruning = ramification = more branches = more peppers
@@rosshopkins2063 if you give the plant all it needs, there's no need to top. It will bush out on its own. If its needs aren't met, topping encourages bushing out.
Here is my experience....bell peppers I would NOT prune. Hot peppers prune. My bell peppers were half sized fruit and the plants looked big and bushy. The serranos and the jalapeno plants thrived and produced lots of fruit when pruned when young. Just my experience.
The ripe to stop farm did that and found that with bell peppers it didn't help
@@Spittin_Chiglets Thanks for the advice. I will consider it. The problem is, you have as much advice as you have gardeners. One says do this. The other says do not. I guess it's like fishing 🐟. You have to figure out what's good for you. Again, Thank You
A deer pruned my Jalapeno plant for me. Haha! Bit the top half clear off. It has now been relocated to a safe place, and it's growing leaves like crazy.
Funny, thank you for the laugh! Bored of plain grass???
Haha. I would love to have seen if that deer had eaten a full jalapeno, how it would react
This is the natural way to do it
THIS JUST HAPPENED TO MY IN LAW! Hope he liked his deer version of taco bell!🤣
In my experience, topping my peppers is the ONLY way I can get a decent yield. I’ve been doing it for about 4 years, and for many years before that I was lucky to get a few peppers off each plant. Now my plants are at least double the size and I get WAY more peppers. Works with both sweet peppers and jalapeños. Last year I topped 1 jalapeño plant and left 3 others unpruned. The 1 plant I topped grew 2 or 3 times larger than the other 3 plants which were all the same size. I also pinch the flower buds off all my peppers to delay blooming until the plants are large enough with many branches to support the weight of multiple peppers. That’s a critical step because otherwise the plant’s growth slows once it starts fruiting and you won’t get many more branches or new fruit forming after that. The plant should have as many sturdy branches as possible before you allow it to set fruit. Pruning AND pinching buds leads to more branching.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing Big L (Rest in Peace)
@@epicgardening why RIP? Did she/he pass?
Great tip, about pinching the flower buds! I never thought of that. I have had jalapeno plants rip themselves in half, literally, from the weight of the fruit. Thank you!!
o good i pinched blooms on the peppers since i was doing the tomatoes too, then decided to look up after if it was good/bad to do to them LOL they are still pretty tiny (peppers have not grown much bigger since planting in the ground, they just went right to flowering so was hoping pruning the flowers would encourage them to get a lil bigger first)
I get mostly midday sun, and the evening sun and morning get shaded so the side leaves of my plant don't get much light but the top does. So pruning will help give it a bigger footprint and increase its light exposure for me.
So I have a dog, and he is a big boy. One day, he was walking past my Fresno chili plant, and his powerful tail literally chopped the top of the plant off. In the days and weeks prior, the plant had been dehydrated, and damaged by harsh winds, so I figured that my dog just put the plant out of its misery. However, this led to a ludicrous explosion of growth. It is now starting to flower and is the most successful looking pepper plant I have ever done
I'm up in WA zone 8b. Started peppers from seed in February. Topped each one once they had 6 true leaves, down to 4. And I'm having the most flower buds I've ever seen. They should be able to go until the end of September before getting them ready to over winter. This is my first year doing peppers this way.
That's awesome!
I like to prune my peppers because everyone recommends it, i never tried a comparison by pruning one and not pruning another. Anyway there is another benefit to pruning for me : i replant the clipped top, and now i have a lot of pepper plants in pots. That way i clone the most vigorous plants, reinforcing the original plant for later on.
However, it must be noted that my growing season is perpetual, since i live in the tropics. I have a pepper plant that has been continuously fruiting for 6-8 months now, it even has bark now.
It is still growing strong, at aproximately 1.5m tall (it should mean something like 5 feet), but this one i never pruned (i didn't know about that back when i planted it), and it has 2-3 strong main branches, and multiple off-shoots from each of those. I have a (also with it's own bark from beeing so old) basil plant nearby that drives pests away, protecting the pepper.
Yeah very good to note your growing season...great resultstho!
I'm jealous af, must be nice
not only do you consistently deliver quality, useful content but you are straight to the point and so knowledgeable. this is my absolute favorite channel right now.
HOW DID YOU KNOW I NEEDED THIS VIDEO!? Perfect timing Kevin. Thank you.
I was -literally- just thinking the same thing here.
I'm always 👀
He asked Zuckerberg 👀😂
I haven’t pruned my pepper in about 2 years now. I just take off a few leaves by hand here and there. It’s really doing well.
I almost never top peppers but prune them once an year when they go dormant in winter, that does work!!!
I didn’t top mine last year but did prune them often and they did pretty good. However, I topped several this year once they had 4 real leaves and I left the rest alone. There’s such a HUGE difference now after a couple months. The topped ones have several more chutes compared to non topped. They look like bushes already
I've been growing peppers for 20 years and last year was the first time I ever topped my plants. It worked like a charm! The key to pruning them is to make sure you leave at least 4-6 true leaves on the bottom. And don't wait too long. In my opinion some of the plants in this video are past the pruning stage. No disrespect to Epic Gardening because this guy knows a lot!! Just wanted to add my two cents because pruning worked amazingly well for me and I live in Wisconsin where the growing season is fairly short. Trust me if you prune correctly your plants will explode with leaves and growth. And from what I saw last year it actually speeds up the entire process because you will get a bushier and healthier plants!
I’ve actually pruned hard in the fall, brought the plant in and over wintered in a window then replanted outside in spring, peppers will grow for years however they usually die from disease
What is the latest you would top in WI?
Whenever I have a garden question, you’re my first stop! Thanks! So helpful!
After 2 years of experimenting, I stopped topping my bell pepper plants because I feel like all it does is set back it’s growth. However I top all my other pepper plants and always end up with more peppers than I need! I already have dozens of jalapeños and serranos on each plant and they’re still young!
I agree with you to not top bell pepper plant. I topped mine and it seem set back a lot, it's been a month with no growing. I did it for my jalapenos and even habaneros and they all growing well and good. Just some reason bell pepper don't do so well.
Yeah that makes total sense!
Just started growing some peppers and they aren't even close to pruning level yet but of course I'll watch again later
Same i got 3 small habaneros in the window (im an apartment dweller )
So happy! I searched your channel for this exact video and you guys didn't disappoint. I have a hydro garden inside and the flowers are blooming so thank you I will take what works for me from this!
I'm so grateful for your channel. I always come here when I need advice and I always find what I need to know. Thanks man
Yeah, we've tried it both ways for several years, and the plants, when planted in full sun, seemed to do equally well whether they were topped or not. But pruning does seem to help make them stockier if needed. We do pinch off the first blossoms to help it grow bigger before putting energy into the pods. :) Thanks for all the tips!
Gardening is about experimenting. Love that quote.
I was just looking up if I should prune mine because they are growing great and then I got this notification. Thanks
Was looking at my peppers yesterday wondering this very thing. And BAM! Here's a video about. Thanks a bunch! This was susper helpful. 🙏🏾🙌🏾
One of the best videos on explaining why and how you'd consider pruning peppers. I now "get it"- thanks! Love your channel and these informative videos!
I pruned all my peppers last season. You're right, the bells didn't do anything, except produce small fruits. But my cayenne and jalapenos produced so many peppers I couldn't believe it. No idea why really. I've learned that pruning tomatoes is kind of a hit and miss as well. I really enjoy your garden and videos 🌶
FINALLY a video that shows exactly how to prune peppers! I’ve been looking here and there for the past 2 weeks, no joke. Many other vids show pruning in very early stages, but my plants are already a foot tall and hardly producing (also never pruned before). So it’s great to see it done, just learned the 45 deg angle trick. When I get home from work, I’ll reprune my peppers! Thanks
Thanks. First abundantly clear and rational approach to this subject I have watched. Someone growing at home is not the same as a commercial grower and so the approach must address your local conditions and length of season. It just means we may need to support our pepper bush and side shoots with fruit rather better to avoid breaking stems.
I have been watching your channel for some time and never knew that we shared the same last name. Thank you for all of your helpful tips.
AWESOME delivery...Your detail of showing the plant up close REALLY HELPS...Keep up the Great work and can't wait for your next video
Glad to hear this!
I found that topping my peppers in the fall before potting them and bringing them in for the winter is a great way to avoid having to grow them from seed every year. I have three plants that I bring in every winter and I prune them back completely. I even get some small peppers through the winter.
Where do you keep the plants?! Thinking about doing this
@@BrookeandBabyif you’ve figured out how to store this please update! Completely new to this. Will do further research but want to learn! Thank you
@@NastyNomad15 I didn't do it this past season but I am 100% trying it this year! I have so many great pepper varieties like the striped "candy cane sweet peppers" from botanical interests... most beautiful things I've ever seen! I want to bring them inside and overwinter them. I have been watching others say their harvest the second year transplant is insane.
Since I start mine in October, I top at the FIRST set of true leaves (under blazing LED lighting) as soon as the new growth is open. It really forces the side shoots low. I also prune a few times over the winter to really bush it out. Even pruned plants can still get lanky if you don't keep them in check. I also plant three seedlings to a pot to get more branching and support.
Oof! Where was this video when I needed it a month ago lol?! I topped 1 of my 3 pepper plants and I’m glad I only topped one. I’m totally new to gardening and really relying on your videos. Thank you 😊
I've found if I'm using really small containers (1-2 gallon), pruning them will help them yield more as the small containers will cause them to mature more quickly as their roots begin to bound around the container. By topping them, I slow the fruiting process down as the roots continue to establish, allowing more vegetation to grow more quickly, resulting in more peppers.
Oooh, great call that's a variable I didn't cover in the vid!
@@epicgardening haha I do it too man, you always realize there's more to say afterwards. But hey, there's always more videos to be made.
So I'm currently growing 2 pepper plants so this was right on time! Thanks!
I have learned SO much from your videos! Thankful for you and your willingness to share your knowledge. 🙃
Really beautiful pepper plants, I myself have started a ton this year. Super helpful tips :), they are getting pretty big. This is also a historic moment, final video in the place where it all began.
I just started gardening during the quarantine, My pepper seedling are almost ready to transplant, i am so excited !
Good luck!
Enjoy the silver lining to covid.
That’s great👍🏼btw what kind of pepper plants do you have?
WARNING! Gardening can be addictive. I put a few tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets about 10 years ago. I have since torn out more than half my (pretty big) back yard and plan to start a flower garden this year. Good luck.
Thank you Kevin. Really helpful and timely. I’m growing a load of cayenne peppers in my greenhouse, here in the UK and they’re at the point where I was debating whether to top them or not. Thank you for the advice. Especially useful as this is my first attempt. With lockdown, my son and I are “digging for victory”. I managed to get hold of a load of potting compost before lockdown and had a good stash of seeds, so after sowing tons of veggies and knocking together several more planters, it now looks like “Day of the Triffids” out there. I’m fairly new to your channel but am thoroughly enjoying working through your past videos. Best of luck with the homestead. Living the dream. Best, Andy
You're very welcome!
Awesome video Sr. I’m a first time gardener and this was very helpful!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and for your videos.
Gratitude with love for this adviser.
Thanks for the very useful video. In April, I had a Shishito plant that I pruned the top tip off of after the first buds appeared on it. Within about 2-weeks, the plant looked like the first Shishito plant shown in this clip and was branching out and growing like crazy. Then I got the bright idea to prune it some more. I stunted the growth and the plant never recovered. It did continue to grow, but very small, and only produced about 6 small peppers. From now on, I will prune Shishitos once, or not at all. And I will evaluate pepper plants the way you did, and make good pruning decisions.
Kevin - I'd love to see you do a side by side comparison of topping vs. not topping - and comparing the health of the plant and the amount/weight of the harvest. There does not seem to be a clear answer to your question of to top or not to top.
You have such nice clear soothing voice. Your very easy to follow. From the Philippines
I have never had luck with peppers before, but before this year, I never heard that pruning them was a thing. It seems to have a lot to do with climate/growing season because different people have different opinions. But I gave it a try with this year’s peppers, and they look so much healthier and sturdier!! They are just starting to get fruit and it looks like there will be a bunch of them soon, so it looks like pruning is a yes for me! I’m in eastern Kansas. 😄
I really needed this video! I wasn't sure if I should or not
Awesome gonna watch when I get home from work.
Peppers are one of the plants that alluded me.
I can grow the really hot ones, but not the giant sweet ones!
I’m glad you mentioned growing seasons, I live in Canada and we have a short season, so I don’t top my peppers. I find my hot peppers are always slower to grow fruit, so I don’t want to set them back at all, it’s sometimes late summer, early fall before I can harvest anything
Makes total sense
I purchased a grow tent and LEDs. I planted in Feb and right now in my tent everything is fruiting (peppers). I plan to transition these to the outdoors soon. This tent has added months to my season . I recommend it. It's my first year with it and it's producing beyond my expectations.
@@chrisna9861 Awesome! Im just dipping my toes into the tent and lights. Currently waiting on a pepper seed order, but i have some wal mart bell peppers and hot peppers, basil and lettuce plants growing. Best of luck with your harvest!
Laura Shadforth. I am in Canada as well, I pruned some and left others. If you start early enough, I did in late February...you would already have pods forming. I'm growing 45 different varieties of superhots and most are starting to produce.
Chris NA what brand/model of tent and LED system are you using?
Great information. Very helpful information for me. Thanks for sharing.
Hiya, This is an excellent point as most videos state with an almost religious fervour that topping peppers is vital.
I found out different this year though. I live in N.W. England where we have a reasonably short growing season, and some of my peppers that grow larger haven't reached the height more usual for them while other smaller types have. It's been a fairly bad year for rain, etc, but that can't be blamed. I can back track the growth pattern to the points at which I pruned and It then becomes obvious.
Thank very much and stay safe and well from England.🌿🌻🌞
My bell peppers were sown from seed and had no signs of side shoots like yours. They were seeded early so I had lots of time for the season. It did originally slow down grown but then they exploded with shoots. I have a big bushy plant with about 30 flowers on each plant currently. It was definitely a win for me to pinch this year. Strong full sturdy plants this year
I'm a simple man. I see an epic gardening video, I click.
certified epic
I have personally never topped or pruned my pepper plants, and I have always had great results. I prune many of my other plants, but peppers can be so finicky, I just leave them to their vices. I am in Canada, with a shorter growing season (about 5 months), so I start inside first to allow earlier flowering. To each his own though! Great and informative video.
Great video thanks for the thorough explanation
I live in Las Vegas, it seems all I CAN grow is peppers, I don't mind because I love them, and it's fun. I watched a lot of vids about pruning and, overwintering your pepper plants. I did that once and, the plant died. I will say some need a season to ramp up for the next season. I have 6 cayenne pepper plants, 2 jalapeno, 1 banana, 3 bells, and 2 sweet... I have not pruned a one in 4 years - except for branches that die back. - every year I have more than I can eat - So I make salsa for my friends. nom.
Awesome. I was really wondering whether I should prune my peppers or not but this was more insightful. Thanks a million times
Thank you. I got my shisito from a nursery and it’s quite tall now and I have a bamboo stick to lean it against. After harvest I’ll prune it back for winter. I don’t want to lose any of the peppers it is growing right now.
Thank you for today's video!! Very helpful
I've needed this! I've been trying to find a good video on this and was striking out until now!
I'm so glad!
Shishitos are my absolute favorite. Last year I topped some and left some and the difference was almost silly. I was getting 3-4 dozen peppers from the 2 topped plants every other day, and the un-pruned one gave me one pepper every week or so. Absolutely wild.
Thank you for sharing this very informative video sir. happy planting...
Thanks for the insight. Can't wait for my peppers to get to that stage.
You explain gardening so well. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for sharing.. i will definitely do the same when my pepper plant is ready. keep up!
Very helpful! Thank you 😊
Great video. Packed with info and to the point.
Thank you for this!!
Great video! We love our peppers... Like you said at the end, we usually experiment with each variety and see what works best the first season growing something new. Different varieties like different things. So we do a side by side comparison to figure out the question of "to prune or not to prune"
Best way to do it!
Awesome video I actually toped one of my pepper plants this year I've never done it before. I just wanted to do it and see what it did to it for myself.
Thanks for all the good help🥰
Any time!
It all depends on what zone you live in and how long your growing season is , I live in southern Canada and no way do I have time for the plants to recover and ripen in time
Exactly I live in Maine and last year. I followed this advice and got 0 peppers.
Its all about timing. Just gotta plant seed earlier and top only once.
So I shouldn't do this if I live an hour north of Toronto
@@kelonchoe depends on how long ago you planted your seeds.
Lol southern Canada
Thanks you for your time and the advice, i really learned a lot, you the best. Awesome teaching.
Hooray! Ive been waiting for this video 😊
I needed this video 1ish month ago. My bell peppers are currently super tall (over 3 feet tall) and super skinny. I had to add poles to keep them up. I'll have to watch this next time I plant them.
No worries a stake will do for them!
I propagate the tops cut off; that way you're guaranteed not to reduce yield
How?
Can they go directly into the ground?
@@viceb7 I do it in water just in case, but some people are brave enough to put it directly in the ground. Gotta make sure that it stays high humidity, so cut off a soda bottle to put over it etc
I just asked that question. Going to do it today. Hoping they recover and fruit before September
Yep clone them and it give you a head start by doing that i have a serrano thats 4 years old and i have a 3 year old clone of the same serrano
Thank you for the video. I am ready to prune my pepper plants!
really good explanation
Thanks so much for the video Kevin, by coincidence I planted my first peppers recently, other than the pumpkin I have growing in my backyard (knuckleheads, which was accidental too as I was just trying to compost 2 pumpkins left over from Halloween that lasted through December) these pepper plants (cayenne and Hungarian wax) are the first real potted plants that are fruit bearing I've ever done. I call it coincidence because I was looking for a video about pruning when they started to fruit (because mine have become extremely bushy from topping, which I heard about doing since I started my seedlings late) but thank you for mentioning pruning after fruiting, it was very helpful! Liked this very much BIG THUMBS UP! :)
:)
Love you. So needed this NOW
Nice work
Perfect time! Thank you!
Alot of information thank you
You can also watch a weed trimming vid. It's exactly the same. Prune everything shaded by the canopy. It really works
First year of growing peppers. Thanks for the information 😀
This year planted 18 tobasco, 12 seranos, 92 cayenne, 4 red bell the 5th turned out funny as I ended up with a kung Pao pepper. I topped everything and I have such an early crop this year on seranos I'm picking alot to save on the heat stress while letting more energy into flowers n more fruit it keeps compounding exponentially. Topping is way to go I tried to top once I had established about 8 main leaves on my plants. Next year I'm getting Anchor, jalapeno, habanero, into my rotation. I make a lot of salsa Verde, fire hot salsa. Love my plants!
I pruned mine to today.. It hurt my feelings 🥺but I will give it a shot!
I like to prune my peppers heavily i aim for a huge harvest after the first winter
i pruned a few times and my orange pepper is loaded with flower buds! about 5 main stems now, def worth it, takes some time for it to rebound but it will
yahoo! was waiting for this vid ;)
gratz on the homestead! I'm actually looking into 5 acre farmhouse out here in PA; I'll be watchin!
Sounds great!
I been waiting for a good video for peppers
Thanks Kevin!
Kevin, I love hearing your crows in the background!
I personally always cut off the bottom leaves of my plants bc it always help give nutrients to different parts of the plant (plus I love making trees out of almost any plant) my cayenne pepper plant is a tree pepper plant now it's pretty cool
Pinching the first few blooms is even better
Personally I try to top as a seedling when it gets 3 sets of true leaves and normally only top once. By topping early u don’t let the peppers waste energy growing too tall before u top and no one wants a single stem pepper! Also, I make sure to trim off ALL fruit for the first 6 weeks or so after planting seedlings out into raised beds so all energy goes into building plant infrastructure....fruit production drains a HUGE amount of energy from a plant. Will get much more production over the entire season by doing that.
Currently growing peppers for the first time and my plant is huge. And tomatoes. I see you have been watching my garden 👀
The growing season is unpredictable here in Boise. We had a very early hot spell, and I had transplanted my peppers before the average last freeze date. Sure enough, there was a frost, but I protected them. But we have had a lot of cool, wet weather, like right now, and they are growing slowly. Some flowers just fell off! I am opting not to prune. Last year, when the fall frost came, there weren't a lot of peppers on the plants, many people claimed the tomatoes and peppers did not do well, scorching dry heat in summer. So I didn't get a lot of ripe peppers. I hope this turns out to be a good year! I grew three jalapeños close together to see if they hold each other up. I have never seen pests on the peppers.
I started my peppers Jan 20th. 2020. I started snack peppers, orange bell peppers, and nonhot habineros. Most plants were toped at the 3rd leaf node to help with bushing out to encourage pepper production. So far so good, record # of peppers ripening for me. A couple were not pruned and they are way behind on pepper production and height. All get the same nutrient and sunshine..they are all hydrponicaly grown. Thankyou for your video, great info. God bless.
I'm in grow zone 7, been growing peppers now for 4 yrs+. There is a learning curve. Start earlier than you think is needed. 120 days is 120 days plus! Bc of transplant adjustment for the plant from inside to outside growing place.
Real nice video.
last year was the first year i did not top my peppers as a test and topping them is the way to go.
We have a short growing season. Not sure it will be beneficial for us
From local indonesian farmer: if you plant for yourself, no prunning is ok, you can't eat all peppers yourself and it will look prettier in your garden. The fruiting will be slower but you will have good peppers when you need it
For massive gardener or to sell, pruning will increase fruiting, but you will get peppers laterer in its life
I watched your video on pruning tomatoes, and I put the pruning in water and they are growing roots ,thanks for your info, love your videos
💯
what about pruning off early buds. im growing hots and superhots and im not sure how long to pinch off buds. i did the first ones a week or so after transplanting that appeared with the initial mainstem fork. but unsure how far to go. seem some videos where people have 10 inch peppers just staying that size growing fruit.