No, just dig the planting hole deeper and plant it deeply. Strip off several of the lowest leaves and bury most of the stem - just as one would a tomato plant.

Dave

Oh, wow, I didn't know you could do that. I thought tomato plants were unique in that regard. Thanks!

You can do it with most vegetables - just the depth you can go is different. But peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, etc. are all members of the same family.

What is best though is to avoid leggy transplants in the first place. ;)

Dave

Yes, for sure, but I bought these. If I had grown from seed, of course, they wouldn't have been leggy! ;-)

Sorry for the newbie question, but what are "leggy" peppers? (Blush)

ally, when I was growing up and going to school, I was taught that every question is a good question. :-)

The pepper plants I have, have a main trunk that is too 'long'. The leaves are too high up on the stem. A well grown vegetable plant should look stocky. It is sometimes a result of growing without enough light. It doesn't seem to make the plant as well anchored in the ground and I would worry a bit about it falling over as it got larger and had the weight of the fruit on it. But that's just my own nit piking I suppose. Maybe it wouldn't make any difference at all.

Thanks for explaining that!
Do you guys generally use some kind of support or stake for your peppers? I have one banana pepper plant this year and was wondering if the peppers might be too heavy for the plant as they get bigger. Thanks for helping me through the learning process! I have some books on the way. :)

Well, I'm excited for you to be beginning your gardening journey. I remember well how much fun and satisfaction that was more than 25 years ago. [g] Lots to learn but fun too. Enjoy it!

Yes, I use a small tomato cage for my pepper plants because they do get a little top heavy. That has been the easiest way for me to give them support. You can always rig something up if you don't have any.

Pepper cages: I make mine the same way I make tomato cages, just smaller. I use CRM 5' high. I roll it into a "cage" and wrap up the ends. I make mine 7 squares in circumference, which is about 13.37" in diameter.

When I cut it in half vertically, I get two cages, 2 1/2' high . I sacrifice one horizontal wire, and have 6" to stick into the ground, and 2" above ground.

My pepper plants tend to max out at about 3' tall, but the 2' cage holds them very nicely.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here is a picture with smaller plants, you can see more cage.

Here is a link that might be useful:

What a lovely garden tdscpa! We use the cages for tomatoes like that, but not for peppers. This year I am using some old small ring tomato cages I bought a long time ago before I knew that they are absolutely unusable for tomatoes. But I like the looks of your garden a lot and those cages last forever.