Peppers first time growing - Advice required.

So I bought some pepper plants from garden centre last month due to missing sowing time in February with my own seeds.

I have a sweet red pepper which I just potted on into it's final pot. It's only 10inch high but I see it's producing flowers at the top and I read that I need to prune those to allow more foliage and stem growth before flowering.





I also see flowers growing on the top of my yellow bell pepper which is only 4inch high and I am about to pot this one on too. Wondering If I should be pruning those flowers and what size pot for the small bell pepper? Should I go into final pot from here or 15cm and allow to grow on first before final 30cm pot?

 

Only grown sweet peppers for a couple of years now and this would be the third year I have just grown them from the seed from shop bought fruit but never pruned off flowers and have still got a crop of usable fruit. I'd be reluctant to remove the early flowers as the warm season that peppers need to grow well is so short here in Ireland and I don't think delaying the fruit starting to develop would work out well. Not sure where you are based but I think the better approach depends on your climate.

Happy gardening!

 

I've never removed all the buds that form in the top before the plant branches, I usually leave on one to form a fruit.

I then thin the fruits out as the plant gets taller and more branched.

I think you might have to wait a week or two yet so that you can get a better idea of what's going on before pinching anything out.

Just to add, they are slower to makes roots than tomatoes so I tend to pot on slowly up to perhaps a 10in pot.

 

Yea this is what I was thinking actually. If I pinched the lack of warmth here in Belfast will be an issue for flowering later on. Thanks for your input!

 

Awesome. Thank you for the guidance here. I will wait a while and see how they go from here.

 

Hang around as often others have different ideas.

 

I've decided that pinching out doesn't have much effect on the eventual yield. Except that I have ripening peppers in May.

 

Just curious, but why didn't you have any orders this year.

 

I have a cucumber that is a month old. And I just potted on yesterday into a 15cm pot after it outgrew it's module. This one has a while before the first flowers I take it? Also should I feed this cucumber liquid seaweed or tomato food yet?

 

Wow in MAY. So it speeds up the process it seems rather than produces more yield. I guess pinching allowed the energy to be focused on growing more. When was this one sown and how old was it when you pinched the top?

 

Hi. I meant that I DIDN'T pinch out. I sowed very early. Can't recall if it was Late December or early January.

 

Ahhh ok I get you. Interesting. Thank you for the feedback