I moved into a now home a few months ago that has a small raised bed with a few jalapeno pepper plants growing. This has been my last priority moving into the new house, so they haven't been touched since Thanksgiving.

Should I just pull them and plant new in a few weeks, or should I do something to get these plants to produce again? Help me Make Jalapenos Great Again!

I'm a heavy pruner guy. I would cut them way back. When I have over wintered in the past my pruning would look like the pic below. I also top all my new pepper plants prior to planting. Last year I cut back my habanero and serrano plants in July like in the pic. They exploded with growth and produced more fall peppers than I could keep up with. Late March I would hit them with a good dose of higher nitrogen fertilizer then move to a more balanced fertilizer when they start blooming.

So Derek when you say you are topping your pepper plants prior to planting, can you explain exactly what is this process?

Right above the 3rd set of true leaves. Start at the 2 minute mark. This is exactly how I do it. Check out his growth after he tops them.

Ive never done that. I will try that this year. Thanks Derek

I failed to mention and I didn't see him say it, but he does it, Always make an angled cut instead of a straight cut.

Well i pruned the pepper plants yesterday as the pepper geek suggested. Hope it works.

Take a pic today and another in 7-10 days and see how they look. I'm going to try and get mine done this week. I like to try and top them a couple weeks prior to transplanting them outdoors, if time allows.

Well poo. I planted them right after I clipped the tops off them.

That's no big deal at all. You might see some stunted growth in the next week as they are going to put their energy towards some extra root growth for the extra branching it's about to support. As long as the temps stay warm they will take off soon.

Do rabbits eat jalapeno leaves? I walked out yesterday and one of my plants was stripped bare. No leaves left at all. Nothing fell on the ground, they are just gone. Looks like Derek's pick after he trimmed them.

Rabbits will hammer down on them. Couple years ago a buddy of mine setup a game camera and caught them eating them. Tomato hornworms will also devour pepper plants later in the season. So be prepared for them.

I'm gonna build a blind for the kiddo and his red rider bb gun.

Barbers Tree. With the cold spells we had my garage temps weren't where I wanted and I'm running behind on the growth I wanted. I didn't top until tonight and after they were in the ground a week or so. Peppers a tough SOB's and will rock this year. This is my Serrano.

Mine are coming on now to.