I'm in the Eastern Panhandle of WV Mark and quite frankly the weather
doesn't seem to be helping my peppers along much either. I got mine in the
ground somewhat late I would say, I believe it was June 1st. A friend of
mine closer to the VA line had her's in the ground much earlier and they are
stunted. Mine are far taller than her's already but no peppers of any kind
yet. I have a mix of Bells and Hots. The hots have turned into almost a
stubby bush, the others having broader leaves giving them a different look.
But no peppers yet.

As to pruning I personally do not. I could see how some might for the sake
of controlling thier plants, particularly tomatoes. I am not speaking from
practise, but personally I'm not sure the logic holds up on the idea of
pruning allows more energy for fruit. While having less leaves could mean
more of the plants focus goes to the fruit, it could also mean the plant is
spending some of its energy on regrowing new leaves past a point where it
normally would. Also when we speak of the plant's energies it would seem to
me since that energy comes from the sun, and is taken in through the leaves,
the plant would have more energy to spend if its able to take in more energy
at once, i.e. more foilage. This is just me speculating, others with more
experience can always give more input, and you can decide for yourself which
is best. My own take is that nature knows what it is doing, and it's best to
allow the plant to follow whatever course has been instilled in it...

Mike
Zone 6b
Eastern Panhandle WV

"Mark & Shauna" wrote in message ...
Pat,
Thanks for the reply, that makes us feel good. We just came in from
harvesting and the peppers plants are looking fantastic but not a ton of
fruit, I am not sure it has been hot enough here (WV) this year for them
to really get crankin'. The tomatoes however are going off like
gangbusters. We just moved here and this is the first year for this
ground so they are a bit small but still very very healthy and producing
lots of fruit. Like I said, I was moreso concerned with the peppers but
it could just be the weather.

Thanks again...

Mark

Pat Meadows wrote:
On Sun, 03 Aug 2003 17:29:00 GMT, Mark & Shauna
wrote:

My tendency is to pick off
a lot of the leaves on the peppers thinking it will promote putting
energy into the fruit? I am going about it on a experimental basis at
this point, which I enjoy, but was wondering how others handle it.
The peppers a
California Wonder
Serrano's
Jalepeno's
Cayanne
Giant Italians
Pepperocini's (sp)

Tomatoes:
Roma's
Italian Paste



I don't prune either peppers or tomatoes - it's possible I'd
get more fruit if I did: since I don't do it, I have no
basis for comparison. But we seem to get plenty of each (if
they ever ripen this year, that is). Usually we get plenty
of each.

Home-grown seedlings always look healthier to me. I think
maybe you just weren't used to healthy, stocky, bushy young
plants.

Pat