Lets talk pepper plants

We have some shiatsu peppers planted

Plant them in large enough pots if not in a garden. They can get really big.

I have a ghost peppers going from last year that I though was dead. It froze and I cut it at the base to reuse the pot this season. Low and behold it resprouted and is growing great lol.

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Did this for the first time this year and the additional growth is amazing.

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Ditto.

I've got Carmen, Red Bell, Yellow Bell, Jalapeno, Anaheim, Habanero, and Ghost.

First year for the Carmens but everyone on here has raved about them so figure I'd give them a shot.

Banana Peppers are hearty and easy to grow. They are useful to eat in a variety of ways.

Yolo wonder bell peppers
cubanelle sweet peppers (looks like a bigger and fatter banana pepper)
TAM Jalapeno (jalapeno flavor with much less heat
Pablano Peppers
Chianti bell peppers
Assorted volunteer tabasco pepper plants

I have 183 pepper plants in the ground of the above combination

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The biggest tip is to prune much more than you feel comfortable with. Once the plant gets two levels of leaves top it at the main stem.

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My plants are about a foot tall and have blooms all over the top. Should I start pruning the areas that have blooms?

Just picked up some Habanero, Ghost and Bell Pepper plants a to put in tomorrow morning.

Also picked up a couple varieties of cucumbers, one for salads and slicing and one for pickling.

I got my yard long seeds in the ground this morning and will put the cucumber seeds in tomorrow, along with the pepper plants.

Then on Monday I'll get my okra seeds in the ground. I usually let between 60-70 okra plants grow and won't pull them until sometime around mid September. By that time they'll be around 8 ft. tall.

You don’t prune them so much as “top” them. The goal is to encourage branching. The tops are evident because they are the new growth with small leaves and buds at the end of the branch or main stem. Generally peppers produce buds from there, but if you “top” them it will terminate and new branches will sprout from the crooks of the branches below it, creating more branches that will produce.

Honestly it’s not entirely necessary, and my most productive Tabasco plant was never topped. It can help very heat intolerant varieties set a lot of fruit before they get stressed in the summer, if you do it right. In my experience a good fertilizer pattern will make the most difference. I use a lot of epsom salt and calcium, go heavy on the nitrogen early to get foliage, then transition to a balanced mix when the plant is big enough to support pepper growth.

Yeah for me that’s bell peppers and other thick walled varieties. They tend to struggle in the dog days, so I try to get as much out of them as I can in early spring and late fall.

Another thing for OP, try to get your plants into the biggest container feasible. The issue with small containers is they dry out quickly, then you end up watering often rinsing out the fertilizer and nutrients. If you hit them with more fertilizer you risk burning or feeding too much nitrogen, discouraging flowering and production. Peppers, like most garden plants, do best with a slow but steady supply of nutrients and water which is a constant battle in small containers. A good compromise is a frequent low dose along with watering with a liquid solution like Texas tomato food. Another option is slow release but I find the claims on the bag are always overstated, though I have had good results preventing blossom end rot using gypsum as a calcium source since it breaks down very slowly.

In my experience, bells don’t respond well to topping compared to other peppers. It definitely promotes growth, but the growth is often spindly and thin, and will break easily under the weight of the fruit. I’ve also found that topping bell pepper plants results in smaller fruits.

The other thing to remember is that topping the plant sets its production back multiple weeks. I start my pepper seeds three weeks before tomatoes so I have time to top them (while they’re inside still) and they can recover fully before I set them outside. My plants that aren’t topped always set fruit before the plants I do top, all things equal.