I Stopped Pruning My Peppers...And This Happened

Get our eBook!

In this video, I share why we no longer bother with pruning pepper plants. Topping peppers is a very popular task for pepper growers. We have pruned many of our plants, but today, we see it as more effort than it is worth. Learn why we don't prune our peppers anymore!

Learn more about pruning peppers:

***********************************************
Timestamps:

0:00 Our pruning experience and thoughts
0:37 What is pruning and why gardeners do it
1:52 Why we don't prune peppers (anymore)
6:02 Types of pruning we DO recommend

***********************************************
Thanks for watching Pepper Geek!
#peppers #gardening #spicy

[markb]

I worked on a farm in Pennsylvania where we grew acres of potatoes & Bell Peppers. As you can imagine, these plants were never fussed over & definitely never pruned. We harvested tons of peppers & shipped them off in crates to large produce suppliers in Philadelphia & Baltimore. Provide space, fertilize new transplants & keep them watered.

[davidsantillan]

Me watching this after I pruned my peppers watching your pruning peppers video ..

[Giggiyygoo]

Whenever there's a controversy about whether or not to do something, I always pick the one that's easiest.

[cynthiamartinez]

After doing my research on this topic, the trend I notice is most people advocating topping peppers usually live where their pepper season is long and hot. My pepper season is 6-7 months and they grow like crazy in my heat. I considered starting to top them at the end last season when my potted pepper plants that were as tall as me kept falling over every time we had a storm in September and October (after a summer with little rain.) When I planted last month, I planted a topped and untopped pepper plant of a few different varieties side-by-side for comparison. The untopped ones quickly grew about a foot tall. We are now in tornado season so we get extremely high wind regularly. The untopped peppers couldn't withstand the winds without staking. The topped ones took the winds with no problems. All my other pepper plants that are not included in this experiment got tops got pruned off for that reason alone.

[donhorak]

Severely prune for over-wintering. Spring regrowth is amazing!

[zacwebb]

I only prune plants I plan to overwinter. I found most pruned plants start more main stems that I leave on the plant til next season. It has many more places to start new growth as opposed to the “Y” shape of unpruned plants. I end up with tall AND bushy specimens with way more blooms.

[MarathonManPeatMoss]

I never prune new plants. As far as over-wintering: I've done severe cut backs as you showed with limited success, half the time the plants died. Last fall I brought in a few full plants - bhut jolokia and habanero - that still had peppers growing on them and they did great in a bay window that gets all the morning sun. I had peppers for several months and then they just continued to grow and by April I had new peppers growing on them. I just moved them outside and they are doing well.

[Jyvilla.]

I just pruned my pepper plants a day ago after I watched your pruning pepper video dated 4 years ago. 😢

[sstimac]

I remember a number of years ago everyone started talking about pruning peppers and I saw your video where you talked about pruning them. I did it for two seasons and noticed no difference at all. They weren't more durable, they weren't sturdier, they didn't produce more, but they did take more work. So, I stopped doing it years ago. It's a waste of time.

[jeffsquires]

I live in northern Canada. Started germination in last week January. My reaper's and chillies just started producing flowers. My 4th year here and still a learning experience. I have to babysit them daily but my friends appreciate the peppers jam I send them every Christmas.

[nancyk]

I live in zone 9B, I don’t prune my bell peppers but I do prune my other peppers just to maintain a bushier plant. Our growing season end around Thanksgiving time. We have plenty of time to harvest.

[smas]

Grow Bigger Peppers (7 tips). We'll be watching again. We had an awesome harvest last season. Thank you so much.

[JalaPeppo]

This is my first ever season gardening & growing peppers. I've definitely made a few mistakes already, but my sprouts are looking great! Love all of the information available in your videos, it's been endlessly helpful.

Based on all the info you've given, I don't think I'll prune/top-off any of the peppers I'm trying to grow; but I realized I should definitely invest in some stakes or cages for later!

[Lukiel]

I put a fan on my indoor seedlings to encourage stronger stems before moving them outside.

[RunAway]

Arrived at the exact same position and same points earlier this season myself.. 🔥🔥

[matttowner]

I just topped mine yesterday, like you said 🤪😆

[tomfisher]

Hi, thanks for a well done video. This year is the first year that I have not topped my pepper plants. I did remove the bottom 4-6 inches of leaves and my plants are definitely taller this year but they are also relatively bushy. You have confirmed that this strategy is the correct one for me in my garden. Thank you!

[smas]

I'm in zone 6b. Thank you. Since watching your videos on peppers we are also planting peppers other than Bells this season and stopped pruning. Our plants are so full and have lots of peppers, we bought tomato cages for our peppers the year. Question.
Have you done a video of planting a heavily pruned pepper back outside in the spring? We'll be watching again your video on how to prune before taking indoors for winter.

[gigiartstudiowithartistvir]

The same can be said for tomatoes. Don't pinch out the suckers! You will get a better yield if you let your maters to what they do. I think it holds true for watermelons too. Some people trim the vines but I don't and last year I had 20 watermelons get nice and big from one plant, which is a lot.

[davidniemi]

I experimented with pruning a few years ago. I did not see decisive advantages or disadvantages on the whole, but I'd also point out that some peppers are naturally very low and bushy early on (many c. chinense varieties) while others are naturally tall (most c. baccatum). This is just their natural growth patterns regardless of light conditions, and it doesn't help to try to modify it. It WOULD make sense to top-prune if you bought a weak and leggy for its type from store and want to fix it.
Looking forward to the next pruning experiment!