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Topping question..

H

Hamuki

Hey THP forum :)
 
I have a question about topping :)
 
Since I live in Denmark the spring and summer is very unpredictable when it comes to temperatures and the amount of sun hours we get pr day..
This summer was great and it was my first year having chillies. (I bought some plants at the local plantshop)
 
But I want to start from seed next year..
 
Would it be a good idea to top off my plants even though I live in Denmark and the chance of good weather isnt the best..?
 
I have seen a lot on Youtube about it, and the plants I had this year wasnt topped and they did not produce much.
 
Can I top my plants in a "cold" clima?
 
Ohh, and can you recommend a good place to buy seeds from in EU? :)
 
~Hamuki
 
Hi Hamuki,

I currently live in the Netherlands and have the same handicap. I'm a fan of topping/pruning but I would recommend not to cut under the First Y split, instead prune above the two branches that come out of the Y. (Above the joints)

You can get pretty good yields, even without a greenhouse. The best advise is to start early, especially with baccatums and chinenses. Annuums are not such assholes and will be quite forgiving for beginners.

For seeds you can take a look at premier seeds direct on ebay. They are cheap with Low postage costs. They don't have really interesting varieties but do carry a huge selection of beginners stuff.

Some Easy and rewarding varieties are jalapeno varieties, cayenne varieties (both very easy) and the lemondrop (baccatum so start early).

Some beginner hots are habanero, madame jeanette and adjuma/aji umba. These will need to be started early. Starting in February should give you enough time (if you fail you have time to retry). Don't prune after May.

Regularly fertilize with tomato fertilizer (start after 6 weeks after repotting to a larger pot, start with a mild mix.. than increase when flowering starts - never exceed the recommended dose, this will kill your plants). Make sure not to overwater.
 
Pfeffer said:
Hi Hamuki,

I currently live in the Netherlands and have the same handicap. I'm a fan of topping/pruning but I would recommend not to cut under the First Y split, instead prune above the two branches that come out of the Y. (Above the joints)

You can get pretty good yields, even without a greenhouse. The best advise is to start early, especially with baccatums and chinenses. Annuums are not such assholes and will be quite forgiving for beginners.

For seeds you can take a look at premier seeds direct on ebay. They are cheap with Low postage costs. They don't have really interesting varieties but do carry a huge selection of beginners stuff.

Some Easy and rewarding varieties are jalapeno varieties, cayenne varieties (both very easy) and the lemondrop (baccatum so start early).

Some beginner hots are habanero, madame jeanette and adjuma/aji umba. These will need to be started early. Starting in February should give you enough time (if you fail you have time to retry). Don't prune after May.

Regularly fertilize with tomato fertilizer (start after 6 weeks after repotting to a larger pot, start with a mild mix.. than increase when flowering starts - never exceed the recommended dose, this will kill your plants). Make sure not to overwater.
 
 
Click to expand...
 
Hey, thanks for the answer  :)
 
I have seeds already from my Jalapeño plant and from my Bhut Orange Copenhagen, but will look at Ebay where you said since I need other than what I have atm  :)
 
I am just fearing the low amount of fruit I got from my Bhut  again  :( I only got 4 Bhuts from my big plant this year. I think it has been started too late, and im thinking of starting on the germination in the last week of December and start with the plants there.
I do have fertalizer and used it this year and it worked great.
 
Just sucks that I cant do topping  :(
 
Or would it be possible if I start earlie like december..?
 
Im danish as well. Pepperlover.com Is praised highly on this forum. They have many varieties, they are cheap and postage is free, even to denmark! Bh-froe.dk Is a danish site run by one of the men behind the Bhut Orange Copenhagen, and his quality should be really good, though I havnt bought from him.
Billiggro.dk has very cheap seeds, but they are not true, so dont count on getting the right varieties.

I dont have much experience with topping. One of my plants had an accident in the spring, and the result was similar to topping. I noticed that it did stunt growth a little, while it was producing new branches. However the additional growth nodes did make it catch up and even outperform some of the other plants. So.. I think topping CAN improve yield, but not if you do it too late or too early.

I started my plants from seed in the middle of february. Check out my glog, i have written dates and my experiences with this years growth.
 
Coldgrowth said:
Im danish as well. Pepperlover.com Is praised highly on this forum. They have many varieties, they are cheap and postage is free, even to denmark! Bh-froe.dk Is a danish site run by one of the men behind the Bhut Orange Copenhagen, and his quality should be really good, though I havnt bought from him.
Billiggro.dk has very cheap seeds, but they are not true, so dont count on getting the right varieties.

I dont have much experience with topping. One of my plants had an accident in the spring, and the result was similar to topping. I noticed that it did stunt growth a little, while it was producing new branches. However the additional growth nodes did make it catch up and even outperform some of the other plants. So.. I think topping CAN improve yield, but not if you do it too late or too early.

I started my plants from seed in the middle of february. Check out my glog, i have written dates and my experiences with this years growth.
 
Thanks mate :) Will take a look at your glog and see if there is more I can learn :)
Click to expand...
 
Wow. First time i have ever seen ebay RECOMMENDED as a seed source. Stay away from ebay and amazon. Check the vault on this site if you need seeds. Better safe than sorry
 
Never had issues with that supplier, only had one bad out come (tomatoes) over literally hundreds of flower, herbs, fruits and vegetables which I bought from them over the years. It's a great source for seeds. They are not just on ebay either, I'm not sure why you would disadvise as you clearly didn't check the shop Information out. Nothing wrong with ebay/amazon, you just need to know who you are buying from... There are plenty of trustworthy sellers on there. Plus, there are few people that can supply seeds for their prices (premier seeds). For about 12 euro you have enough seeds to plant your whole garden + left overs for seed trading, where you generally only get 10 seeds from chiliheads they will sell 30-120 seeds for 1,09 gbp depending on the variety. Postage is only 80 cents usually, no minimum order volume. So please explain why that would be a bad source for beginner varieties like jalapeño, habanero, bird ' s eye demon, cayenne etc.... You can't go wrong for a few bucks.

An other good source is tasty-peppers.nl, it's meatfreak's shop. He has some more exotic varieties with great germination rates.
 
Velkommen fra endnu en dansker :P
 
I agree with Pfeffer. Premier Seeds Direct on www.ebay.co.uk is great. I've bought seeds from them for a couple of years and they've never disappointed me.
 
And then naturally there's the other vendors mentioned in some of the other posts.
 
Cool. Im glad ebay and amazon work out for you guys, i hope that doesnt change. Personally i bought Reaper seeds and Trinidad Scorpion seeds off amazon from seeds direct.. the reaper seeds turned out a form of habanero.. the scorpions didnt even germinate
 
LordHill said:
Personally i bought Reaper seeds and Trinidad Scorpion seeds off amazon from seeds direct.. the reaper seeds turned out a form of habanero.. the scorpions didnt even germinate
Click to expand...
You mention seeds direct. Please note that Seeds Direct (US), Seeds Direct Storefront (US) and Premier Seeds Direct Ltd (UK) are three completely different webshops. Are you a 100% sure it was Premier Seeds Direct from the United Kingdom? If so, please contact Kerry. In my experience they will go to great lengths to make things right as they care a lot about their shop reviews.

I'm asking because you are from the US, so I seriously doubt you bought seeds from the UK (import legislation, phytosanatory documentation etc). Please realise that (incorrect) statements on large forums can have a large (financial) impact on sellers. So always make sure you talk about the correct person/shop - after giving them atleast a try to make things right.

An other Source might be Semillas.de or fatalii. Fatalii is expensive but has some interesting varieties. Unfortunately I had some bad seeds from him (crushed seeds which were replaced and 2x untrue seeds).
 
You can really prune a chile as much as you want, to get back on topic. Prune top and roots equally.

Tepin pruned




Same tepin 10 weeks later


 
This is one of my Habaneros
 
yesterday : same time today
 
NrKPzAC.jpg
 
Pfeffer said:
You mention seeds direct. Please note that Seeds Direct (US), Seeds Direct Storefront (US) and Premier Seeds Direct Ltd (UK) are three completely different webshops. Are you a 100% sure it was Premier Seeds Direct from the United Kingdom? If so, please contact Kerry. In my experience they will go to great lengths to make things right as they care a lot about their shop reviews.
I'm asking because you are from the US, so I seriously doubt you bought seeds from the UK (import legislation, phytosanatory documentation etc). Please realise that (incorrect) statements on large forums can have a large (financial) impact on sellers. So always make sure you talk about the correct person/shop - after giving them atleast a try to make things right.
An other Source might be Semillas.de or fatalii. Fatalii is expensive but has some interesting varieties. Unfortunately I had some bad seeds from him (crushed seeds which were replaced and 2x untrue seeds).
Click to expand...
No, i didnt mean to imply my seeds were from the same company, just sharing my experience ordering from amazon. As i said, im glad you found a reliable source on ebay. Its good that there are people selling quality seeds
 
willard3 said:
You can really prune a chile as much as you want, to get back on topic. Prune top and roots equally.

Tepin pruned




Same tepin 10 weeks later


Click to expand...
Wow, thanks. This helps me quite a bit. I had a coworker bring me their habanero plant for me to over winter.
 
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