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Pinchin' buds

ashrikala

ashrikala

Hey guys. I looked around for some detailed info on pinching buds and couldn't find a definitive answer to my question. When should I pop them off? I want my plants to grow not flower! Here's a pic of my very first buds starting to form. Question: When should I neuter these suckers?

PIC:

Buds.jpg


And I found this little guy hangin' out in one of my pots!

Ladybug.jpg


Thanks guys!
 
Well I suggest you keep looking if you want a 'definitive answer'. Some people here pinch the buds while others don't. It seems to be a matter of personal preference. When I want my plants to keep growing, I pinch them as soon as I can get at them.

And put a leash on that little guy before he gets away!
 
As Blister stated, its a personal preference. I pinch off buds as soon as I am able to get to them without damaging the new growth popping up around them. From what it looks like in your picture, you should be able to get to them with a pair of tweezers! Good luck, hope this has helped!
 
Awesome guys. Thanks yet again. This is one of my plants i'm going to pinch. Just wondering when I should. I'll get at em as soon as I can. I have 6 of these same plants that i'm doing a little experiment with. If anyone cares this is what I'm doing:

1: Pinched top early (1mo.) + pinching buds
2: Pinched top early (1mo.) no pinching
3: Pinched top when first buds show + pinching buds
4: Pinched top when first buds show no pinching
5: No top pinching + pinching buds
6: Left alone to grow au naturale

I'll post my findings with pics when I see some major differences! Oh and my ladybug friend left :( Shoulda found some aphids for it to munch... :lol:
 
personally if you are going to pinch blooms, I'd go the easy route. Let it flower and if it forms a pod, pinch it, or at least wait for the flower to fully form. Makes it easier to reach them. If you wait for the pod to start, it is less work as the plant has a tendency to drop a few anyways.
 
Hmm that makes me wonder. So when do the plants actually start shifting their energy into reproducing as opposed to growing bigger? I was under the impression that the sooner you pop off the buds, the less likely the plant would worry about budding and continue growing. Any thoughts guys?
 
Matt Berry said:
personally if you are going to pinch blooms, I'd go the easy route. Let it flower and if it forms a pod, pinch it, or at least wait for the flower to fully form. Makes it easier to reach them. If you wait for the pod to start, it is less work as the plant has a tendency to drop a few anyways.
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I agree with Matt. A flower isn't going to draw too much energy or nutrients like a pepper.
 
This is the 1st year I've ever pinched buds. I think it helped on most of my plants. The plants got bigger and I had great pod production. I only pinched for the 1st 2 weeks.
 
Hmmm, maybe I'm wording it incorrectly. I guess what I'm trying to say is, does the plant shift energy into bud production as soon as they start going, or does the plant itself continue to grow at normal rate + producing buds until they flower? What I'm most interested in is knowing whether budding (before flowering) has any affect on the plants overall growth. I'm sorry if my vernacular is incorrect as I am a noob in plant biology and anatomy.
 
I have 8 plants that are growing and producing fruit and blossoms at the same time. The plant growth still seems to be going full speed ahead. The plants are dropping the majority of blossoms naturally it seems at this point in the plants life, which im guessing to be about 5 months because I cant remember. Since these are the very first hot peppers ive grown, I could not bring myself to pinch any blossoms off of them. This is a very interesting topic though and may try on my other variesties when they get up to size. Ashrikala if you would like to see photo's of how my plants are growing feel free to check out my grow thread. Should give you an idea how they grow without removing blossoms.

http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=14554
 
Interesting FTB! I've seen that thread before. You've got some awesome plants and HOLY HUGE LEAVES! Since I have 6 of the same peppers, and this first grow was started at a weird time (end of season), I'm more interested in trying things to figure out the best method for me. The proof will be in the pudding eventually when these plants get bigger. I just hope they'll make it through our winter here in Southern California. It's not quite the Bahamas in terms of whether, but it shouldn't get too cold. :P

Thank for posting and giving me some hope!
 
I have a few dozen sprouts and as many more germinating. S. Calif weather should be fine. If need be keep them inside by a window, they should be small enough for a few months. Bring them outside as much as possible during parts of tha day that are warm. Wait as long as possible before potting up each time, and then only big enough for a little more growth. Jiffy pots, cups, plastic grow bags, are cheap and small. If you keep them in trays, moving them in and out will be quick and easy. By the time spring arrives in Feb or March you can keep them outside in bigger pots.
 
ashrikala said:
Hmmm, maybe I'm wording it incorrectly. I guess what I'm trying to say is, does the plant shift energy into bud production as soon as they start going, or does the plant itself continue to grow at normal rate + producing buds until they flower? What I'm most interested in is knowing whether budding (before flowering) has any affect on the plants overall growth. I'm sorry if my vernacular is incorrect as I am a noob in plant biology and anatomy.
Click to expand...

From what I've read plants begin flowering based on growing conditions. Some work was done on finding relationship between container size and flowering in sweet peppers. It seemed by restricting root volume with small containers and low nutrient concentration will induce early flowering, fruit set and maturing. Flowering could be delayed by planting in larger containers with higher concentration of nutes. However delay was only significantly noticed in first flowering. As delayed plants got older they were able to set more total flowers and fruit set than the restricted plants. Also plants in larger containers were larger in size.

It seems once the plant reaches an equilibrium it can handle vegetative growth concurrently with fruiting. Developing peppers do compete with leaves for nutrients. So you can direct plant's utilization of nutrients toward vegetative growth by pinching the young fruits. I wouldn't worry about pinching buds since some buds shrivel up on their own or flowers drop as others mentioned. It's the actively growing fruit that draws nutrients.

Keep us updated with your experiments.
 
SanSoo said:
I have a few dozen sprouts and as many more germinating. S. Calif weather should be fine. If need be keep them inside by a window, they should be small enough for a few months. Bring them outside as much as possible during parts of tha day that are warm. Wait as long as possible before potting up each time, and then only big enough for a little more growth. Jiffy pots, cups, plastic grow bags, are cheap and small. If you keep them in trays, moving them in and out will be quick and easy. By the time spring arrives in Feb or March you can keep them outside in bigger pots.
Click to expand...

Cool San, Let's hope El Nino brings us some wacky warm weather for the winter! Thanks, I'll pot up slow. Something I failed on with these. Luckily they've been growing well.

thaichillihead said:
From what I've read plants begin flowering based on growing conditions. Some work was done on finding relationship between container size and flowering in sweet peppers. It seemed by restricting root volume with small containers and low nutrient concentration will induce early flowering, fruit set and maturing. Flowering could be delayed by planting in larger containers with higher concentration of nutes. However delay was only significantly noticed in first flowering. As delayed plants got older they were able to set more total flowers and fruit set than the restricted plants. Also plants in larger containers were larger in size.

It seems once the plant reaches an equilibrium it can handle vegetative growth concurrently with fruiting. Developing peppers do compete with leaves for nutrients. So you can direct plant's utilization of nutrients toward vegetative growth by pinching the young fruits. I wouldn't worry about pinching buds since some buds shrivel up on their own or flowers drop as others mentioned. It's the actively growing fruit that draws nutrients.

Keep us updated with your experiments.
Click to expand...

Awesome thai! I'll keep this in mind. Thanks for answering my question. I'll pinch accordingly and post up when things start happening.

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!
 
ashrikala said:
Interesting FTB! I've seen that thread before. You've got some awesome plants and HOLY HUGE LEAVES! Since I have 6 of the same peppers, and this first grow was started at a weird time (end of season), I'm more interested in trying things to figure out the best method for me. The proof will be in the pudding eventually when these plants get bigger. I just hope they'll make it through our winter here in Southern California. It's not quite the Bahamas in terms of whether, but it shouldn't get too cold. :P

Thank for posting and giving me some hope!
Click to expand...

I imagine the climate in Cali should be pretty similar. I know when I liveed in South Florida for a few years, the humidity and summer heat was just as miserable as here :lol:
 
hehe. I hate super humid climates. Take a shower, dry off, get sticky and take another shower in 30 mins. Luckily our heat over here is a bit dryer. But I guess being on a beautiful island would make up for all that... :)
 
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