I started some pepper plants indoors and some have very long skinny stems with leaves closer to the top. They seem perfectly healthy and are growing but I'm nervous to plant them outdoors without taking some kind of measure. Can I bury some of the stem? Or should I just stake them? Or what?

Did they get sufficient light when they were growing inside? It sounds like they are "reaching" for light.

I wouldn't bury the stem (you will end up with stem rot and dead plants). Just plant them in a sunny spot and in rich soil, and lightly stake them if you feel that's needed. I'm not sure I'd even bother with that, depending on how much leafless stem there is.

Wondergirl, there is about 4" of leafless stenm. AND the stem seems incredibly skinny... BUT they seem to be growing well and have good leaves up top. I guess I will just stake them. They are exotic and the seeds were on the expensive side, which is why I was asking, I don't want to lose them altogether... Thanks!

We had a real gloomy spring, and I later compensated for it by getting a grow light. Whether it was sufficient or not I don't know, maybe not... I just want to save them as they were expensive seeds to buy and irreplaceable!

Actually some have almost 6" of skinny leafless stem... is there hope?

My tomatoes and this particular variety of pepper seemed to be harmed the most by the gloomy spring. I have other plants that did fine. I just can't afford to lose this set of crops as it's been a lot of time invested with a rather short growing season!

My husband agrees that you should stake them if the stems seem awfully long. Lots of sun and good soil may help the plants get stronger and bushier as they grow and before peppers develop.

:) thanks, will do. Hope it works!

Incidentally how thick should a 6 week old plant be? Pepper and tomato?

Incidentally how thick should a 6 week old plant be?? pepper and tomato??
Tomato -- like a woman's baby finger? Pepper -- like a straw? Is there a plant nursery around you somewhere or a farm bureau/extension office?

***ADDED*** Check out this site --

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/pepper/2002070404022556.html

Ehhh, they are waaayyy skinny then... crap... more like a swizzle stick... with leaves from 4 to 6 inches up top... healthy though, and still growing...

Are you in an area that won't get any more cold weather overnight? If the weather is good, I'd get those babies out into the sunlight and good soil real fast.

How did you start them? Have you ever started plants from seeds before?

First time starting indoors... I'm in zone 5... NY. They are exotics too... I had good luck with some and have put them outdoors already but some not...

I grew up in western NY, so I sort of know about the weather there. And I can always call my mom or brother!

Do you have styrofoam cones to put over the plants at night if colder weather is expected? I'm guessing they will do better outdoors than indoors.

I'm interested to know what kind of "exotic" peppers you are growing. My husband is currently growing bhut jalokia's (ghost chilis), the hottest pepper on the scoville unit.

Me too... and Peter Peppers...

Actually my bhuts are doing great, it's some of the others I am worried about.

A complete list of the peppers I am growing is: bhut jolokia (no problems, except a bit of sunburn, as they have recently been put outside), Peter peppers (look like a penis when grown), Atomic Starfish and Bishops Crown. It's mostly the Peter Peppers I have had an issue with being stemmy, and I had some white habeneros started but none of them germinated properly (they came up but didn't grow right), I think it was the seed stock. Some of my toamtoes suffered, I was growing a White Bianca and an Italian Ice cherry tomato, only one Italian Ice survived the wet, dark spring. I started new ones, whether they will be OK in enough time is yet to be known.

Yeah, I know they should be outdoors by now, it's just that I've been nervous to do so with them being so stemmy. I guess I have to though, I'll stake them. I don't think they could survive in even a slight wind/rain storm as of now. BUT nothing ventured, nothing gained, I can put some out in different areas to see how they do. Thanks!

Just a thought, what about growing them upside-down like tomatoes? I've heard for doing this with virtually every plant, just not heard of specific container sizes and success rates. I am growing my bhuts in a 5 gallon container upright, but I wonder about upside down? I know their roots, and some other pepper roots, like to be kept warmer than usual. Seems prime for that.