Left to right: Sweet Heat, Cayenne, Jalepeno.

there are several factors that could be at work here. I have a tabasco that was severely stunted due to the original owner leaving it in like a half inch of soil for 2 months. now the plant looks like a round bush (so wide that it extends over the edges of the pot and is difficult to water), covered in flowers and flower buds (and a few pods), and it can't be more than 8" tall. yet people are telling me there's nothing wrong with a short plant.

have you been fertilizing it? to a non stunted plant a good kick of the right kind of fertilizer can add a few inches in a few days.

they look fine to me. just pick the pods as they ripen and they should give you several flushes of peppers before the season is over. as for them touching the ground, it happens.

My Hungarian wax are tiny, but they've been pumping out the blooms. I just pinch off the buds. Once the plants are twice as tall, I *might* let them begin to set pods.

Josh

These guys were a little rootbound when they arrived, but not so much I would have expected stunting.

I fertilized when they were planted, and over the weekend I watered with Miracle Gro water soluable I found lying in the garage. Not ideal, but figured it was better than nothing and it says it's safe to use with vegetables.

I'm also wondering if I should swap positions of the Jalepeno and Habanero planted behind it. The Hungarian Hot Wax and Hot Lemon are in the same row and growing fine but I'm afraid the Habanero may end up shaded. I know now it's a slower growing pepper but didn't realize that at planting time.

Up against the foundation like that they may not be getting enough sunlight and are making do with what they have. Peps are high energy plants like marijuana and will drink all the lumens you can give them. You may just need to change your expectations.

Now you understand the debate of whether to leave the early blossoms or to pinch / snip / prune them.

You let them be, and this is what happens. They spend a lot of energy to grow the fruit and don't grow much otherwise.

I generally let things work themselves out, but, I do occasionally pinch off blooms of really small plants. But, it's such a judgement call.

Once you pick those fruit, they will take off.

As tsheets notes, it's a judgement call and there isn't really a "right" answer. Personally, I bet if you had snipped those fruit off weeks ago, your plants wouldn't be any bigger now, they'd just be short plants with no fruit. Maybe they'd start their next growth spurt sooner if the fruit were snipped rather than left on, who knows? The thing is, it's so early in the season yet that I wouldn't fret. What happens in the next 3 or 4 or 5 months matters, not that some young tranplants aren't yet growing vigorously and producing buckets of peppers.

My plants are like yours, only smaller. I'm just giving them fertilizer and waiting for them to respond. In the meantime, I'll enjoy whatever early peppers they set, and wait hopefully for the main flush later this summer.

Thanks for the reassurances. It just scared me to see peppers ripening when the plants aren't big enough to support the weight of more than one or two. I didn't have ripe peppers last year until July.

look on the bright side, you have peppers. that's more than some can say. if you're really worried, snip off all the buds that aren't currently pepper shaped, eat the peppers that are growing, be happy that things could be so much worse, and hope the plants grow a bit more.

also, get fish fertilizer. I beat on that drum I feel like the people who make it should be paying me, but that stuff really works. you'll see crazy new growth, fast. it's not that expensive either. it just smells like rotting death.

they always say if the goal is lots of peppers early, don't use high nitrogen because it makes the plant focus on foliage growth. but right now you sound like your goal is foliage growth. so hit them with a high nitrogen fert and see what happens. or maybe just hit one of them, and see if the results are to your liking.

Will do, thanks so much!

I wouldn't use a High N Fert. Sure, MGro All -Purpose(what many growers on GW use) is high N, but it's diluted by water and most growers use it at half or even quarter strength. Using a high N fert MIGHT give you some more foliage, but it also may burn the roots and you'll also be sacrificing flower production -- And that's what it's all about!

If anything, add maybe a TB or 2 per plant of 10-10-10 or 16-16-16 for the whole season, but I wouldn't even do that until mid-season(you could probably get away with ONE now though). Like judo mentioned, Fish ferts is a good option. Or even some blood meal if you want some quick N. if you want to just stay the course with some All purpose Mgro, go ahead at 1/2 strength.

They'll catch up. It's probably just been the weather.

Besides, if you're worried about support, I know the HHW and cayenne should be caged anyhow -- once they start producing a lot, they'll need it.

JMO

Good luck.

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Mon, Jun 17, 13 at 0:25