The crop will double: how to properly form a bell pepper bush
We tell you why to cut off the leaves of peppers and how to do it so as not to damage the plant.
Beginning summer residents sooner or later wonder whether it is necessary to cut off the tops of peppers and why experienced gardeners do this. In this article we will tell you what the first fork in a pepper is, whether it is necessary to pinch a bush and why to do it.
We form the right bush – what to cut off from pepper
Removing flowers that have grown after the first branching of the stem is one of the most important measures in the care of peppers. Its importance can hardly be overestimated – if you leave this first, so-called crown bud, the plant will go into rapid growth and the excess green mass will select the nutrients necessary for the fruits, they will be small and there will be few of them.
Steps that will allow you to form the right bush:
- The first fork at the pepper appears when the seedlings grow to 12-20 centimeters and a crown bud appears, it must be removed.
- The second stage is carried out when planting seedlings in the garden or in the greenhouse. Bushes are formed into one stem or two – according to this scheme, both the crown bud and one flower are removed at each subsequent fork. Shoots that do not bear fruit are removed.
To get their seeds, leave 2-3 bushes with a crown bud.
Do I need to cut off the lower leaves of pepper seedlings – the variety will tell
For different varieties, different approaches to the formation of the bush are used. Low-growing, dwarf varieties of pepper that grow up to 30-40 cm do not need to pinch and stepchild. They do not grow in height anyway and independently start up a sufficient number of side shoots.
Therefore, nothing needs to be cut off from small and compact varieties, except for wilted lower leaves and shoots that grow inside. The lower leaves are cut to the first shoots with ovaries. If the shoot is large, but there is no ovary on it, it can also be removed so that it does not draw moisture and nutrition.
Medium-sized varieties can be stepchildto achieve more branched lateral growth. As a result, the number of fruitful shoots should be 4-5 on one bush.
Tall varieties that grow in one stem 1-1.2 m high may not need pinching either. Such varieties do not always produce a huge amount of green mass, and if the seed bag indicates that the variety is not prone to the formation of side shoots, pinching can ruin the bush and not increase, but even significantly reduce the yield.
Important: in conditions of high humidity, the lower leaves of the pepper are removed to provide free access to air and prevent the development of fungi. Cut off several leaves at a time so that the plant can more easily survive the stress of interference. In dry weather, the complete absence of the lower crown can, on the contrary, contribute to excessive drying of the soil.
Conscious producers are already printing schemes for the formation of a particular plant on packages with pepper seeds. Therefore, before intervening in the growth process of the bush, carefully study the characteristics of the variety that you are going to grow.
Earlier, UNIAN told how to feed pepper for a good harvest – two methods that have been proven over the years.