Short vs tall

[svcook]

I've noticed my seedlings are growing well under my fluorescent lights. Many of my plants have 6-8 real leaves. I'm starting to notice the plants are growing wide rather than tall. Is this bad?

I keep the lights about 1 -2 inches above the plant tops. I assume raising the lights will force the plants up rather than out.

Are peppers better short and fat or tall and thin?

I plan to put pusher in the next two weeks.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jessxcr]

I prefer short bushy plants. There was recently a poll taken on here for this. You may want to check that out.

 

[patrick]

I've always had the taller plants as opposed to the bushier ones. I'm doing things a little different this year though. I'm going to keep a few on the short bushier side, a few tall ones and then hopefully I'll have a few that will meet in the middle.

Obviously the more branches you have the more places for peppers to grow. We shall see how the tall and the bushier compare.

 

[HawaiiAl]

I have my plants close together in the beds 1sq per plant like the plants to grow tall inside, around the outside bushy easy to pick, never payed much attention to the amount of peppers each grows will be interesting

 

[geeme]

The theory is that if it is shorter and bushier, there are more nodes, and therefore more pods. I think it would also depende upon how many pods a plant puts out at a single node. Last year, for example, my jalapenos only put out roughly one pod per node at any given time. I overwintered them though, and they now have as many as 4 pods coming out a single node. Is it because it's a 2nd year plant that I'm getting multiples at a single node, or is it because I severely pruned them at the start of overwintering? Not sure, but is something to ponder.

 

[mega]

Short and bushy!! Keeping the lights very close, and keeping the area on the cooler side, will make them squat and bushy. Higher temperatures and lights further away will make them taller and lankier. I'm a big fan of making them as squat, bushy, and fat as I possibly can. More nodes now = more peppers later.