Padrón peppers, Italian peppers, hot peppers, bell peppers or large peppers need trimming throughout the season to improve production. Normally it is a crop that is neglected when it comes to pruning, but you should try its many benefits this season, such as aerating the plant to avoid pests, improving production, increasing growth …
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Is the size of the pepper pot necessary?
Many horticulturists believe peppers have been growing wild and producing without being pruned for centuries and others believe pruning is a way to rejuvenate the plant and improve production. Both say something true and that is that you don’t have to prune to get peppers, but it is true that pruning peppers has many benefits.
improves ventilation
Parts of the plant that are very thick with leaves and branches can give rise to a proliferation of certain pests.
disease reduction
Mainly produced by fungi, because if the branches touch the ground, the heat and humidity can cause the proliferation of fungi such as botrytis.
Improves growth
In the early stages of growth, light pruning can encourage the production of new branches and stronger leaves. And even later, if growth becomes patchy or the stems are too long, pruning can improve plant conditions.
Improve performances
Pruning can improve pepper fruit set by redirecting energy for pepper formation. This will result in improved performance in fruit production.
When to prune peppers?
There are different types of size and it all depends on when your pepper plants are. Early pruning is done when your pepper plants are established in the ground and beginning to grow and form and is done to encourage faster and better growth, mid-season pruning encourages branching and avoids very long branches that bear little fruit and late season pruning is useful for peppers that need to ripen before the first frost.
How to prune pepper plants?
The pruning of padrón peppers and other varieties can be done in several ways and at different times depending on the result we want to achieve.
Pinch out young plants
The more branches the pepper has, the more fruit it will bear, which is why you can pinch the upper part of the plant so that more than one branch comes out simultaneously. This pruning will be done one week after transplanting to the ground, leaving time for the roots to establish themselves and with pruning shears or with the fingers we will pinch 1 cm giving birth to 2 branches.
Eliminate early bloomers
Removing the flowers may seem counterproductive, but it’s good to sacrifice a few very early flowers so that the plant grows and doesn’t expend energy producing flowers and fruit. This pruning will be done the first few weeks until the plant has a good size. This size is also applicable to tomatoes.
Remove leaves and branches that touch the ground
As the plant grows, some branches may touch the ground. It is advisable to prune these branches because the accumulation of moisture in the soil due to rain or irrigation can cause diseases that will climb on the plant through the fallen branches. The pepper plant will improve your long-term health.
Remove damaged or diseased leaves
Pepper plants are susceptible to many pests and diseases, which once established are difficult to control, which is why it is best to remove affected leaves to prevent the disease from spreading to the rest of the plant.
remove suction cups
Children or suckers come out in the axil between the main stem and the leaf. It is important to remove them so that the pepper does not waste energy on them. These rejections will lead to an overload of the plant with branches and a lack of aeration, causing the appearance of diseases. You have to be careful not to remove the highest shoots from the branches because otherwise you will end up with no production, only those that are in the middle part of the pepper plant.
Cut the pepper
It consists of cutting a few centimeters from each of the branches of the pepper or tomato plant so that the already developed fruit can ripen before the arrival of the first frosts. This is done at the end of the season. By removing extra growth, energy will go to fruit development. We can also eliminate the flowers that we know will not give time to produce fruits and the fruits that are small.
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