Don't Prune Your Peppers!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Time to Harvest your Garlic! The Complete Guide here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2rUhoGVe7h2oMk

[@HarjinderSingh-fv4rc]

Good

[@nathangrueber9834]

Hi there i planted kashmir chillies this year(southern hemisphere new zealand) I planted seeds in september and by feburary 5mnths later the bushes were 3 ft high with about 200 flowers. The chillies finally started in feb. And while the bushes were failing to grow the chillies bigger they kept on making flowers!!?? I was getting angry because the bushes were dicking round making new flowers while failing to finish what they started with the original berries. Its now march and im still waiting for them to ripen!?? The frosts are late and the bushes should have died and thyr still dicking round not ripening. I got 1 ripe chilie about a minth ago and the rest are green. I picked at least 100 flowers off to stop it wasting its time as its not even dealing with what its got! What am i doing wrong? I planted two plants in a 20 litre bag of soil and it seems to love it.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@nathangrueber9834 yeah, all peppers will do that. They are perennial by nature and think they have all the time in the world. Picking fruit, lots of sun, and removing new flowers are the only things you can do really to speed it up

[@ALex-qc4lf]

For your experiment I would suggest you try it with plants that have more soil for themselves. A 20 liter pot per plant, 3 pots per group gives you a bit of a more controlled group. Pepper plants are limited by nutrition and space. If you put them in big pots they will grow significantly bigger

[@mickeyvanaudenhaege3692]

Here in South Africa, we have a habit of picking off the first flowers preventing them to fruit until the plants have tripled in size, this makes the plants stronger and flower much more yielding a higher harvest. this is especially the case with any of the hot peppers and chilies.

[@briancockerham4731]

proof or it didn't happen african fella...

[@kevdimo6459]

@@briancockerham4731 Why? Rude fella, he’s not a fisherman he’s a gardener. My Bell Peppers here in Australia are more prolific but smaller than normal and i pruned them. Also the wall thickness is thinner and thus they get sunburnt easily. It’s horses for courses my friend! Happy Peppering 🫑🌶️.

[@liciernagadelanoche2337]

@@kevdimo6459 proof or it didn't happen Australian fella

[@rickytorres9089]

This is also the case for strawberries too (and their runners too). Interesting how that's goes back to peppers. I wonder if the first/first year cutting back production to EXACTLY "zero" contributes to other plants to be hardier and MUCH more productive later on.

[@kevdimo6459]

@@liciernagadelanoche2337 Butt out fella!

[@johnambrogio9585]

I've been following your channel for awhile now, and would like to comment on the pruning of pepper plants. I've been gardening for over 45 years and not once have I pruned my pepper plants. I usually grow about 12 plants. Over the last winter I've wanted to get other gardeners thoughts on pruning. I decided that I would prune, like you, half of the pepper plants, and leave the other half not pruned. In all honestly I doubled my pepper production with the pruned plants then I did with the non-pruned plants, and the peppers were bigger then the non-pruned plants. I know there's a lot of controversy on the subject of pruning or not pruning but these were just my results. What I would like to do is, do this for 2-3 years and maybe I can get a better idea on which is the better for the plants. Thanks

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on John, thanks for sharing!! For sure share your results in the coming seasons, its valuable information! :-)

[@wickedsourmainesourdoughsh2781]

John, like you, I massively increase yields by topping and continued pruning of my pepper plants. I’m here in Maine where more pepper folklore says it’s not worth growing peppers in the north. Lol! Wrong. It is 100% without question a benefit to both top and continue to prune pepper plants and unlike the video here, I way more than double my production. Last year I also did a side by side comparison and my results were completely opposite this guys. Plant for plant I get an average of 4 bells per un-pruned plant and an average of 13 per pruned plants. My suspicion about his experience is that he didn’t understand when to prune/top them and the plants were too delicate when planting out as a result.

[@karlbutlerking]

The test is a farse. With ambiguous figures.

[@johnambrogio9585]

@@karlbutlerking whatever

[@Ultra54able]

There are so many variables to consider. Perhaps it wasn't that the plants that could only support a finite number of fruit but the medium it is grown in. Just my opinion that the depth of the planter seemed shallow. My plants generally grow in soil that is 12" deep or more.

[@rafika816]

In the past, I have pruned all of my peppers, but this year, my first in Florida, I forgot. I grew sweet bell peppers, jalapeños, lemon drops, hungarian finger peppers, and habaneros. They are now 7 feet tall, in pots, and overproducing like crazy. I have started to share them with neighbors and dehydrating the rest, we have so many. They outshone everything else in the garden.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Awesome! That's what I like to hear!

[@haneesh22]

Hey that is so tall I was wondering if you could tell me how you fertilized them?

[@TheGrowthBluePrintEnglish]

This is amazing! Could you please tell me what you used to feed your pepper plants and prepare the soil with? Thanks!

[@rafika816]

@@haneesh22 I feed my peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants the same. Blood meal, bone meal and grow them in coco plus perlite mix.

[@rafika816]

@@TheGrowthBluePrintEnglish Before I plant my seedlings, I prep the soil with worm castings, kelp meal and biochar.

[@jimmcdowell9017]

Jeff, Qualitatively? Quantitatively? Once again, you rock! Keep ‘em comin’.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks so much buddy! Happy Wednesday to you friend!

[@SirSkippy87]

I figured this out through experiment last year with Bell, Habanero, Jalapeño, and Giant Marconi… The pruned Bell and Giant Marconi peppers took longer to first fruit harvest and they were considerably smaller than those plants that weren’t pruned. However, the Jalapeños and Habaneros that were pruned produced more peppers of the same size as the unpruned plants, despite the first fruit harvest being delayed about 3 weeks compared to the unpruned plants! Conclusion: Definitely don’t prune Bell peppers or Giant Marconi peppers, and pruning jalapeños and Habaneros definitely helps to produce more fruit of equal size despite a delayed first harvest! Hope this is helpful…

[@johnorem1915]

Thanks for comments by variety. Well done.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Definitely. The smaller varieties can for sure benefit from a pruning! Agreed.

[@Alfamoto8]

Yeah, I agree to that from my experience as well. Bell peppers is better to be left unpruned... Warm weather and rich compost is enough to give you a decent amount of large fruit...

[@baddogcustoms7496]

I had the same experience with banana peppers and hot Nana peppers as well. I was curious about jalapeños & the Carolina Killers lol so thank you for your comment very much!! this year. The small army of peppers will be a force to be reckoned with lol planted 50 a week ago 🥵 half in natural light half in artificial lighting 😊 Carolina strong 💪🏽

[@TDAEON]

Thanks for sharing your results. Helps us newbie veggie growers. : )

[@EAster33]

my man is so serious about peppers, I love it. I just moved to Thailand and there's no jalapeños out here.. I found your channel due to necessity lol.

[@nenemaria-cornfieldsgarden]

I'm glad to see someone talking about this and actually testing it out! I topped half mine this year as an experiment (only 20 plants) and their performance was much worse than the ones I left alone. It took too long for them to start fruiting. I was growing mostly small chilli peppers too. I'm in the UK with a short growing season for peppers (plus it doesn't get very hot here) and it's hard to get any kind to maturity. I certainly won't be doing it next year. I do wish people wouldn't give out blanket advise stating you 'must' do things as it doesn't take into account vastly different growing conditions.

[@mking1982098]

did you change your fertilization strategy? They need more P and K when you prune them, otherwise you are expecting them to spread the same amount of resources to more flowers (leading to less nutrients per flower).

[@nenemaria-cornfieldsgarden]

@@mking1982098 They got fed weekly, there just wasn't enough time (and heat) in our season for them to catch up to the unpruned ones.

[@2dogmanshawn]

You can always setup a small grow tent inside pretty affordable if you don't need fans with carbon filter to keep the smell inside..

[@Doobie603]

I have noticed that some peppers like to topped and some do not. You have to experiment and see what likes what. Sometimes a different phenotype of the same type of pepper will respond well to topping while the original phenotype did not.

[@suemiller6628]

I'm located in Bracebridge, Ontario (zone 4) and had given up on growing bell peppers because of disappointing results. But your results are so inspiring, I'lll give orange bells another try next year.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

I hear you Sue...I really do. Its all about getting that head start with the seedlings in the early spring to help shorten your window for them. Its our biggest way to get to the harvest successfully. You got this! 🙂

[@andielliott2306]

I have finally been able to grow peppers that look like those in the grocery store! FINALLY!!! I did not prune my peppers.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on Andi! Its definitely a good feeling..and tasty!

[@rafika816]

Kudos, Andi!

[@harvestenthusiast4519]

Your video headline pulled me in! So glad you made this, thanks!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers, thanks for watching!

[@eLSyDro]

Finite season is what id heard, I live in Texas, I can grow peppers almost throughout, last year had peppers til atleast Jan

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Yeah, you might find as a perennial, pruning actually works for you!

[@jeffbrazill764]

Probably one of the better examples of statistically significant results we'll find anywhere on KZbin. While this was not conducted in a lab, it's far better than most we'll see. Too many times people make claims based on an extremely low sample size. Thank you for the effort put into this!

[@dr.markevers8331]

N of 36 on each side of the data in his sample size is enough. I’d like to know how the plants were ordered in the garden, if they had the same soil, fertilizer, sun time/shade, water, etc.

[@OSGCourtWatch]

Discussed this a little over on IG with ya....definitely agree the bells are the peppers that would benefit least from topping and that smaller peppers absolutely love it. Curious if that’s as tall as your bells got this season? I’m in Portland which probably has a bit longer season (mid May to mid oct) but pretty similar climate and ours were close to 4’ tall with only a single application of worm tea all season... While I still grow bells as I like roasted green peppers for jambalaya, we have moved to giant marconi peppers as the ones we let go red...seem to ripen faster, are huge peppers and fruit wall thickness-wise are almost identical. As for topping bigger peppers, I think a huge factor is when you top em. As I mentioned on IG, I start my peppers indoors early (mid feb to go out mid to late May) so they have time to fully recover from the stress of the topping before they undergo the stress of transplant. Sorry if I missed it in the video but how long did u wait after transplant to top the plants? Love the approach, great way to quantify the hypothesis you are testing! Another well thought out video...

[@entamoebahistolytica66]

Right!? That's something that I also thought. If your growing season is too short then the plant won't have enough time to recover from the topping before its structures mature enough to maintain a high yield of peppers. Also a higher yield demands a higher nutrient intake, a higher foliage area and a higher light quantity for adequate fruit development. I couldn't see anywhere what the nutrient plan for this plants were but if he gave the same amount of sunlight and nutrients to both pruned and not pruned plants then of course fruit yield would suffer in the pruned plants as it has increased nutrient requirements. The plant knows and shows in its fruits and flowers when it is nutrient deficient, they drop flowers early and the fruit is smaller and simpler tasting. All in all I think that his conclusions came from a deficient nutrient approach and possibly short growing season specially for this big bell peppers which take longer than hot peppers to mature. Edit: I don't think the author's conclusion was wrong, I believe that the correct conclusion would have been "Don't prune your peppers if your growing season is too short or if you're not going to apply extra fertilizer"

[@synthesizerneil]

Yes the guy simply didn't do it quite right and the conditions are not perfect for high yields. Really annoys me reading all the comments. Kind of strange that all these amateurs who are very casually growing, unaware of all the factors and variables that go exist in this context, just happen to have zero success in pruning and with this one video they declare that they now "know" that pruning is bad. Many of them claim to appreciate the scientific approach to the video but this is not scientific and drawing conclusions in this manner is anti scientific

[@greygoosegranny]

I grew California wonders a couple years ago, unpruned, and they produced soooo many peppers I couldn't keep up with them. They produced right till frost. Thanks for this video. I won't be pruning them. Our growing season is too short to go meddling like that.

[@kerryl4031]

Last year I pruned. Had a really poor crop and slugs really enjoyed the peppers before they ripened. Admittedly it was a wet season but these were in a greenhouse. I even bought a couple of plants from a garden centre but the result was the same. I'd not pruned before and this time I'll be going back to the original method. This year I'm having trouble with my usual brand of compost! Grrr! So thank you for the experiment as I prefer red (or yellow) peppers to the very few small unripened green ones that we had last year.

[@keyphabenyisrael3219]

I just opened a few bags of supposedly black kow, but there were huge rocks, skipping stones, even plastic garbage, and it is mostly mulch. I expect all the wood to steal nitrogen from my plants since it isn't broken down already. I plan to let Ace Hardware know, and I also plan to write them a snail mail compliant letter. Fortunately I have a reliable (and much cheaper) locally sourced alternative Lowe's sells here. It's been my "go to" for years, but I just had to see if all the hype about Black Kow was true. Certainly not in my case.

[@tanyaratti]

After having my kale for two seasons, 😲, i babied my last year’s bell pepper plant over winter and pruned it a little near spring…. This year it was flowering early, it doubled in size and produced huge peppers. Very exciting discovery.

[@Don-sx5xv]

I watched one of your videos on tomato growing recently, I thought right on, of all the videos I watched I thought this is the one for me. I became the master in so much of a way that I continued on and pruned all my peppers too...Oh well I will know better next year. Plus instead of getting to caught up in too many strategies I am going to make The Ripe Tomato my default gardening channel...thanks man.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Too kind Don! At least with pruning you don't ruin the peppers or your harvest.... It's just that pruning the large varieties in areas with short winters can result in lower yields... Not as dramatic as the thumbnail would suggest, ha ha!

[@Steve197201]

I have three potted chili pepper plants. One was pruned early on. The other two weren't. The two that weren't produce larger peppers that are a nice bright red color, while the pruned one produces smaller peppers that are more orange in color. All the plants are doing well, but there's nothing like seeing those nice plump red peppers on the non-pruned plants! 🌶

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks for sharing! Glad its not just me seeing these results! :-)

[@mrcumberbottom6561]

I live in Saskatchewan, I start 100 bell pepper plants every February 1st indoors, I remove apical meristem when plants are 1 foot tall. Around May 1st i put the plants in my greenhouse outside, by mid june my pepper plants are becoming trees. On average I get about 15 large thick peppers per plant. I usually have to steak the stems. From my experience in a short cooler growing season this seems to be the best method, start the plants in Feb if you love peppers this much haha.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Awesome!

[@denny4551]

This is good to know for ornamental peppers. I'm glad I pruned my black pearl peppers and not my edible ones

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right you are Denny...most smaller ornamentals can definitely be pruned. Especially if growing indoors as a perennial.

[@BleedingGrafitti]

Black pearl peppers taste great on pizza though lol

[@yannisavramakis7778]

My friend you done an excellent demonstration and you gave me fantastic TIPS about pepper’s. Is have 4 colour’s pepper’s, and I love them. I live in London United Kingdom, Thanks again 👍

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Hey thanks, my pleasure and glad you got something from the video yannis! 🙂

[@michaegi4717]

I manly plant chili peppers. I made similar observation but less controlled conditions. Now I only prune my peppers if they tend to become too big, before I can plant them outside. In this case the 2-weeks set back is intended :-)

[@charlesrussell6201]

It's astounding that you can get so many peppers from such small petite pepper plants.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Heh heh....my goal is grow peppers......not leaves! 🙂

[@busker153]

36 of each method made for an awesome study! I paused at the 4:21 mark to comment, and say I am really excited to see your results. The science is great, and I have new peppers growing! I'll determine what to do based on what your results show.

[@Newcreations525]

Wow I was so bummed that my peppers were small .Now I know why .Thank you so much

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers Rory, thanks for watching. :-)

[@GlennHanna8]

The way you make 80% of your sentences sound like questions, makes me smile. I like the way you talk. Every time the Juccuzi Remodel ad shows up on tv and the woman speaks, I think of you hahaha. No disrespect, it's pure joy. Also thanks for the Pepper pruning info last year.

[@tassiegirl1991]

Jeff, very timely for those of us living down under, my first growing of peppers last year, did prune but terrified I was doing it wrong sat with ipad playing to ensure I did do as advised, super poor result from 6 plants, 3 died 3 survived total peppers 2 as developed way too late, and one I let keep going to see what happened over winter just picked it next spring! No I’ll leave well alone this year

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on Tassie! Jealous that you are just coming into your spring season now! All the best! :-)

[@ScottRussell-jv6yv]

Thank you for taking the time to do this comparison

[@chiya2006]

I learned my lesson last year. Not for the same reason, but in northern climate where the season is very short, the pruned peppers never had a chance to reproduce before the season was over. It was an experiment for me anyways 🤷‍♂️

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Yup, that's a biggie! In shorter growing seasons, cutting the tops off can really set them back and then there isn't enough time to recover and produce. You're so right.

[@JeanHudson2022]

Thanks you for mentioning that the walls of the pruned pepper was less even the color was off. Thanks so much for sharing this

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers! :-)

[@marleneyoung3133]

Glad I viewed this video. I'm located in Ottawa Canada and, like you, I have a short growing season. My seedlings are actually starting to flower under my new LED lights this year and I was going to prune them now (mid-March) but after viewing your video I'll leave them to flourish and just raise the lights! Thanks for your down to earth, easy to follow videos.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Hey Marlene, that's some early flowering!! If you have the numbers, you could always prune a couple and maybe compare the differences? Only if you have enough though.... Cheers! :-)

[@marleneyoung3133]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms only a handful of plants so won't be able to do a fair comparison. Used full spectrum lights from a box store and impressed with results. Enjoy your videos very much 😊

[@mking1982098]

Pruning them produces better yield if you fertilize them properly (I'm also an Ontario resident). You need to give the pruned plants more K than you would with non-pruned plants. Of course the results are going to be weaker if you don't change your fertilization strategy, as the plant has to spread the same amount of resources to a larger number of flowers.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@mking1982098 of your soil is saturated with nutrition to begin with, adding more NPK isn't going to do anything...

[@marleneyoung3133]

@@mking1982098 appreciate the tip...thanks

[@johnjude2685]

Never trimmed, didn't believe the idea, and after your teaching I will do as you tested and I've have grown many bells as stuff with brown rice and burger 5 days all summer is how much I love peppers and their foliage always so beautiful. Thanks Jeff

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on John, may you have a BOUNTY of peppers this season!

[@christicovington]

I really appreciate how you make your videos. Not only are they extremely informative but they're also entertaining. Thank you for all your hard work and effort, and Much ❤️ from Nashville TN USA 🇺🇸 😀

[@poolman8676]

Heck yeah!

[@s.f.morris7331]

dude you are such a pro at what you do. I come to your channel alot always learn something from you. appreciate you sharing your knowledge

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@s.f.morris7331 thanx so much man, that is really nice to hear! Thanks for the support!

[@drheidi2010]

I super appreciate this video! I pruned my peppers this year because last year they were super leggy and spindly, but my crop was decimated by slugs so I'll be buying starts anyway. But this video will hopefully help infer my pepper planting decisions in the future!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks Heidi, glad to help. Best of luck this year, you got this! :-)

[@kimmemarker974]

Thank you for this video. Im new to pepper gardening and I was researching a lot. This topic came up so many times that it confused me. After watching this video, I WILL NOT BE PRUNING MY PEPPER PLANTS

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers Kimme! I think its wise....it CAN be done....but the benefits are so negligible in a lot of cases, so I'd avoid it. :-)

[@TDAEON]

So glad I saw this come up during a pepper research binge. First time growing them and I was concerned I missed the prune stage as my pepper plants are small but are already fruiting. The small varieties I have I think I could still prune and be fine. But I will leave the big varieties alone since they have fruits developing already and have a chance to be big and fabulous. Appreciate this video. Subscribed

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks T D! Yes, the smaller ones can definitely be pruned. Early on though. Usually at the 3rd or 4th set of true leaves. Beyond that, just let the plant grow and it'll do what it does. Best of luck on the season, let us know how it goes!! 🙂

[@attilathehun1107]

Bollocks! I prune my peppers in the last 3 years and their yield is tripled than before! I do not prune them in the spring,but in the fall before put them away for winter.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Awesome. You have to remember though, of course a plant is going to grow and respond differently to pruning if its grown as a perennial. That's fairly obvious...

[@ericamontoya7168]

Super interesting! I follow a lot of gardening channels with similar issues of a short growing season due to location (I'm in Ohio so very relevant to me and my garden). It seems that your findings is what others have also noticed. Unless you live somewhere with a longer growing season pruning can negatively impact your pepper production. Its nice to finally have some hard numbers to look at!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

You're totally right Erica.. It's completely dependent on length of growing season and variety of plant. Cheers!

[@MichaelRei99]

I have learned more about this subject since this video has come out. If you top your plants above the third set of true leaves and do it early enough for the plant to recuperate before planting you can mitigate the negative effects of topping the plants.

[@maries716gardenvlog6]

I agree with you 100%, because I experimented on my pepper plants this year also, and had the worst harvest ever. At first, I was excited when I noticed the shoots popping out on all the nodes of the peppers, after a week of topping them. Then when I planted them in the ground, the plants stayed low and they took forever to produce fruit. I saw this method of planting peppers on KZbin and it seems to be productive and so I tried it. But to my big dismay, I ended up with way less harvest and smaller in size, compared to previews harvest. I was upset for listening to the youtuber who posted it. Lesson learned, do check on the reviews first before acting on it, lol. Next year, I'm going back to my normal method of planting. Thank you for sharing this video.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Exactly Mary....for the last 5 seasons I've been just that in limited capacity and pretty much every time, the same thing. So we're on the same page! :-)

[@pineforpryo9118]

If you are only growing bells your better of NOT topping. But topping is good for some annums but mostly for chinense, baccatums, pubescenses, frutescences, and some annum increases production by a lot. The one pepper you never ever too are bell peppers. And with topped peppers they need an extra 3-6 weeks indoors so start them earlier. The hotter the pepper, start em earlier. At first you think topping stunts them, and it does, but after that stunted phase they grow insane. The not topped peppers might produce sooner, but in the grand scheme of things, topped peppers will produce more. Some peppers you almost have to top em for good production like hot to super hot peppers and baccatum species pepper (baccatums are very prolific and the pods straight up taste like fruit) they are very vigorous plants so topping really helps. One thing with baccatums they like taken their time to ripen so again start early.

[@maries716gardenvlog6]

@@pineforpryo9118well, I live here in Buffalo and we only have 4 months of warm weather to grow veggies in the garden. The results of the pepper plants experiment won't probably be as bad, if the growing season is longer. Thank you for sharing your knowledge regarding the matter.

[@pineforpryo9118]

@@maries716gardenvlog6 New York? You live quite close to me I am in nj. You have a 168 day growing season free of frost. Nearly everyone has only 4 or 5 months of summer expect people in the mid to Deep South. You can plant peppers, tomatoes, and other warm loving crops staring mid may. Yeah I can transplant about a week or two earlier but that ain’t much difference. No reason not to top variety’s if they benefit greatly from it

[@shonnamay8331]

Those Red Peppers are Amazing! So glad I watched this video, I was going to actually prune my pepper plants later today.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks Shonna! Happy growing this year! :-)

[@nobullziggster4070]

I had no idea how deep I could plant Pepper plants until your videos.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Awesome! Pretty cool they are just like tomatoes... Maybe not as crazy stem roots, but they still do. Cheers!

[@aquaseahorselove3939]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Oh I didn’t know this! I’m going to do this.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@aquaseahorselove3939 It really helps to establish the young plants faster! :-)

[@lucifurtuna]

I have mare this experiment in România! Prunning Peppers were set back . Your conclusion was right, but i still maintain my theory that this is because diferent growing seasons!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on Lucian! Keep on growing!

[@rontropics26]

Your bell peppers look a lot better than many I've seen on KZbin.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks Ron! :-)

[@jonthompson3279]

This video came just in time. I was going out to the garden to prune half the pepper plants, Your video put a brake on that video. Thanks.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on Jon, happy to help!

[@MichaelRei99]

Thanks for weeding this out for us Jeff! This is invaluable information. The one benefit of pruning not discussed though is pruned plants need less support. Mine have the tendency to flop over when laden with fruit. But I’ll gladly take the time to support them better to get better quality fruit.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

You're so right Mike! These last 2 seasons, as my plants get bigger and better, I've had to stake them so much more diligently!

[@blazenkatkalcevic6374]

This year, our goats broke into the greenhouse and browsed everything they found inside. Young peppers and tomatoes ate everything except the stems 10 centimeters high. This year, the peppers and tomatoes were not tall, but they produced the most fruit ever.

[@228Brendon]

For any plant, if you prune or “top” them to create bifurcating nodes, you need to increase potassium and phosphorus to increase yield

[@davesparwasser2521]

Hmm, that’s good to know, makes sense, probably why my peppers didn’t do well last year after I pruned them and then everything got blight, last year was not a good garden year for me

[@thagingerninjer5391]

Nitrogen first, for about the first 1/4 - 1/3 of the season, then heavy p/k for the next few months, right?

[@synthesizerneil]

@@thagingerninjer5391 It depends on where each pepper is in development and what your goals are. It's way more complicated than do x during y part of the season. You wants plenty of nitrogen while the plant is growing. When you don't want it to grow anymore slow down on the nitrogen. When flowers come and fruit starts to set you want plenty of Phosphorus and little nitrogen. Phosphorus is key for fruiting because it helps transport all the crucial nutrients to the fruit.

[@thagingerninjer5391]

That's pretty much exactly what I said, just with more words. Lol.

[@synthesizerneil]

@@thagingerninjer5391 no, sorry but it's not. Not everyone lives in the same zone so "first 1/4 of the season" may not scale for everyone. Not everyone is growing from seeds either. Also it's important to understand *why* you are using a nutrient at this time versus that time. Only then can you know the right decision to make. If you guess and go by an arbitrary time frame rather than what you're circumstances actually require then you are more likely to make a mistake - that's just not how you professionals and serious growers approach things. This is science, chemistry, and biology there's a reason things work the way they do.

[@moirakemp867]

Thanx for a great video! My 5c about it all is, look at how and with what the soil prep was (not many gardeners show in their video`s how they prepared their soil), the strain of the seeds, the position in the garden (in full sun, part shade, protected from wind, feeding - when and with what during the growing season, watering and so on. All these things plays a roll in how beautiful and productive the veg will be. That kind of info will help so many home gardeners also growing such amazing fruit. I prune my pepper plants and that ensures a stronger plant in my climate in South Africa, but this year, i am going to not prune some of them and document the results

[@HomeStudioBasics]

Love this video. Everything about it is nice and concise. It's short, sweet, to the point, very informative, has good B-Roll, has good text graphics, and has nice production quality. Plus I learned a lot! I'm an apt. gardener and giving peppers a try from saved seed. They are doing very well! I know I'm a bit late but this year is more about experimenting and any harvests would be a bonus. Keep up the great work man!

[@kathyepps115]

I pruned all 12 of my Pretty 'n Sweet pepper seedlings in 2022 and had what I thought was a great harvest. However, they were smaller than I expected (1st time planting that variety) and after watching your video, they were probably smaller than they could have been had I NOT pruned. This year, I'm planting 40 plants (sweet and hot varieties) and will not prune. Keeping my fingers crossed for a bountiful harvest! As always, thanks for another informative video!

[@redtobertshateshandles]

Lol. I planted mine too early and they flowered really small. I did an ISIS on them. Now sprouting everywhere. I still have a 6 month growing season so hopefully they'll come good.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Should be plenty enough time! Best of luck, excited to hear how it goes!

[@miasgardenadventures2998]

Thanks!! I won't be pruning my peppers. I Finally started my container garden. Yay!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on Mia, best of luck this season! 🙂

[@miasgardenadventures2998]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Thank You!!

[@russel2352]

From S Africa. Will definitely not prune and hope the results match. Thanks. Very good vid.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on Russel! Best of luck, keep us updated on the results!

[@MorroccoM13]

Doh! Food for thought (pun intended). Learned long ago to snip ONLY the top 2 leafs once the plant had at least 6 to 8 nodes of leaf sets. I will experiment with next years crop. You haven't disappointed me yet with your advice.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Definitely experiment! Let us know how it goes. :-)

[@johnjude2685]

One advantage of prune might be less likely to break limbs and lose fruit and blooms , something to consider Thanks Staking also help prevent brakeage. Lots of good points,I stake or into the tomato cages that doesn't work for tomato plants anyway Thanks

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

For sure John... Prune for structure and stake for support.... No argument here! :-)

[@lauriehill9933]

Thanks this was very helpful. I'm growing peppers for the first time in raised beds on my balcony. So far so good they look amazing and I was wondering about pruning, after watching this I will leave my little babies alone to do their thing.

[@summerbeemeadow]

Excellent presentation. I wish you growth of your KZbin channel, Sir

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Hey, thanks for that Steve, really means a lot. :-)

[@summerbeemeadow]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Personally. I would like to see a video on fusarium and verticillium tomato wilts. How to tell the difference and how to deal with in current and next tomato plantings. Do some of the antifungal products work on these wilts? i.e. MycoStop, an innoculant of a plant-harmless root fungi that keep out fusarium fungus or some of the inorganic fungicide products? Just a thought, perhaps a suggestion for some future episode. :)

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@summerbeemeadow 100% Steve... My problem is that I need to experience things before documenting. I've really tried hard to walk a straight line only talking about things I know of. If I can't give authentic advice, I simply won't give it. Having said that, wilts and fungal outbreaks are on my bucket list of video topics! Shoot, I purposefully didn't water a tomato bed just to get a video on tomato Leaf Curl and subsequently blossom end rot! So it's likely coming sooner than later, ha ha! Cheers man.

[@summerbeemeadow]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms We had a very hot & humid week of weather here near Syracuse, NY. I planted my tomatoes too close to each other and had not yet pruned lower leafs as I was sick all week. When I checked on the garden, I had a circular area among several plants that looked like someone had dropped a fungal bomb right there. Plants sagged, wilted, leaves turned brown, and the plants collapsed in just several days, even as their fruits were still growing or ripening. and the infected zone got larger. Bummer, but I WILL beat this next year. I intend to kill it with science.

[@billbanta7189]

Very nice! Let ‘em go, pick em, let ‘em go again, pick em, etc until frost/freeze. I am in USA zone 6, Kentucky. I get at least three rounds banana peppers and at least 2, sometimes 3 rounds of bell peppers during the growing season here.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Beauty man! Love that your maxing out your area, not many people do, especially for peppers!

[@katespencer4038]

Thank you this is very timely was just considering trimming my red and the green bell pepper plants I have in pots

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks for checking it out Kate! Best of luck with your peppers!

[@jul.escobar]

I was just debating pruning my peppers today and googles handy ai sent this post to my suggestions. Really appreciate your shared experiment on this topic! Good work 🌱❤️

[@user-di6cn2ne7u]

What are your thoughts on removing the first round of flower buds to give the plant time to get bigger before fruiting? Not pruning the stem, just removing the little flower buds.

[@brandyalexandre8016]

I want to know the answer too

[@Adol666]

This is usually a good idea especially if your plant is still small.

[@dineshnair8382]

Don’t do it if you have a short growing season. It’s not worth it

[@icdattcicdattc3469]

I click the like button to your posts even before I listen to them because I know they will always be top notch informative

[@jtcowboy5518]

Those are beautiful bells! I never pruned my peppers as I feel they naturally branch out by themselves when they are ready. I only prune to shape the plants.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Exactly JT! They branch out so much on their own already! They don't need any extra!

[@allawishes70]

I am planning out my next year pepper growing and was focused on pruning them as well. Thanks to your video that idea is totally off the table.

[@Bev437Sqn]

One less task for next year. Thanks Jeff love time saving, more time for more gardening

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Exactly Bev... Less work for better results! Win-Win!

[@ann2155]

I have grown bell peppers for years and only in the last 3 years have I had an over abundance of large bell peppers. I prune and pinch flowers also. I only cut off just under the first set of leaves. I don’t remove as much as you had. I grew so many last year that I don’t need to grow them this year. But I will out of habit. I have also discovered that if I put my plants out a little later they produce more fruit. I put mine out in mid-June instead of late may. They produce so many more peppers. I also pinch the flowers early on to allow the plant to become more shrub like. They are so much more sturdy. I’m in zone 4b and have plenty of time to grow an amazing crop.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Awesome! :-)

[@tamararoberts9307]

Ty for this video, great tip 👍 I will experiment with a couple of mine in the Spring. I live in Indiana and this year my bell peppers just started growing peppers a week ago and I didn't prune them.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Its totally worth the experiment Tamara. It won't kill the plants and you'll STILL get peppers. Let me know the results!

[@richardackerman838]

The video and the comments developed into the best help I could ever get. Some of last years chili pepper plants has so many peppers, but they were all smaller than I had hoped for. The same with bell peppers and Cubanelles. I must need to use the correct fertilizers and fert more often. All of my peppers are grown in three gallon pots. This year I bought a 1500 watt grow light and I'm bottom watering and having a great early start. I lined a hugh Costco box with spray glue and Aluminum foil and the light is working it's magic. I live in zone 9a and it is still very cold outside. ThankQ all for the comments.

[@aquaseahorselove3939]

Thank you so much for this experiment. I have bell peppers growing now and have been on the fence if I should top them off or not. So glad I just watched this. I’m in Florida so these grow great in the fall. I did top my cayenne plants though. They seem to grow better that way instead of being all lanky.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks for watching! In Florida, with the longer growing season, I'd be tempted to try a couple... Just to see... But I still believe that the big pepper varieties cap out anyways. Either way, best of luck!

[@philipwilson4435]

Ugh! I found this video a day late! I never pruned until this year, because all the other videos said to do so! I compost, so I'm going to give extra love to the bells and hope for the best.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

It may work out really good for you Philip! Fingers crossed and let us know the outcome! :-)

[@lonewanderer2894]

You shouldn't take any video as an absolute. They are just opinions based on personal experience, their growing conditions, their varieties of peppers, their methods of growing, etc. There is no 'right' way to things. Experiment and do what works best for you , your climate, the soil or medium you use, etc. There are so many different factors that you should really only rely on your own experience and notes. imo.

[@timothkeyyprice]

Pruning keeps the plants shorter and little staking is required. When frost arrives it is much easier to protect shorter plants, especially if windy c

[@paulk5311]

it is supposed to make them stockier and stronger and i have noticed that. i have yet to find a reason to prune my peppers. yes i have tried several times and they have yet to produce as well as the others.

[@derghiarrinde]

Paint that fence on the side of peppers white. They will get more light that way. Also you can overwinter some pepper plants, especially if you grow them in pots/containers. Also, you can protect your peppers from UV radiations during the hottest days by using specialized mineral spray. I like your scientific method, subscribing right now.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers, thanks for watching!

[@yannip2083]

I watched this video again ... EXCELLENT analysis! Did you clip off the top just once only (when the peppers were young) during the life of the pepper plant? Love your gigantic red peppers!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks Yanni! Yes, only one initial pruning, that was it. :-)

[@iseeyou2235]

Ty for sharing the experience and the way you presented it so well, most of the video I've watched is incomplete and got bored quickly unlike yours had fun and learned at the same time.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Hey thanks for that, kind of you to say! :-)

[@SpiceyKy]

I agree. Did the same experiment last year. I am officially ANTI pepper pruning.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Ha ha, we're on the same page!

[@keepingitwild5994]

It's nice that you did put that theory to the test and broke it down to concrete numbers - that's exactly what gardening videos should be like; practice, not theory. I'm about to plant a dozen of peppers in pots and now I know not to bother with pruning them.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Agreed! And that's what I set out to do. Not guess at what would happen... But take the 5+ months to really test it over two dozen plants! Cheers.

[@betokendollcrotchorourke6007]

I usually top all my peppers and cut suckers off my tomatoes but this year I'm letting nature do what nature does, so far I'm not disappointed....yet. it's still early in the season. My pepper plants are branching out alot on their own and are full of peppers and blooms. My tomatoes are bushy, healthy and fully of baby tomatoes.

[@OakKnobFarm]

Glad to see the follow up for this experiment! Thanks for taking eh time to test it

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers Dave.....I just couldn't leave it...its been eating at me since last year!

[@cdnerin]

*GASP* ... You're wearing a Saskatchewan Roughrider hat!! I grew up spending my summers in Roughrider territory & LOVED IT. I took my now-adult child back last summer for the first time since she was 3, to the lake north of PA I named her for, and she fell in love with it. Now I gotta watch the rest of your videos & sub 🥰

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

ha ha that's so awesome! Rider Pride! :-)

[@RobinL4715]

Really helpful info! I chose not to prune mine this year, and I’m getting a steady harvest here in FL.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Right on Robin, congrats on the harvests!

[@decibellx2194]

I have bad experiences pruning my peppers. lost a lot of plants. now when the weather starts to warm i just cut the dead branches back and keep doing the do.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Perfect....! Same here. :-)

[@johnjude2685]

Hay from raining in Ohio and thanks for your help

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers John!

[@Francina214]

Yes!! I followed advice from a pepper expert channel on you-tube last year had worse pepper season ever despite planting more than ever. Never again

[@franzfleur7472]

Sometimes it can be necessary to prune/top peppers depending on ones growing space/situation, type of pepper/genetics and nutrients to mitigate setbacks. You mentioned "unlimited harvests" in the intro, people who top/prune do not expect unlimited harvests lol but I guess you suggest they do further perpetuating a misconception many newbs have in the pepper world. Some types of pepper want to grow tall and lanky, some naturally short and bushy, some may cluster and some may sparsely produce. Your experiment only pertains to the type of bell pepper you hold in your hand, perhaps contrast it with a Chinense or Baccatum variety so that whatever theory you push may be more accurate, but newbs would be none the wiser. Great video and pretty Bells you have there, perhaps a controlled experiment with varieties to contrast would better bolster your theory or the opposite.

[@dahutful]

….And unless someone does the same sort of study with smaller fruiting varieties and longer growing seasons, we still won’t know whether those factors make a difference. My gut feeling is, you’d get similar results. As you note, all plants have finite physical resources - much like people in that regard. In other words, there’s only so much they have to give. This may come as a blow to all of the budding ‘pepper surgeons’ in our day, but this result is something I’ve suspected for a long time. Bigger, blockier, naturally produced fruit without any surgical intervention seems a better option to me. This next year I am trying 2 types of large peppers that are new to me: “Quadrato di Asti Rosso” “Ajvarski” Both are large and meaty, and expect I won’t be pruning after seeing this. Great video that goes a long way to resolving the matter. Definitely one I’ll be saving. Thanks so much David Half Acre Farm S Carolina

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Totally agree Dave. I do think the smaller ones would explode with growth....be very interesting to do a real experiment with them...maybe next year!

[@dahutful]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Thanks for taking the time to respond, Jeff. I’ve drawn the conclusion that I don’t really want to fuss around with small peppers anymore. This may be my last year for that. I have some giant hot cayenne‘s and Hungarian Wax, to go with the others mentioned, and I find that level of heat is enough for me. So this experiment of yours fits right into my future direction. Very timely. Thank you

[@joj1252]

Been looking forward to seeing the results of this… very interesting & so much information!! Thank you Jeff for taking the time. Really appreciated 🙏🏻 so glad the no prune did better. That will make things easier next year 👏🏻🥰

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Easier AND better results..what's not to like, right? Ha ha, cheers Jo! :-)

[@jennifervondeylen7362]

I am currently over wintering two pepper plants in hopes of getting peppers quicker next season. I cleaned well, pruned back to the first V, and only water when completely dry. I pulled off leaves for awhile. Now I am letting them leaf out because spring is right around the corner!!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

That's the way to do it Jennifer! I see POUNDS of peppers in your future!! :-)

[@davesparwasser2521]

All my bell pepper transplants that I started from seed this year, are branching on their own(at about 6” to 8 inches and the branches are branching again at the first inch of growth with lots of flower buds(which I will remove because of their size and the fact that they are still in pots. Last year I topped my peppers transplants that I bought and it seemed to have stunted them, they never took off and then everything got blight, so I’m very pleased that my peppers are branching on their own

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

That's the best Dave...when the peppers flourish and bush out all on their own! :-)

[@McFlysGarage]

Finally found what I have been wanting to know. My hydroponic bell peppers I let go wild and harvested a good amount with nice big fruits. Only issue was plant support. This year I have better support and shade cloth to help protect the fruit from the sun

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Nice! Did you stake them or use a trellis?

[@busychrisgardening]

I like how you’ve planted them in a row. Would you mind sharing how deep and wide the box and soil is please?

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Sure, these are the beds here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHqYhH6hdtZphNk they are 8 feet long and 15" deep. Cheers! :-)

[@busychrisgardening]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms thank you

[@tomtoomey3902]

Here in UK and just about to transfer my peppers to my allotment from the greenhouse. Really glad I saw this vid and thanks for posting. Very informative.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Hey thanks for watching and best of luck with the transfer!

[@hollynelson543]

Yes please waiting.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks Holly, hope you like! :-)

[@shanec8812]

This is the best test I have seen so far. Good job!

[@esthert5191]

I have to agree for no pruning on big peppers like bell. I did prune and got more peppers but they were indeed small. And they were plants from last year . But the habanero, Caribbean red hot Trinidad scorpion , ghost, Carolina reaper peppers that were also pruned did great the second year very prolific now size yes they could have been bigger.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Totally agree Esther. The small ones for sure. I have a large Jalapeno that I'm going to experiment on next year....its right on the fringe of being a small - small-medium size! :-)

[@rjhall5712]

Excellent Video , probably the best I've watched on the subject... I will share this in my gardening group on MeWe.... thanks !

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Hey thanks, that's really kind of you RJ! :-)

[@johnmaclean2040]

Can’t wait! ❤️

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

:-)

[@walkerpantera]

this was great, thank u for your research and the time it took to reach your conclusions. im new to peppers and your vid is very helpful to me. 👍🏼

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@walkerpantera cheers walker, glad you liked it. What pepper varieties are you hoping to grow?

[@pamelamercer1124]

Or at least for bell. I pruned all my pepper plants and my bells were smaller. But the rest were amazing. I won't prune the bells again, but can I offer you a few hundred habeneros? Lol

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Ha ha for the Habs I bet it IS the opposite! They probably just go crazy after pruning Pamela!

[@2dogmanshawn]

I'll take some lol.. could trade for some ghost.. or ghengis khan brain...

[@2dogmanshawn]

Don't have a few hundred.. lol. But 40 or 40 if each.. this year already lol