you can bury the stem, but i would put some rooting hormone on the buried section to make sure it roots as quickly as possible. peppers don't root as easily or quickly as tomatoes.. and if you let the first 3 or so inches of soil dry out it will never root. if you keep soil around the stem moist it sometimes can take 2-3 weeks before it roots and you always run the risk of having the stem rot without using hormone.

Thanks for the quick reply, Stevie. Do you think honey would work as well as rooting hormone? I am doing everything organic, so I would rather not use a bought hormone. Also, just to clarify, you think that I can bury above the leaf points on the lower stem?

Here are a couple crappy photos. Sorry my tape measure is on metric (I live in Japan).

Again, I appreciate the help.

You can bury it up to the first leaf or even take the first two leaves off the bottom and bury it. The stem is still green so you are good, once it becomes woody then it would be too late. It needs to be repotted before you start the hardening off process. I never use any rooting hormone and my plants do fine burying them deeper.

I agree with Habjolokia. You should probably also support the guy with a stick. You can buy foot long bamboo skewers in the craft section of walmart and they are perfect for seedlings. If you are thinking of planting that fella outside any time soon, I would definitely support it or the first wind is going to put it horizontal.

Thanks everyone!

Habjolokia, you recommend repotting before hardening off. what would be the benefit of doing so? I started hardening off three days ago and everything has been smooth so far. I would really hate to repot them for a only a week.

The container is very small, you would have to pay constant attention to it, making sure the mix does not dry out to quickly, if you have the time then that's fine. One hot day even in the shade or dappled sun could be problematic or even kill the seedling. I usually aim for two weeks of hardening off.

habjolokia z 6b/7

The container is very small,

Yup, way too small. I'll betcha' dollars to doughnuts the plant root bound too.

habjolokia z 6b/7

You can bury it up to the first leaf or even take the first two leaves off the bottom and bury it.

Find pots tall enough to accept plant to the height you decide, or plant in ground that deep.

I gotcha. For now my wife is going to be home and keeps an eye on them. I will go dig out some of my larger 10cm pots (they are in 7.5cm now) in the next day or so. It isn't so hot here now, around mid 60's midday, but I guess it is better safe than sorry.

And again, just to be sure, you do belive that burying past two leaf set points (around 4" deep) is alright? I am nervous as can be about this!

Yeah, I was nervous with my leggy new sprouts, not so much with plants as far along as your are.

Same seedling now

You will be fine with burying it deeper.

I would bury that thing up to about 9 or 10 cm. Also, put it in a cup that holds at least 16 oz or half a liter. Bigger unless it will still be more than a few weeks until you plant it outside in the ground or big container for the summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_pimdio-i8
skip to 1:45 for buried pepper stem results.. his plants were only buried 3 inches or so and never rooted.

personally, what i would do is cut the plant in half (leaving at least 3 leaves on the lower section) and make two plants out of it. leave the cut half that is in soil as is, and root the other top half section as a new plant using hormone, you can pickup a small jar at walmart/lowes/homedepot for around 4 dollars.

Stevie, he is talking about mature plants, mature plants have woody stems they look like mini tree trunks. Seedling that are green non-woody are fine to bury deeper, once they get to the stage/age that woody stem appears it's no longer a candidate for burying deeper. The OP plant is still young and green and there will not be an issue.

not to knock the method you suggest at all that is another option that can work also, but not one for me personally.

he planted his peppers deeper while still young in the transplant stage and mentioned they never rooted as he showed in the video. pretty sure he didn't bury a old woody stem plant.. obviously it could be a YMMV type of thing, but from my experience, peppers don't root easily, even in optimum conditions rooting a pepper stem can take 3 weeks or more. the quickest time that i managed to root a pepper stem was 2~ weeks and that is with the use of hormone.

so while burying the stem might not kill the plant, it might not do much for it if you plant it and it doesn't root from the buried section. you might as well just support it with a stake or tomato cage or trying to grow it up a trellis ;)

8crates - From your post I don't believe your goal is to create more roots, but to know if you can safely plant your plants in your garden a bit deeper than in their starter cup(home). You'll be fine burying your pepper plants an additional 4 inches. Yes they'll be a bit shorter to start, but a bit more sturdy against the winds. FYI - you're not a bad pepper mom, I get the run away pepper babies every year, and I just bury them to the depth that creates them a good safe height in the garden or pots with no worries. They will be fine!!

Also I'd recommend putting a tomato cage around it so as it branches out the rings of the cage will hold up the branches from the weight of the bells.

Thanks, Sandy. You are correct that my main concern is the tall, thin seedlings being too weak to survive once they are out in the elements. I really would feel better if they were buried a good ways up their stems. Is it better if I pop off the lower leaves I wish to bury?

I have also went out behind my house and harvested some young bamboo for support poles.

Stevie, at the moment I am a little scared to cut my little guys. I may try one, but it sure terrifies me to think of doing it!

Yes, trim any leaves that would otherwise be buried. Also, if you are going to put them outside soon, make sure you "harden them off" before you just put them out. Hardening off, entails introducing them to the sun and wind slowly and gradually so that they don't get sun burned and the stems have time to harden against the wind.

> at the moment I am a little scared to cut my little guys. I may try one, but it sure terrifies me to think of doing it!

i know the feeling of hacking up a plant, but you'd at least turn one plants into two. i can almost guarantee if you cut the top half off (about 5-6 inches) and root it with hormone, you'll end up with a far better plant with a stem that will grow much thicker. as is, that plant will never get a chance to develop a strong stem to support a good crop of large bell peppers.

I bury every one of my peppers deep paying no attention to to the shape of the stem. No matter how deep you bury it will only help your plant.

I'm curious to know why you think the stem needs to root?

I also would only worry about the roots of the plant drying out ant not the top few inches of soil. Remember the deeper you put the roots in the ground the less you will need to water.

> I'm curious to know why you think the stem needs to root?

why bury it if it's not going to root? if it doesn't root, how is it suppose to "help" the plant? as in use the soil to support an otherwise weak leggy plant?

the deeper you also put the roots the cooler the soil..
guess im not the kind of person to bury a plant deeper just because it can be buried deeper unless it will some how benefit a plant such as tomatoes, which will root in a blink of an eye which results in a larger root system.

it's almost as if some people grow long leggy plants to intentionally bury them into the ground, that is just a bad gardening practice in my opinion.. but hey, whatever floats your boat..

Well, I appreciate everyone's help and I am about to get these planted. I will update later as to whether they survive or not!

I'm confident they will, keep us updated.