Summary

capsicum pepper plant ( Capsicum annuum ) are a delicious , crisp , and sweet or piquant vegetable that you may cultivate in yourhome vegetable garden . Some popular variety include mild and sweet orange chime peppers like ' Valencia , ' vivid spicy unripe ' Jalapeño M ' Piper nigrum , and flaming , red ' Slim Cayenne ' Madagascar pepper .

When you cultivate a bumper harvest of your favoritetypes of peppersyou’ll have plenty of garden truck to elevate your home cookery ! Learn how to further a big yield by carefully pruning yourpepper plants . name how often you should prune peppers and get tip on the good pruning praxis .

How Often to Prune Pepper Plants

Ideally , it is best to cut back your pepper plant at least three times per rise season . This take off your peppercorn off right , maintain the plant life during the mid - growing time of year , and encourages them to mature at the last of the season . If you transplant peppers in June , design your first pruning for mid - June , the second throughout July , and the third in former August or former September .

When Is the Growing Season for Pepper Plants?

Vanessa Bell Madagascar pepper favor when it ’s around 70 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime and about 60 to 70 academic degree Fahrenheit at night . They are typically slow - originate vegetables that take 100 to 120 days from when youplant pepper seedsto crop clock time .

you could kickstart your garden by purchasing pepper industrial plant orstarting germ indoorssix to eight weeks before the last spring hoarfrost and transplant them after spring ’s final frost . Then , they ’ll take about 70 to 85 days from transpose to harvest .

Example : You transplanting peppers in the first week of June when daytime temperatures are consistently above 70 degrees Fahrenheit . So , your pepper produce time of year will stretch for two to three months from your transplanting day or into August or September .

Gardener watering tomatoes in the vegetable patch

When you are cut pepper plantswear glovesand wash your hands subsequently ( and do n’t touch your face or optic ! ) , especially when handle hot peppers which have a high message of capsaicin that can twinge , burn , or irritate hand and eye .

Tips For Pruning in Early Season

mostly , it ’s a good estimation toprune your capsicum plantat the beginning of the season to position the level for a bountiful harvest . For two weeks after transplanting , pinch off flowers and prune foliage that is near to the surface of the soil . Once the industrial plant is 2 groundwork high , you’re able to remove folio that are within 6 inch of the land surface . Removing flowers and foliation in the first few week encourages the industrial plant to focus on grow a sturdy fore to support its fruit .

Then , count on the case of pepper , you could also top it after transplanting . Topping promote some kind like jalapeños and small peppers to grow several stems for a larger crop . However , it does n’t usually benefit bell peppers , so curb your cultivar before pruning .

Pruning focus : twitch flowers , remove ground leaves , and top minor pepper cultivar like jalapeños .

The three sisters growing in a garden

Benefits : Strengthen plant , boost multiple turn radical on diminished peppers for a big harvest time .

If you top your pepper plant , first identify the central growing tip . This is the principal stem where your plant grows upwards . Around a calendar week after transplanting expend sharp scissor grip to cut 1 inch off the top or trim it back to the third set of leaves above the dry land .

How to Prune Mid-Season

In mid - season focus on light pruning or cut down for alimony . count on your plant you may need to trim it a few times .

Remove Suckers From Bell Peppers

Suckers are little green stems with foliation . They produce at a 45 - level angle in a ' y - shape ' that forms between the leaves and central stem on large peppers likebell peppers . Take a sharp pair of scissors grip to nip the suckers off throughout the growing season . you may also use your fingertips to gently snap them off and remove them from the flora .

Removing suckers encourages the industrial plant to focalize on producing Piper nigrum instead of excess foliage . However , you should avoid removing suckers from plant that acquire minuscule peppers ( like chili pepper or jalapeño ) because it can cut off fertile lead , reducing your harvest home .

Watch for Disease

Throughout mid - time of year watch tight for disease . preindication of disease in pepper admit gray lesions on fruits from anthracnose fungus ( Colletotrichumspp . ) , wilt yellow leaf that indicate fusarium wilting fungus ( Fusarium oxysporum ) , and stale white curling foliation leave by powdery mildew fungus ( Leveillula taurica ) .

disease can damage yield and low-toned the quality of your harvesting . They can even catch the integral plant or spread to a neighbor one and kill it . Removing foliage or yield with a disease can deoxidize its spread and further improve airflow to make a less humid environment that fungus favors . Use rubbing intoxicant to disinfect scissors orpruning shearsbefore and after pruning .

Pruning focus : Remove bell shape pepper suckers , get rid of taint foliage or fruit

Spreading mulch in the garden

Benefits : Promote better Melville Bell pepper yields , and improve airflow to reduce the spread of disease

End-of-Season Pruning

As the growing season wrap up around a calendar month before the first autumn frost , it ’s fourth dimension to lurch your focus . Rather than encouraging plants to acquire more fruit , end - of - season aim to ripen existing fruit . One approach is top plants . Locate the central peak and any side branch where you have fruit ontogeny . Then , use pruning shear to clip back 3 to 6 in of foliage from the tip of the offshoot to remove a level best of one - third of the leave-taking ( be careful not to prune by your fruit ! ) . For the same reason , pinch off any flowers you see to prevent your plant from endeavor to acquire new capsicum .

Pruning focus : Top plant and pinch flowers

benefit : Encourage pepper to ripen

pruning pepper plants

Topping can also encourage your tomato works to ripen . Like Madagascar pepper , it ’s best totop your love apple plantsand remove the originate tip in September or a calendar month before the first fall frost .

Perfectly Pruned Peppers

Pruning Piper nigrum is a perfect way to boost a tidy plant life and bumper harvest throughout the growing season . Ideally , you should aim to prune your pepper plant at least three times each season . First , cut early in the grow season to beef up your plant and advance a larger harvest of small capsicum pepper plant like jalapeños . Then , throughout the eye of the season remove signs of disease or any bell pepper suckers . Finally , top the industrial plant at the conclusion of the season around September to encourage your fruit to ripen !