2019 Pepper Season Week Seven Update

It’s hard to believe that four weeks have passed since my last 2019 season update. The plants are chugging along nicely and growing every day. This is going to be a quick update today as I just wanted to speak briefly on the subject of topping my plants.

I’m a big proponent of topping your seedlings. By removing the upper most growth from your plants, you help promote more branching, which in turn will create an overall bushier adult plant. A bushier structure typically has a beefier, stronger stem as well, so your plants are prepared for Mother Nature when they eventually head outside.

As you can see in the photo of the Scotch Brains seedling above and the Aji Charapita below, I tend to top my plants pretty earlier in their development cycle. I don’t believe I’m overly aggressive in this regard — it’s still early enough in the season that a bit of growth stunting certainly won’t hurt them. You can also see in the photos the amount of inner branch development that has already begun at this point. In a month’s time, when the weather is warmer, these plants will be strong and ready for action.

That’s pretty much it for today. I’ll leave you with a parting shot of a majority of the plants, most of which have already been topped at this point. Man, I can’t wait to start hardening these little fellas off in a few weeks!