pruning Espelette leggy pruning advice

R

rantoie

Hi all!
 
I'm growing peppers for the first time. I've got a few fire balls going and then a couple not-so-hot, but nice heirloom Espelette peppers (from the Basque region of France). They are growing well, and now have reached the stage where they are putting out flowers and one even started to produce a pepper. I think it might be too early and the plant needs to concentrate on getting stronger, so I was going to prune or top them. I started reading around in the forums and watching videos, and people tend to be saying that I should find the lowest pair of 'true leaves' and there will be a joint there where I should cut about 1cm above.... however, these Espelette peppers don't have much in the lower regions because they have a fairly long stalk and not many leaves below. I uploaded a picture here: https://imgur.com/vJlNMpk
 
Where should I cut these? The one with the pepper already doesn't have a leaf until 4 inches up (its a little hard to tell that from the picture), and the yellow leaf there is because I accidentally grabbed it with the vacuum :o
 
I've already picked off the flowers that were forming, but have left the pepper. I haven't been spraying these, should I? I have added some bonemeal to the soil.
 
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
:welcome: to T.H.P. !    :onfire:     probably wouldn't cut them,  unless you have the lights for the growth . need to get your lights closer & put a fan to them ( light )  this will sturdy them up . 
 
moruga welder said:
:welcome: to T.H.P. !    :onfire:     probably wouldn't cut them,  unless you have the lights for the growth . need to get your lights closer & put a fan to them ( light )  this will sturdy them up . 
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Thanks!! :party:
 
I dont have any lights, just working with the sun coming in the windows. A fan you say.... interesting.
 
Should I keep that pepper on there, or pinch it off so it can concentrate more on hardening up?
 
rantoie said:
 
Thanks!! :party:
 
I dont have any lights, just working with the sun coming in the windows. A fan you say.... interesting.
 
Should I keep that pepper on there, or pinch it off so it can concentrate more on hardening up?
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whens plant out date ?  also having a shorter growing season , i might not pinch them now . 
 
Do you mean when will I plant it outside? I'm unsure, but maybe not for another month at least. It snowed here the other day! 
 
My thai pepper plant survived the winter inside!
 
rantoie said:
So people don't prune or top off their chillis here? It seems like a lot of people do that!
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They do... I do as well. Your plants dont look they need to be pruned. 
How long have the plants been in those pots? 
 
1) definitely no neeeeed to prune those guys
 
2) since the plants have split already, into two main branches, the plant basically pruned itself for you - in some sense
 
3) HOWEVER, if you want to prune just for the sake of scientific experimentation, I'm all for it! Though, usually when you experiment, you need to be ready to accept loss. But this, specifically, will be a safe venture.
 
 
 
No need to pull the pepper growing now, it will either fall off on its own because of low light or it will be small (usually that first pepper, if it sets, is stunted. Or, in some way different than the fruits that will follow - first fruits are not usually true-to-form). But you will get a sneak peak into the taste and heat of the peppers to come! Though, you can expect more from later fruits.
 
 
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