Lanky peppers

[Monika]

My pepper seedlings, both chilli and sweet peppers, have grown a bit more lanky (or "stretched" as they seem to call it nowadays) than I would like. Now, if that happens to tomatoes, one can pot them up quite deeply with the leaves almost down to soil levels. Could I do that with the peppers? Any advice greatly welcomed.

[Kleftiwallah]

Could you nip out the growing tip and promote a more bushy growth ? Cheers, Tony.

[Monika]

Thanks for your reply, Tony, but the plants are only just getting their first true leaves and it's the stem between those and the soil level which seems taller than it should be, so I can't really nip the top out yet.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Monika, i don't hardly ever grow Peppers, so i'm not sure of the answer. Maybe you could try one and see if it rots at the stem where it has been buried.

Hopefully someone will have done this very thing before.

[Tony Hague]

I think you can, but I don't know whether it's necessary. With tomatoes, there are a couple of good reasons: to get a better root system because they will form roots from the burried stem, but also to get the first truss as low as possible. That's important because the trusses after that are formed at regular intervals, so a long stem below the first truss means fewer trusses before the plant hits the roof ! Peppers don't grow so tall, so excessive height is less of a worry.

I have to say that peppers seem pretty robust to me; if I can get them to germinate and get their cotyledons unfurled from the seed case (often a sticking point), I don't think I've ever managed to subsequenty kill one !

[Geoff]

I mist germinating peppers at least twice a day then it is usually possible to ease off a sticking seed case.

[DiG]

Hi Monika, last year my earliest sowing of peppers were 'skinny' so I potted mine up deeply with no ill effects and they went on to become very sturdy plants and cropped very well. I have done the same this year, so fingers crossed all will be well. Hope this helps.

Diane.

[Monika]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I will play safe and plant some deep and some not - and will report on the outcome! I have about 10 seedlings each and only need three or four each, so have plenty to 'play' with.