How To Prune Pepper Plants For A Bigger Harvest
Peppers are some of the most popular garden crops. And it’s easy to see why. They are delicious, nutritious, and are quite easy to grow. You just need to know the secret to a bountiful harvest and that is proper pruning! Pruning holds a bunch of benefits for your peppers and it’s super easy to do. You will be increasing their yield and preventing diseases. Your peppers will be grateful for these couple of cuts. But in order to reap all the amazing benefits you need to know how to prune pepper plants properly, as well as when. That’s why today we will teach you everything you need to know.
Peppers are some of the most popular garden crops
In this article
How To Prune Pepper Plants
Pruning your peppers is essential in ensuring healthy growth, to increase air circulation, enhance the pepper quality and size, as well as extend the growing season. It also helps keep your plants looming nice and tidy. There are plenty of upsides to pruning your plants and that’s why strongly recommend doing it.
Pruning your peppers is essential in ensuring healthy growth
#Timing
You need to prune your peppers throughout the growing season when the plants are between 12 and 18 inches tall. You need to make sure you don’t prune them too early as if the plants are too young and delicate it may hinder their growth. However, once they are well established regular pruning will only do them good.
You need to prune your peppers throughout the growing season
#Get your tools
Before you start cutting away, you need to get the right tools. You need some sharp, clean pruning shears or scissors. This will ensure your cuts are clean and won’t damage the plants. Rusty and dull tools will rip rather than cut which is something we want to avoid.
You need some sharp and clean pruning shears
#Identfiy problem points
There are two main things you want to look out for when pruning – suckers and unproductive branches. Suckers are small shoots that usually grow in between the branches and the main stem. These little spouts suck away the energy from the main stem, as their name suggests, and can lead to bushier plants that simply are not as productive. By getting rid of them you redirect the energy back into the stem and the branches with actual peppers. The other problem is unproductive branches. If you see any that are dead, damaged, or aren’t producing peppers get rid of them. Not only are they useless but they also attract pests and diseases.
Suckers are small shoots that usually grow in between the branches and the main stem
#Remove suckers and branches
Now that you have located all the problematic points, it’s time to get rid of them. First locate the suckers, then use your fingers or your pruning shears. Cut the suckers as close to the main stem as possible and make the cut at a 45-degree angle. Then it’s time to remove the branches. Cut back the branches back to the main stem or to a healthy branch. Once again make the cuts at a 45-degree angle.
It’s time to get rid of all the problem points
#Aftercare
It’s important to not over-prune your peppers. Removing too many leaves and branches at once can really stress out the plants. That’s why you need to remove only what it’s necessary. After that it’s time for some aftercare. Water the plants well after you have pruned them in order for them to recover faster from the stress. After that monitor your plants and continue pruning if you see more suckers and useless branches.
It’s important to not over-prune your peppers
This was everything you need to know when it comes to how to prune peppers plants for a bigger, and better harvest! We hope you found this article useful. Now you can prune your peppers the right way and enjoy a bountiful harvest.
This was everything you need to know when it comes to how to prune peppers plants
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