Lay them down?
 

I had a thought last year as I was picking peppers from plants that fell over due to their weight after a heavy soaking storm went through. I grow lots of peppers so caging is not really a good option I was thinking this year I would maybe just lay some of them down as I planted them instead of waiting on them to topple over after a huge soaker? does anybody else ever lay them down to plant them? I plant in plastic mulch. they would not be laying directly on the soil.

I have had pepper plants droop down onto my plastic mulch in the past. Any peppers that touched the plastic had bug holes chewed into them. Here in ever so hot California some of them were also burnt from touching the plastic.

One time I saw this done at a farm that sells peppers and now I do it too.

I plant my peppers in a row and then put a few stakes along both sides of the row from one end to the other. Then I use garden twine and run it along both sides of the rows and connect it to the stakes.

I end up with a row of peppers with string along both sides of the row. The plants actually lean on the string, not the stakes and it seems to work pretty well.

I agree. You don't want to lay them down, but you don't need cages. I mostly use a single stake with the green plastic tape to hold them erect. For a larger number of plants brownrexx' method sounds excellent.

Don't plant them too far apart in the row either and they can lean on each other when they get heavy with peppers.

Stakes on each one.

Worth

I grow hundreds of peppers... not a few. which was why I was wondering if anyone who grows rows and rows of them ever does this. I figured I could try a few if nothing else. I don't have it so hot that it burns the peppers until they actually fall over and are exposed to the sunshine. If I just start them on their sides they will already have ahead start at not actually falling over later. I have cages which tend to damage the fruit when I am picking if they are tight in the cage, it is also a lot of work cleaning up the garden in the Fall. hundreds of peppers and tomatoes.... pulling and cleaning out the cages? W.O.R.K. hours of WORK.

I'm a relatively new with peppers, buy last year I put 5 jalapeno peppers in a 25" diameter concrete remesh cage on plastic mulch and it worked out well for me. The peppers held each other up and the cage secured the perimeter.

I need to move up to Carolyn's place with all of my tools saws lathe and such live in the barn and be their farm hand and general do it all flunky.:))

Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;635813]I need to move up to Carolyn's place with all of my tools saws lathe and such live in the barn and be their farm hand and general do it all flunky.:))

Worth[/QUOTE]
yes yes yes! Friday the men helped me all day... we finished and just at 4:00 it started raining and they got a call to fix a water main for the city. they didn't get home until midnight friday and went back on Sat morn to fill the holes since the local gravel pit was willing to open and load them two loads of stone...(had to empty a water tower to fix it which left a mighty big hole from blowing the water and dirt
out of the hole under the concrete). I do have to say you would have been very welcome for the last two weeks while putting up the 26x96 high tunnel. it is filled already. now it is time to start planting outside. Adrian already did one plot of corn and was so disgusted with the cover crop he bulldozed it down. then he helped me lay 1200' of plastic on Friday... I have 200 of my hanging baskets in the new tunnel, you can help move those out and wait on customers, too... there is plenty to do. I will even supply food but I think you cook better than me. we eat very plain. no onions no garlic, no dyes, no aspartame, no preservatives... each of us has an intolerance to one thing. sigh. we have lots of tools and equipment just a dearth of hours once they get home from their real paying jobs to help me. with the fire last year there were just a lot of things that went undone and now it is doing twice the work than normal... we are almost finished with that though.:dizzy::dizzy::dizzy::dizzy:

If you plant three pepper plants like a foot apart in a triangle, you can tie them together at to top with twine. They are self supporting in this teepee arrangement.
Dutch

[QUOTE=Dutch;635834]If you plant three pepper plants like a foot apart in a triangle, you can tie them together at to top with twine. They are self supporting in this teepee arrangement.
Dutch[/QUOTE]

how far apart? 12" I normally plant 15" apart on plastic.

Hi Carolyn,
A foot apart is a "ballpark" figure.
15 inches may also work just as well.
It is the triangulation that's the key.
Dutch

thanks. I will give it a try. the cages stink, cause damage and are a lot of work to clean up.
after I re-read that I see you said about a foot... duh...

Actual spacing depends on the variety. I like the tripod idea.