Bamboo cages

The giant marconi peppers are really developing rapidly now, and putting out loads of buds. As the plants are not fully mature, I will limit the number of peppers to between 12 and 20 per plant. If they continue to grow and produce I intend to let them develop up to 40 peppers per plant. (think positively)

Although they do not require support at this stage, the small fruit is developing quickly, and with even that limited number I thought it would be wise to put supports in place.

I decided on simple quick support of bamboo forming a tee pee. To hold the tee pee together at the top I used a circle cutter to cut 2.25" circles from scrap lumber. The circles have 5/16" holes drilled to hold the bamboo in place.

This approach turned out to be so quick, simple and sturdy I decided to use the the same support for the tomatoes. Last year I constructed a frame with bamboo using the holes in the Autopots and wire ties. It was pretty elaborate and cumbersome.

These may not be pretty, but they sure are easy to install...