Do you guys stake peppers?

[Yak54]

Originally Posted by oakley

If i add a stake will it encourage growth?
Can't grow peppers but still try. They hate me and my chilly mornings. Even if the early morn sweater comes off and 80 by 8am...I get dwarf plants with just a few peppers.

I would stake them while young in a warmer climate. Just a single stake for insurance.

I plant my peppers 24" apart, and after they have been in the ground for about 3 wks. or so I put stakes in and tie the main stem to the stake. My pepper plants grow to 2-1/2 ft. or more. Sometimes almost 3 ft. tall.

In regard to your comment about getting dwarf plants with just a few peppers. Several people have posted in reply that perhaps you plant them too early. This is a common problem. Back in the day when I used to get 9 or 10 seed catalogs every spring, I learned about peppers from the Stokes catalog. In their section on peppers they had some good info about the culture of growing peppers, and one thing that got my attention was them saying that you should NOT set out pepper plants in the garden untill the night time temps. have reached the point of 55 deg. for the low. Since Stokes has a location in N.Y., you may want to take their advice. They even mentioned NOT planting peppers till June 10th, which they felt was a safe date when the low temps will have reached above 55 deg. in their geographical location. For what it's worth, their advice has worked well for me for more than 30 yrs.. I typically get a dozen or more peppers from ea. plant. 2016 I put my peppers in the garden June 10th when the low temps had reached 55 deg. or more. All the neighbors around me plant their tomatoes and peppers at the same time, usually around the last week of May, and they all sing the same song about not getting many peppers. I'm not certain if Stokes still mentions this information in their seed catalog these days, as it has been almost 15 years since they removed me from their mailing list.

Dan