darlene, why do you want to prevent it? let them grow however they want. unless your season is very long I would not be picking any pods off of the plants.

Dale

I have 3 or 4 peppers near the bottoms of my plants that range from golf ball size to "medium" size. The weight of them is bringing my entire plant down. I was hoping for larger peppers but it seems that I'll have to pick some to help the plants stand back up.

I was wondering the same thing. Hopefully, I'll pick these and make room for more peppers further up the stem. I didn't use fish emulsion, I used miracle grow...I know, a "no-no" to some here.

This happened on plants that I bought from a nursery. The plants that I raised from seed aren't producing yet.

I don't have any thoughts or advice on how to prevent it from happening...and you're not alone. LC Grace

I had a couple of my sweet peppers grow like this. I ended up picking one because it was between 2 of the branches of the plant and looked like it was going to split the plant apart.

Like the others here, I'll pick the ones that are jammed in there and let the others grow.

well, i don't feel so bad now for exorcising these renegade, katty-wampus peppers ...

i sure would like to know what makes them grow like this; the plants are growing, but they look *squatty* rather than tall ....

darlene

So I'm guessing you didn't cage these peppers. They really need to be caged because that's how peppers grow. The plant will drop some if it gets too full but it doesn't take long for a bunch to get big.

Mine produce in waves and plant sizes vary.

Caging will work well but, so far, my chile peppers have needed only a thin bamboo stake and they are waist high.

Jim

these peppers are like squatty little things ... not full-height peppers ... they're weird ... caging is not even in their neighborhood ... now the tomatoes, well, they sure *should have* been caged ... it's a tomato jungle out there ..

i'll post a pic then you can see ... darlene

{{gwi:93204}}

{{gwi:93206}}

{{gwi:93208}}