Do I need to stake pepper plants?

kiwirose 5/11/2010, 11:21 am

I have not grown sweet peppers before, and wondered if I need to stake them or just let them do what they want. I just planted them out in the garden this weekend... they are only about 6 inches tall so far and want to make sure they stay nice and healthy Smile

Thanks

AFLfan 5/11/2010, 11:34 am

I typically cage or stake all of my pepper plants. They can get pretty heavy with fruit, causing the main stalk to bend down.

PB 5/11/2010, 11:36 am

Hello, I am from NC too!!
Generally peppers don't need staking. They do well on their own. However through the years I have had some of the big bell peppers to need a little support, but that is just because I was worried about the wind blowing them over when they were full of peppers.

Paintedlady 5/11/2010, 1:26 pm

I always stake/cage them. When I didn't in the past, they would tend to to bend and fall over from being top heavy.

Carrie

Retired Member 1 5/11/2010, 1:49 pm

I also cage mine as the stems are brittle and a heavy load of peppers can break them.

Bec 5/11/2010, 2:53 pm

According to Mel, you do need to stake or cage bell pepper plants to keep them from falling over because of texture of Mel's Mix. He suggests either caging them or spreading out tomato netting horizontally over the plants and holding the netting tight at the corners with stakes either in the ground or attached to the box. The netting is nylon and won't hurt the plants. I haven't done this yet but plan on it this year. My bell peppers for the past couple of years would fall over if I didn't prop them up with something.

Bec

Megan 5/11/2010, 7:08 pm

Eeek! I didn't know peppers needed staking. How tall do the stakes need to be? Or can I trellis them with ties? They will be in a row of squares right next to my tomatoes with a trellis (for the tomatoes) in between them, so they would have to share trellis space with the 'maters.

Bec 5/11/2010, 8:06 pm

I would think that securing them gently onto the trellis might work. The main thing is to keep them from falling over. Maybe using something soft to tie from each side of the tomato plant to keep the pepper plant straight yet keeping it in it's own square. I don't think it would hurt to try.

Bec

HawaiiAl 5/11/2010, 10:00 pm

Get some bamboo plant steaks at lowes or walmart work great and cheap. peppers should be supported full of fruit or not. I use 48" there packaged in differnt lengths from 24" to 72"

Megan 5/11/2010, 10:05 pm

Thanks, that helps.

Michele 5/27/2010, 5:23 pm

I only started square foot gardening this month, but have been using a similar model for a few years. I have caged my hot pepper plants with tomato cages for almost 20 years because when I first started gardening they got too top heavy and I lost peppers and/or plants to the topple. It works great!

ralitaco 5/27/2010, 9:40 pm

I just staked mine yesterday. It is starting to get a lot of little jalepenos and was leaning way over. I just put in a simple stake and tied it w/ some old nylons.

milaneyjane 5/27/2010, 9:43 pm

I have done it both ways in the past. I have some upside down U shaped bamboo stakes that are about 24 inches tall that I plan to use this year. They also work great for eggplants too.

chexmix 5/27/2010, 10:50 pm

I had to stake my peppers a week or two ago because they were getting so top heavy. I think they are best staked so they don't break or using something to hold them up.

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