Who Tops Their Peppers?

SvtCobra

SvtCobra

I am curious to know how many top, fim, prune their plants and how many just let em go. Personally I top to produce a bushy plant that can support massive fruiting. It's hard to do to something you have raised so gingerly from nothing but a seed. But I find in the end it really helps.
 
Topped Purple Bhut
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Topped Bih Jolokia
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All My Topped Plants
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First year I did. Second year I tried not too, but they were getting blown around once they got outside so I topped them. They did much better after that.. I was not happy considering I had a fan on them at all times before they went outside. It did essentially nothing to prepare them
 
The jury is still out for me. last summer I topped a few plants and saw a noticeably smaller and bushier appearance but didn't take note of any more or less pepper production.
 
This year I will probably top the peppers on the southern side of the raised bed and leave the ones on the northern side. Hopefully this will give me a tiered height setup and get maximum sun for everyone. 
 
I will top them if they are running out of vertical space and beginning to grow into the lights during their time indoors.  Sometimes deer or tobacco horn worms will do the topping for me... in those cases I find that by September those plants will have caught back up, although the fruit set may be delayed.  That is the main reason its better to top sooner than later if you are going to... it will, by its nature, delay crowning.
 
Never topped mine before ... BUT, I think I'm going to try this year.
 
As Juanitos said, they do get too big inside and are a pain to manage. Last frost for me is May 20th. So, there's a practical reason. Also, some of my plants get very tall but either produce very late and or poorly. So, I think I'm going to experiment with selective topping this season to see if it helps. I also am going to try to space out my plants inside. Instead of a packed tray with 18 4-inch pots, I plan to place a spacer pot in between to allow for more horizontal growth and less tangling. But, that means more space and lights (arghh!).
 
     I never top my plants. In fact the little structural pruning I do is actually the opposite of topping.
     I let my plants grow naturally until they're about four months old, then I remove all buds (leave the leaves) on the lowest 3"-6" of the stem (depending on the size of the plant). Of the remaining buds on the stem, I select maybe 2 to 6 of them (again depends on the size and habit of the plant) to grow on to become scaffold branches. These branch buds are selected based on health, size, and how they are spaced apart on the stem relative to the others I'm keeping. 
     
Lets say I just potted up this guy and am going to determine how I want him to grow. This plant has recently forked, so I know roughly how long the stem is going to end up being.
I would remove all shoots from about the lower half of the stem. Then I would pick probably three or four buds on the upper part of the stem to save. I usually don't keep adjacent shoots and I only keep shoots that are growing in a different direction than their neighbors. 
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     It sounds picky, and it is, but helps my plants greatly in the long run. My pods stay off the ground, I select for strong branches so fewer snap during storms or with pod weight, foliage is up off the ground so slugs can't climb on and rain can't splash it, increased airflow around plants encourages drying after rain or dew and discourages foliar disease
 
 
Here are some plants where you can see the attachments of some of the scaffold branches I left on the stem, below the fork:
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Here's a row in a raised bed:  Having the surface of your soil or mulch open and aired out like this really helps keep things from getting stagnant and moldy during rainy/humid stretches.
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This is a shot of that same raised bed ^ from the same angle, except standing instead of crouched on the ground. I don't believe that topping plants necessarily makes them any bushier, it just seems to make them bush out closer to the ground. Probably a good idea where it's windy and dry, but not smart where I live. BLS loves topped plants. This shot is just to illustrate how far behind they are since I didn't top them. So lanky and thin. I probably won't get any pods.  :mope:
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;)  :D
 
hottoddy said:
Never topped mine before ... BUT, I think I'm going to try this year.
 
As Juanitos said, they do get too big inside and are a pain to manage. Last frost for me is May 20th. So, there's a practical reason. Also, some of my plants get very tall but either produce very late and or poorly. So, I think I'm going to experiment with selective topping this season to see if it helps. I also am going to try to space out my plants inside. Instead of a packed tray with 18 4-inch pots, I plan to place a spacer pot in between to allow for more horizontal growth and less tangling. But, that means more space and lights (arghh!).
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You live in Boise eh? I'm from there, and hoping to get back there once I'm done with school in Utah
 
Mene said:
 
You live in Boise eh? I'm from there, and hoping to get back there once I'm done with school in Utah
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Hi, Mene! Yes. We relocated from Portland about 2 years ago. I'm still adjusting to the growing differences. Last season was pretty good and I also worked as the "pepper manager" at a local farm. It was a learning experience and I got to grow lots of extra varieties.
 
hottoddy said:
 
Hi, Mene! Yes. We relocated from Portland about 2 years ago. I'm still adjusting to the growing differences. Last season was pretty good and I also worked as the "pepper manager" at a local farm. It was a learning experience and I got to grow lots of extra varieties.
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That's awesome! I didn't know there were any other local growers. I should be back next grow season (2017) maybe we can meet up and swap some seedlings!
 
Mene said:
I've always topped mine, but I think this year I will top half and leave half since I'm growing 2 of each variety. This will give me a good idea of what to do in the future. I may put the ones I don't top in cages
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I believe I will do that as well. My next round I have germinated and going on their 3rd set of true leaves, I will leave alone and see what happens.
karoo said:
Only if a lack of light makes them grow to tall and thin.
Nice strong plants like yours I would not, at all.
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I mainly topped because they where staring to flower. And I wanted to give myself some extra time before they have to go outdoors. Last year I did not top and my fruit production was poor. I mostly ended up with huge beautiful trees. Despite the fact they where in low N soil and had plenty of light. So figured this year I would experiment just a little. Only topping half my plants this year and leaving the other half alone.
LordHill said:
First year I did. Second year I tried not too, but they were getting blown around once they got outside so I topped them. They did much better after that.. I was not happy considering I had a fan on them at all times before they went outside. It did essentially nothing to prepare them
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The fan does help a little. But it's nothing like a strong breeze outdoors where the wind shift directions rapidly. After topping these babies the stem went on steroids and got stalky quick. I like a nice healthy thick stock that can support the big plant in its mature stage.
 
Grow enough plants and some of them will top themselves, lol
 
I always end up with some plants topped, though not by choice..dogs, wind, pests...something always happens to at least some of them!
 
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