Complete Guide to Pepper Pruning for Massive Eazy Organic Harvests Alberta Urban Garden
Tips, Tricks
If you have been following along last year we decided to try pruning hot peppers. The end goal of this was to produce a pepper bush that would not only produce heavily but quickly. In this episode we are going to go over how to prune from start to finish and when to start this process. We started the seeds for the peppers in peat pods on September 20th and potted them on October 7th . Growing them under standard CFL shop lights for most of the winter they grew very well. Watering was done by adding the water to the tray below them and allowing the soil and plants to wick it up as need be. This promotes deep root development and keeps pests such as fungus gnats down as the surface of the soil is very rarely wet. It also helps keep the leafs dry which again assists in keeping potential pests away. Watering is done when the pot is light when picked up. Typically this is on a weekly basis in my home however that will vary based on plant size and humidity in the home. The first pruning was completed on November 16th. This was the first time and we clipped back to right above the first two true leafs. This caused the peppers to send new shoots from the growth nodes found at the leafs essentially creating two new main growth tips. The following pruning sessions happened when the plant was getting to large, wanted to flower or had too many branches crossing the centre. on average every 3 to 4 weeks. December 7th, January 11th January 22nd March 28th Finally in April we hack back one more time to bring the plant under control. By spring the peppers were too large for the CFL grow lights and were moved to a south west facing window. Although in the natural light for a few weeks we needed to adjust them to being outside. The sun is much stronger then any grow light today. We hardened the pepper plant off by slowly adding more direct sunlight once the threat of frost was gone. Two weeks after starting the transition to outside we planted the peppers in their final home. They were put directly into the main garden beds to allow the plant the best chance to grow. The spot was selected based on the maximum exposure for direct sunlight and heat. 4 weeks after planting we were harvesting our first peppers. Continuing to harvest a few every few days as they became ripe. At the end of July we pulled in the rest as they were all ripe. In all we were able to harvest just over 50 super hungarian hot peppers well ahead of any of the rest of the peppers in the garden.
Comments
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Your pruning techniques is working in my pepper farm.
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I want to save the seeds from a few of my pepper plants, but how do I make sure the peppers haven't been cross pollinated with another variety? I was thinking about covering the pepper flowers with something like cheesecloth, to keep the bees from cross pollinating them. I would cover the pepper flowers until a fruit develops, then I would take the cover off. My problem is I don't know if pollen from other pepper plants would be able to get through the cheesecloth from the wind. What do you think I should do?
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Nice post. I shall try this for next year for my Ontario Garden! Thanks for posting.
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thanks
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Hello. My sweet red bell peppers (red capsicum ) have just germinated. Can one use your pruning method for these peppers to increase yield ?
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Hi,
Thanks for your very informative videos. I have one question though. When would you recommend topping hot peepers? I have about 30 different varieties I started indoors about a month ago and they're at various stages of life. What's the best time to top them in regards to height, stem thickness etc. ? Thank you. -
Hello Stephen,
I also grow vegetables in Alberta but I use a small greenhouse for long term plants (to save them from wind and frost. But is it possible to prune peppers so they almost act indeterminate and continue to produce indefinitely (given they don't freeze in winter)? -
Nice info. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for these pruning tips I may try this next time I start peppers from seeds.
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Great video! Very informative and to the point. I am saving it for future reference. I grew Hungarian Hot peppers for the first time this year and had nowhere near the yield you had. I can't wait to try the pruning method :)
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I've honestly never pruned a pepper plant. I just let them do their thing. I'm definitely going to try this pruning method. I love those two strong main stems instead of just one. Thanks so much!
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Very well put together.
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Comprehensively explained, I must revisit this when I FINALLY begin to grow something LOL... @ 0:40 my birthday!
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Nice job Stephen :) Very nice! I over wintered 2 peppers for crossbreeding and man, I got the hybridized seed for this years peppers but I darn near killed everything else in my grow room with aphids. So I'm starting with seed every year so I'm going to try this over the winter time and have them ready :) Great video bro! A Massive Easy Organic Thumbs Up!
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Did you try rooting the tops that you pruned off the plants? Just wondering.
I might try this for next year, would love to have early crops.
Tim -
Great information, Stephen! I'll definitely be revisiting this video in the future when it's time to plant peppers again. Thanks!
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Great Info Stephen, I have never started my peppers that early, usually not till mid-March. I will be ordering seeds this fall and will start them in mid-December. I will be following your methods and will keep you posted on my progress. Thanks for sharing.
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Another great pepper video +Stephen Legaree I'm glad you mentioned about overwintering at the end, I was just going to bring one of my plants in and set it in the window, now I will definitely be researching how to do it properly. Thanks!
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That's a bumper crop Stephen, great job my friend! I won't over winter mine, had enough problems with pest last winter ;)
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Nicely explained mate. I have just been thinking today about how I am going to do the grow room for this winter got a few ideas I will be bringing some plants in. Need to move some stuff around get rid of some guitars NOT lol.
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