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staking chilies

Celeste

Celeste

My dad is going to supply me with bamboo to stake my chilies- how tall are they going to get? I have scorpions, fatalis, Aji limon and habaneros. Dad wants to know how long to cut the stakes.
 
Plant height is determined by quite a number of factors really. I guess you'll want the stakes pretty high, probably 4 feet or so? Unless you are a freak of nature like AlabamaJack or Neil from THSC, your plants are likely to vary from anywhere between 2 feet to 4 feet.
 
cut 'em to 4 ft. Most of those plants will grow around 2.5 - 3 ft, plus you want an extra foot to stick in the ground/container. Get a small number cut to 5 ft and keep them in reserve in your garage, for the occasional outlier that grows taller. You can always swap them in later.
 
i use small stakes because I find that usually I don't need to rely on them too much and if I do as long as the main part of the stem is supported they'll be stabilized. my stakes are only about a foot out of the ground (and 1 foot in the ground)....more than enough to support the stem from blowing which I find is adequate throughout the season unless you're planning on having 6 foot plants like mentioned above.

I'd think that a 3 or 4 foot stake, with 1 foot underground, will do more than what you're looking for.
 
just remember , the shorter they are the better chance you have of poking yourself in the face or eye when you bend over to pick a container up, this I know from experience lol
 
I agree with mega's suggestion. 4' should be good for most plants, but it would be a good idea to have a few cut to 5' for the occasional monster plants. 8-12" should be a good amount to stick in the ground; more of course for longer sticks.
 
any particular advantage to staking?
i've seen a lot of people do it, i've seen a lot of people not do it.

Last year, I had a big, beautiful fatali with 40 almost-ripe pods; a windstom came along and blew it over. Very disappointing. That was my last unstaked pepper, ever. That is the simple advantage to staking.

(the pic at left is from that plant!)

The disadvantage might be that staked plants are a little weaker - they don't toughen up in the wind and get thick, resilient stalks quite as much as unstaked plants. However, tying the plants loosely to the stakes so they blow around a little can minimize this problem.
 
I use 3' stakes. As was said further up, as long as the main part of the plant is supported they tend to hang in there. I think it probably depends on where you live and the intensity of the wind you experience.
Poking yourself in the eye is definitely a concern. I haven't done it yet but came close a few times. The plants eventually swallow them up though.
 
mega said:
Last year, I had a big, beautiful fatali with 40 almost-ripe pods; a windstom came along and blew it over. Very disappointing. That was my last unstaked pepper, ever. That is the simple advantage to staking.
Click to expand...
Ouch... that had to suck. I know the feeling... last year during heavy winds and a thunderstorm, a freaking lawn chair (of all things) blew across my garden, tumbling over a cayenne plant along the way. Snapped the main stem toward the bottom. Amazingly, the plant seemed to take virtually no noticeable damage, and flourished like all the others... all I did was get out there ASAP and stake it real good. I thought for sure it was a goner... and I'll never leave a lawn chair anywhere near the gardens again in case winds get bad enough again to send chairs rolling...

One cayenne wouldn't have been that big of a loss though, since as I mentioned in another thread I was extremely disappointed in them and had way more plants than I needed... I haven't tried the Fatalii yet, but with all I've heard I can't wait.

Getting some nice rainfall finally right now, finally a break on watering (and a far better watering than I could ever do with tap water and a watering can), hopefully we don't get too much though... there's been a couple flood watches around here and it's supposed to rain all week. Hopefully no wicked high-winds/extreme rain storms like last year (which I think was caused by a tropical storm somewhere down south IIRC). IMO, it seems like the worst weather is high winds. Lots of rain is good to an extent, but hgih winds always gets me worried about the plants in the garden.
 
i never used any staking for peppers but some times you need it this year i am growing brazlian star fish C.Baccatum this plant gets over5` most of the time
 
I guess it all comes down to the kind of weather our chillis have to stand against.
With strong winds we stake them.
With very big plants we stake them.
With very heavy producers we stake them.
In the end just play it safe and stake them.

I would sugest a 5 feet tall stake, that way you'll cover all possibilities :)
 
WickedMojo said:
just remember , the shorter they are the better chance you have of poking yourself in the face or eye when you bend over to pick a container up, this I know from experience lol
Click to expand...

lol, i thought i was the only one!
 
I don't usually stake chiles unless they look fragile.
This Bonda ma Jacque had a huge bottom branch break so I supported it with a couple modified tomato cages

2915151074_ef8069c3f7.jpg
 
WickedMojo said:
just remember , the shorter they are the better chance you have of poking yourself in the face or eye when you bend over to pick a container up, this I know from experience lol
Click to expand...

I once poked a lense out of my sunglasses:( You can buy "ends" for bamboo stakes but I generally use hockey tape and roll up a wad
 
POTAWIE said:
I once poked a lense out of my sunglasses:( You can buy "ends" for bamboo stakes but I generally use hockey tape and roll up a wad
Click to expand...

good idea, I was thinking of putting something on the ends
 
I'm planning on staking mine coz they'll be in pots out in the yard. Got enough wood and bamboo from construction that we've dine over the years. We used to build and sell houses.
 
I plan on putting a steel fence post on each side of a row with a cable connecting them , then tie each pepper to the cable! Last year I had to put a cage around my douglah to support it because it was over 6 ft and about 6 ft wide. I planted it in mushroom mix in the ground and it took off! this year I am using 3 gal pots. which I don't like the results in comparison to the ground!
 
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