pinching out sweet peppers and chillies

[queen of the cobs]

Hi,

I have not had much luck with my peppers and chillies this year. The bell peppers are very leggy, about a foot tall and just about to divide. (i.e. make their first fork). The chillies are about 2 or 3 inches tall and not growing very well at all

My question is, should I pinch out the growing tip to encourage them to bush out? And if so, when? Last year my chillies were about 2-3 feet tall but quite spindly, although I did get a great crop! Not expecting that again this year, although I suppose there's always time for them to catch up.

I've got some various coloured chillies and 3 jalapenos (if that helps).

thanks.

[Capsid]

Yes pinch out the tops when they have at least 6 leaves on them. Mine are around 6" high and I have pinched them out.

[Bassman]

Chilli's are fine to pinch out but on my sweet peppers it says not to pinch the tops out as this will reduce the amound of fruit

[Kristen]

My Sweet Papers bushed up by themselves without me having to pinch anything out.

But my chillies look a disaster, are tiny and useless. Much like you say yours are. I put them in a bigger pot a couple of days ago, but I don't hold out much hope that they are going to do enough this season.

I think I need to start trying different compost for different things, rather than just throwing everything in the same J Arthur Bowers General Purpose stuff. The things that slow to get under way do seem to suffer in that compost - the compost surface goes manky, and I think some soil in the mix would help.

[mcsee]

Kristen - You may need to give them a feed of liquid fertilizer to give them a boost along. First dose I'd give them would be a half strength of what you'd give your tomatoes, or maybe a Seaweed tonic.

I don't pinch out any tips on my plants.

[Kristen]

"liquid fertilizer"

The things which are fruiting (like Toms and Cues) get Tomarite 3 times a week, everything else gets Phostrogen once a week; lowest rate that the destructions says for small plants in pots - about 1/2 teaspoon in 10 Litres I think. So they ought to have enough grub, little blighters They are some F1 blow-your-head-off model, so maybe they are just blinking fussy plants, in which case they've pitched out at the wrong house I reckon!

[Flummery]

I've never pinched out chillies or sweet peppers. Never occurred to me to do so. They seem to fruit ok but some years they can be particularly fussy. It's still early in the season as far as chillies are concerned.

[unconcerned]

Annuum peppers are naturally quite leggy, though one foot to the first node does sound like yours aren't getting enough light.

I've never bothered pinching out either. Pinching out does make the plant bushy and will often give a higher yeild but it also checks the growth and delays fruiting. If your chilli plants are only two inches tall I wouldn't be doing anything to slow them down as you are already running on the late side. I'm sure you'll still get fruit but if summer doesn't last long this year then you may struggle to get many to ripen before the plant slows down.

In terms of feeding, give them a Nitrogen (N) heavy fertilizer to get the greenery to grow faster. Then once they start showing buds, switch to a Potassium (K) heavy fertilizer so that they put their efforts into fruiting.