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Lower side branching?

hooda

hooda

I was curious to people's views on pruning branches that come out below the first fork branching. I've seen some people's peppers have no branching before the main fork and some just let the plants bush out.

Is there a reason for this pruning or is it just personal preference?
 
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]No, let them be IMO! Im getting a decent amount of flowers on my side shoots! Flowers turn to pods, More shoots= more branching. I let the plant decide what it wants to get rid of except for first buds [/background]
 
It is personal preference. I have a few that are pretty vertical and a few that are busy. Some want that bushy, low to the ground plant, but if I had my choice I would prefer a taller Yd plant. I think it would be much easier picking all the pods off of 2 branches instead of digging through a bush. With that being said, there is no way I am gonna be able to keep up with pruning. I am just letting them go.
 
Normally those new shoots from the bottom grow very quickly and bust through the top of the canopy and make the plant much taller. Normally...
 
Thanks guys, I really didn't have any thoughts about it just was curious what was the overall view was.
 
Another benefit of letting the plant get bushy is better wind resistance. When the lower branches start forming, the main stem gets thicker to support the growth and becomes much stronger.
 
I trim most lower branches, otherwise I usually have a hard time supporting all the branches and they end up breaking or not growing much at all. It really does depend on the species, the variety, and the growing technique. Plants grown close together will not get as much light penetrating into the canopy so side shoots won't grow as well as if the plants were spread out getting more side lighting. When growing under artificial lights, the top of the plant will get so much more light than the bottoms thats I never see much advantage to keeping the lower side branches. They just get in the way and encourage pest and disease near the soil. I've also had great success with adding side lighting to make a bushier plant, but once again these really need good support.
 
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