I have some pepper plants that have gotten a little leggy. This weekend I'm trying to finally get the rest of my summer garden planted, and I'm wondering about those pepper plants. Can I plant them deep, like I would tomatoes?
Thanks for the help!
Jill
How deep to plant sweet/bell peppers?
I plant mine deeper and they do fine. I don't think they root quite as quickly as tomatoes do but they will at least root at the nodes. I really need to exhume some peppers to see what's going on with them. If you winter over a pepper that has been frosted to the ground, they start putting up new shoots from the roots and the underground stem which would indicate that they can easily be rooted or propagated by root division. They sure aren't as tender and delicate as they first appear.
I don't believe that peppers develop roots along their stems like tomatoes. This has never happened for me. Yet, often the recommendations is to plant up the first true leaves for most vegetable transplants.
A little legginess early in the season is not that big of a problem. This has happen to be before with peppers and ep. Didn't seem to have a problem later on. They still flower and set.
" Yet, often the recommendations is to plant up the first true leaves for most vegetable transplants."
Okay, I'll look into this. I only seen those instructions used for tomatoes, so I'm going to do some research. I've planted everything (other than tomatoes at the same level they are in their little pots, so maybe I've missed the boat. Some things (notably my broccoli) were pretty leggy.
Thanks for the heads up!
Check out 'Grow More Vegetables...' by John Jeavons. Its a good read about Biointensive gardening. It also has a lengthy discussion about seedlings.
A lot of veggies you have to be careful not to plant deeper than they were growing "in the pot" as the stems will rot. Tomatoes will root along whatever portion of the stem is planted and helps to build a strong root system.
Jill - I also don't believe the peppers will root along the stem you bury, but I have planted peppers deeper with no ill effects (like stem rot). Plant them deeper - they will be alright. I also like to install a stake or some sort of support when I plant peppers. Last year I didn't stake some as the plants were supposed to be "compact" and I ended up with snapped stems all over town in the wind.
Thanks for the help, everyone! The peppers and I appreciate it!
Here are 2 plants that froze to the ground this winter. They are more than a year old and had only a single stem last year. Now they each have a dozen or more stems and some are coming out of the soil an inch or more from the dead stem. I think they're coming off the old stem that I buried when they were first planted.
It certainly does no harm to plant them deeper. I usually repot mine and set them up to and even above the cotyledons before they get large enough to set out.
I've never tried setting sweet-peppers deeper than they originally grew. I'll have to do some experimenting this summer.
Twiggybuds - I'm facinated by your sweet peppers regrowing after a winter. I always pull up my plants before cold weather sets in. I'll have to see if I can get some to do what yours have done. Thanks for the tip :)
You can get peppers through the winter hear pretty successfully. I have friends that have peppers going on their 5th and 6th year! They do look a bit rough after winter is over, depending on how much cool weather we got, but they usually bounce right back.