Broken plant!

Geonerd

Geonerd

The Horror!!!
 
Sometime in the last hour, in the midst of a mild rain shower, one of my NuMex 6-4 plants snapped in two!  The plants have survived FAR worse from summer thunderstorms, so I'm a bit perplexed.
 
The plant was about 3 feet from ground to tallest leaf, was loaded with ~12 oz of ripening pods, and had been leaning at a ~35 degree angle for as long as I can recall.  The break occurred a few inches above the ground, leaving all the foliage and pods laying on the ground!  The break is clean, in that the material just cracked and let go leaving a crisp fracture at the bottom of the stem.
 
I figure this is 'one of those things' and am not all that bent, but do wonder what, if anything, can be done to strengthen my plants.  Peppers are growing in containers, in a mix of ProMix HP, composted mulch, Ocean Forest, and composted cow poo.
 
Perhaps the soil could use a shot of silicon amendment or ?   
 
I'll post pics when the weather clears.
 
Thanks.
 
Don't know about additives or amendments to prevent that from happening. There's a lot of flexibility in pepper plants but that low to the ground not so much.
Stakes or tomato cages are what I use. Even if the plant gets huge they can at least keep the main trunk from breaking.
Also, leave the rootball in place, there's a good chance that it might sprout new foliage.
 
It happens.  The further out on limbs the peppers get the more leveraged weight on the forks.  Two things you can do is scoot pepper close enough that those extended limbs start to intertwine with the adjacent plant(s) so they support each other and another is aggressive staking and tying of limbs, OR if it gets bad enough, too much weight on ends of limbs, pruning them at the last point of larger pods on  each limb to force the plant to grow elsewhere.
 
Yeah, tomatoe cages are about the best you can do if they're outside. I grow in pots, too, and when I know storms are coming (or too cold or whatever) I just move them into my garage for the time being. Works like a charm. 
 
Regarding your broken plant, you can put it back together using medical tape wound from several inches above to several inches below the break point. (This kind of break is not usually clean, so you may need to go quite a ways with the tape.) Support the top with extra stakes using string to create as many slings as needed between the stakes. If you match the broken pieces well enough (doesn't have to be perfect), it will heal. Any pods on the top should finish ripening, too.
 
Thanks all.
 
I'll stake some of the taller plants, particularly those heavy with fruit.
Some plants are double occupancy in Wallybags, and they naturally tend to grow away from each other. Those I can leash together so that they support each other a bit.
 
At any rate, the rabbits will feast today!   Me too. The pods taste a bit green, but are fully edible.
 
Salsa Verde bro. But yeah in rows of bags some of them kinda fall over. If you turb the plants so they lean on eachother that's cool
 
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