Do you guys stake peppers?

[Yak54]

Originally Posted by oakley

If i add a stake will it encourage growth?
Can't grow peppers but still try. They hate me and my chilly mornings. Even if the early morn sweater comes off and 80 by 8am...I get dwarf plants with just a few peppers.

I would stake them while young in a warmer climate. Just a single stake for insurance.

I plant my peppers 24" apart, and after they have been in the ground for about 3 wks. or so I put stakes in and tie the main stem to the stake. My pepper plants grow to 2-1/2 ft. or more. Sometimes almost 3 ft. tall.

In regard to your comment about getting dwarf plants with just a few peppers. Several people have posted in reply that perhaps you plant them too early. This is a common problem. Back in the day when I used to get 9 or 10 seed catalogs every spring, I learned about peppers from the Stokes catalog. In their section on peppers they had some good info about the culture of growing peppers, and one thing that got my attention was them saying that you should NOT set out pepper plants in the garden untill the night time temps. have reached the point of 55 deg. for the low. Since Stokes has a location in N.Y., you may want to take their advice. They even mentioned NOT planting peppers till June 10th, which they felt was a safe date when the low temps will have reached above 55 deg. in their geographical location. For what it's worth, their advice has worked well for me for more than 30 yrs.. I typically get a dozen or more peppers from ea. plant. 2016 I put my peppers in the garden June 10th when the low temps had reached 55 deg. or more. All the neighbors around me plant their tomatoes and peppers at the same time, usually around the last week of May, and they all sing the same song about not getting many peppers. I'm not certain if Stokes still mentions this information in their seed catalog these days, as it has been almost 15 years since they removed me from their mailing list.

Dan

[matereater]

I start mine in the 36" tomato cages then stake as needed as they most often grow out of the cages at some point.

[Jetstar]

This is my 1st yr. using tomato cages I really like them better than staking.

[Nematode]

Mine are falling over a little too much, was wondering if someting like a florida weave would help?

I might just run a couple of tight strings down the row next year and have them grow up through them.
They just need a little help.

I have an unreasonable dislike of cages. Don't like them, and I'm sure its mutual.

[joseph]

In a great growing season, peppers might get as much as a foot tall in my garden. So no staking for me.

Here's a photo taken just before winter...

[heirloomtomaguy]

I use the florida weave and it works just fine. I also use tomato clips to attach the stems to the strings for extra support. Without support my 4 to 6 ft plants would topple over from the weight of the pods alone

[SteveP]

I use small cages this year but they outgrew the cages and began laying over from the weight of the peppers. I them staked them and used garden twine to attach the cages and the plants to the stake. They are upright and should be fine the rest of the season. I only have 3 pepper plants, 2 Shixhito and 1 Cubanelle and they are loaded.

[Shrinkrap]

My Tiburon Poblanos in stacked pea fences on earthboxes. They are at least 5 feet tall in these pictures, and I hadn't stacked the cages yet. I have my Piquillo's, similar height and habit, in the same set up, but don't stake the chinenses ( last picture, lower left).

[dmforcier]

Wait, you mean "stake" as in vampire?

NO. I like peppers!

[swellcat]

Wait, you mean "stake" as in vampire?

Just last week, I drove a steak through a pepper's heat.

[dmforcier]

I bet it quickly vanished...

[Nematode]

I don't stake my peppers, but do pepper my steaks.

[Labradors2]

Yak, many thanks for posting that helpful information for us northern growers. I usually suffer with small pepper plants that have no need of a stake, but last year it must have been warm when I planted out and they grew surprisingly tall. This year they are short, so I will try to remember to plant them out later (with the eggplants) next season! I plant the eggplants out a bit later than the tomatoes, so as to miss the flea beetles and it worked this year!

Linda

[MadCow333]

The temperature issus may be what got my home-grown peppers. I started some pepper plants from seeds in mid-April. They sprouted fine and grew nice seedlings, then stalled. I put them permanently outdoors as soon as possible. Unlike the tomatoes, this didn't help the peppers at all. They almost didn't grow at all, and they hardly grew any root system at all for about 6 weeks. These plants have all started to grow at last but all are short and bushy, the exact opposite of the tall plants that I bought at local greenhouses. The seedlings became short stocky plants with sturdy stems. They had fertilizer and sun and water, so temperature being too cold might have been the problem.

My local friends and neighbors have all said their peppers weren't growing until recently, too.

I grew Hungarian hot wax, sweet banana, and California Wonder bells from American Seed, those seeds sold at Dollar General and WalMart and Dollar Tree and everywhere else.

[KayJay]

Originally Posted by Nematode

I don't stake my peppers, but do pepper my steaks.

*applause*

I haven't staked my previous peppers because they were smaller plants. This year, I grew CalWonder and it just fell over yesterday from the weight of a pepper. Good problem to have! I'll know for next year.