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Stem pruning

Has anyone ever pruned the middle stem from their peppers?
 
I have an acquaintance that decided he needed to prune his peppers after hearing that I had cut off a few leaves from mine.  He wanted 'big, bushy' peppers along with huge harvests.  So, with that in mind, he assumed cutting more is better.  Sure - but the whole middle stem?  I think he cut ~2" down leaving ~1" and 2 leaves on the plant.
 
Do these plants have a chance?  I told him to save a few plants without pruning just in case he might need them if he pruned too much off.  I don't think he'll send me any pictures until his plants are 'big and bushy'.
 
They should pull out of it. I smoked a plant with the weed wacker last summer and it bounced back after around a month. The plastic twine wrapped around the stalk and ripped it to shreds. I thought it was a gonner but apparently not.
 
If any growth nodes remain, it will send out new branches from those nodes. Growth nodes are like out-dents along the stem, and those are the only places new growth will come from. If no growth nodes remain, however, it has no place to put out new branches so he night as well toss it.
 
A lot of people "top" their peppers for the same reason as your acquaintance, but they don't usually top that soon or that far. 
 
Maybe this will help. I had an overwintered Bhut Jolokia from last year that refused to put out any new growth so I decided to chop it's head off and it bounced back very quickly. I made my cut halfway up the main stem.
 
Here it is about a week after axing it.
DSC01483_zps6b437da1.jpg

 
And now, about 3 weeks later (on the far left)
DSC01564_zps4430e116.jpg
 
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