First buds, too early?

[UnNatural]

The big on is a habanero i planted first week of January. It's about 8 inches tall. You can't see it clearly in the pics because i used my cell phone camera. I'll try to get better pics up. But theres about 8 little buds at the top node. Is it too early for that? Should i leave them be or pinch them off?

I have 2x 6500k 105w CFL's. Mixed in some plant-tone when i transplanted.

 

[Nova]

I would pinch them if you are after a bigger plant, i think AJ pinches his buds if the plant isn't big enough for his liking.

 

[UnNatural]

I see. So i keep pinching them until i like the size of my plant? If they start flowering does the plant stop or slow down with vegetative growth?

 

[Pam]

They may well drop by themselves, but I generally pinch the first few buds a pepper puts out. How do the roots on that puppy look? Sometimes if they get pot bound they'll start putting out buds a little early.

 

[RichardK]

I see. So i keep pinching them until i like the size of my plant? If they start flowering does the plant stop or slow down with vegetative growth?

Last year my Red & orange Habaneros went through dozens of bloom cycles, and since they need to branch out more to grow more flowers, they grew pretty big!

My Habaneros would start growing new branches all over, set bloom and stop growing while the flowers were blooming. After most of the flowers fell off it started branching again. Eventually I put them outside and they started setting instead of dropping. So if they dont have pods on them, after a bloom period ends they will grow outward more, then another bloom period will begin.

When and if they set fruit, the plant will stop branching out and hence cease flowering, and will appear stunted. Toward the period where they begin to ripen, the leaves will even start turning yellow and dropping off, which is quite alarming IMO but totaly normal. As soon as I picked off the ripe pods, the plant began branching and flowing again. The only thing that stopped it from growing bigger was Winter!

 

[Pam]

When and if they set fruit, the plant will stop branching out and hence cease flowering, and will appear stunted. Toward the period where they begin to ripen, the leaves will even start turning yellow and dropping off, which is quite alarming IMO but totaly normal. As soon as I picked off the ripe pods, the plant began branching and flowing again. The only thing that stopped it from growing bigger was Winter!

I just don't see this on any of my peppers. They have peppers in all stages of growth and ripening at the same time, and are putting out new green growth while the peppers are growing. Once outside and in the ground, my plants grow and produce all at the same time unless something environmental, like a cold or heat snap, causes blossom drop or other problems. And I don't see yellowing or leaves dropping when any of the peppers ripen.

 

[RichardK]

I just don't see this on any of my peppers. They have peppers in all stages of growth and ripening at the same time, and are putting out new green growth while the peppers are growing. Once outside and in the ground, my plants grow and produce all at the same time unless something environmental, like a cold or heat snap, causes blossom drop or other problems. And I don't see yellowing or leaves dropping when any of the peppers ripen.

About the leaves falling off, I'm talking about fully loaded Habanero plants, 60+ pods each.

And this happens JUST before ripining, which takes a long time anyway. It makes sense, the leaves dont live forever and drop eventually, and Habaneros take FOREVER to ripen, and since a fully loaded plant stunts growth, there is little to no new leaf growth. So when the older leaves start dropping, the plants start looking a little bare

Loaded Orange Hab from last year, notice the yellowing and no new growth.

 

[Pam]

Why do you think a full load of fruit stunts a plant? It certainly doesn't mine. The pilange I had last summer grew to monstrous size, both up and out, and it never had less than 100 fruits in various stages of development and ripening at one time. If fruiting stopped green growth, it would have stopped growing in May.

 

[thepodpiper]

When and if they set fruit, the plant will stop branching out and hence cease flowering, and will appear stunted. Toward the period where they begin to ripen, the leaves will even start turning yellow and dropping off, which is quite alarming IMO but totaly normal. As soon as I picked off the ripe pods, the plant began branching and flowing again. The only thing that stopped it from growing bigger was Winter!

I have to agree with Pam, I had over 300 pepper plants in the garden last year with over 100 varieties and none of them stopped branching out while fruiting nor did they show any signs of yellowing until the night temps were down in the mid 40's.

UnNatural, if you are just growing these to put outside and are not strapped for space, I say pinch em and let the plants concentrate on growing. I pinch all of my pods and blooms at plantout but I leave them alone on the bigger plants when there in the house to slow the growth and pinch them off on the smaller plants so they will catch up.

Dale

 

[Nova]

Im no expert Pam but i have to agree with you, all my plants keep growing no matter if they are setting fruit or not, especialy my Goats Weed, it is going to be a tree next year. Tabasco does the same, sets crap loads of pods and keeps on keeping on. Probably the only ones i have noticed that slow a little are my Jalapeno plants.

 

[RichardK]

I dont know how much sun your plants are getting, but mine growing between indoors and 7 hours sun outdoors, they stopped branching when under fruitload. I even made a post in here when my plants started getting yellow, and was told it was normal. When I removed the fruit, it took off like a rocket again, new growth the works.

I only know what I have seen and what I'm told

 

[millworkman]

I have buds forming on my jalapeno plants that are only 6 weeks from seed. I am going to let a couple go and pluck some to see if it affects growth at all.

 

[UnNatural]

They may well drop by themselves, but I generally pinch the first few buds a pepper puts out. How do the roots on that puppy look? Sometimes if they get pot bound they'll start putting out buds a little early.

That's probably it. The roots are getting a little tangled. I'm going to transplant it into a larger container this friday.

 

[POTAWIE]

I agree with Pam too, peppers don't go through a bud cycle, they should continue to grow when flowering if they are given required nutrients.
I also agree that you should pick off early flowers if they don't fall off on their own. You want your plants to be a good size before they start flowering or you may end up having a dwarf with only a few pods.

 

[UnNatural]

I agree with Pam too, peppers don't go through a bud cycle, they should continue to grow when flowering if they are given required nutrients.
I also agree that you should pick off early flowers if they don't fall off on their own. You want your plants to be a good size before they start flowering or you may end up having a dwarf with only a few pods.

Cool. I pinched them all off last night. I don't really want them to flower until they go outside, so i guess i'll keep pinching them and letting it get bigger until its time to go out.

 

[hotenuff4u]

so my cayenne has been blooming for 3 weeks now, it's a decent size about 2-2.5 feet tall, and as soon as the blooms get nice and full they drop....avg. outdoor temp 85F, nights are around 72F average. healthy plant, i'm positive the pH and soil is good, i don't think I need to fert it, as it was transplanted right before it started blooming in some "Foxfarm ocean whatever" soil. but it continues to grow and bloom and continues to drop blooms, no fruit yet...should i just wait patiently or intervene?

 

[hotenuff4u]

p.s. forgot to mention. i did notice some spider mites and actual spiders, no aphids, and i think i got rid of them in time, i baby these bad boys, and no leaf damage i can see....but could this be a cause of dropping blooms?