No matter what I do, peppers are a plant that I always struggle with.
Those are beautiful. I really want to figure it out, because I really want to make more hot sauces. Every year I get a bit closer though.
I’m on I think my third year of attempts at serious pepper growing and I’m learning a bunch. And by serious, I mean I set up a greenhouse almost exclusively for peppers and a few other miscellaneous things. I’ve grown only a few long season/heat loving plants from seed with any measurable success. One thing I’ve learned is that starting hot crops in a short growing season from seed is an art in itself and requires a tremendous amount of attention unless you have an automated system. Buying starts from a reputable grower is so much easier but the selection can be pretty limited unless you’re on top of your game and get the cool stuff early. You probably already know this but in my experience these things definitely help a lot - hard pruning of the starts, greenhouse growing, hand pollination (shaking of plants) and a good watering regiment are needed IMO, at least here on the wet side PNW. Hot sauces are fun. Hope you have success this year.
northwestmeadowscapes.com
Beautiful Dave!
But then what do you do with the Yellow Rattle after it kills off some grass? Do you weed it out? Have you tried this in a garden?Look into Yellow Rattle. It strangles out grass rhizomes.
Yellow Rattle Seeds (Rhinanthus minor)Default Title
Control Weedy Grasses Naturally Dubbed the "meadow maker" in the UK, yellow rattle is an amazing hemi-parasitic annual plant that weakens grasses through haustoria (root-like structures that attach themselves to the roots of grasses -- robbing them of nutrients). This reduces the vigor of meadow...
I haven’t, I just learned about it on a British gardening show: Gardners world
I know what you mean.
Could you say more about pruning starts?
Sure. I generally “top” my starts once they’ve reached about a foot in height (depending on the variety). It seems like a really harsh thing to do but it promotes more growth from the nodes which will eventually turn into branches and thus more opportunity for higher yields. Un-pruned plants tend to be leggy which results in lower yields and tall lanky weak stemmed plants.
peppergeek.com
I learned about this via my bonsai hobby but it's pretty important for many forms of horticulture. It's related to the plant hormone auxin and its relationship to apical dominance. In some cases like the peppers above, you want to reduce apical dominance. In the early stage of bonsai, you often want to do the opposite as rapid growth of a central leader is a good way to build a thick tree-like trunk which you reduce to the desire height later aka 'grow and chop', especially on plants that readily backbud. From wikipedia:Sure. I generally “top” my starts once they’ve reached about a foot in height (depending on the variety). It seems like a really harsh thing to do but it promotes more growth from the nodes which will eventually turn into branches and thus more opportunity for higher yields. Un-pruned plants tend to be leggy which results in lower yields and tall lanky weak stemmed plants.
This website has a lot of good info on pepper growing:
Pruning Pepper Plants - How To Prune For Better Yields | PepperGeek
Pruning pepper plants can help increase pepper yields. It can also help plants grow strong, resilient roots and stems. Learn how at PepperGeek!
Hope this helps,
Dave
