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Pinch off flowers?

N

newbiepepperguy

I've got a couple Cayenne plants that each have a half dozen or so flowers already, and based on the buds that haven't flowered yet, it seems like I'll probably have no less than 24 on each plant by the time I plant out into raised beds in 2 or 3 weeks. Should I start pinching off the flowers, or leave them be?
 
Other plants have buds too, and most look like they will have at least a handful of flowers by plant out time, but the Cayennes in particular are just growing like crazy, so I didn't know what the best thing to do might be.
 
let em flower. if its ready to fruit...it will. otherwise it will just drop the flowers.
what size of container are they in? they must be happy?
 
Malarky said:
let em flower. if its ready to fruit...it will. otherwise it will just drop the flowers.
what size of container are they in? they must be happy?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the quick reply.
 
They're in 4 inch pots. They're probably 10 inches tall or so. Not sure what made them go crazy like this. Nothing else is close to as tall or flowering nearly as much, and they're all in the same pots with the same growing media/lights/nutes etc.
 
I've got a lot of different kinds of hot peppers - off the top of my head, 2 kinds of Jalapenos, Poblano, lemon drop, tabasco, thai, hab, red hab, JPGS, Scorpion, and even a different kind of Cayenne (Joe's Long Cayenne).
 
They're all in Miracle Gro Potting Mix, under T5s, and getting CNS17 Grow for nutes.
 
Could just be especially good seed for yield, I suppose.
 
That said (and especially based on your comment about annuums) the next best growth does seem to be in the Jalapenos and Poblanos.
 
newbiepepperguy said:
 
Thanks for the quick reply.
 
They're in 4 inch pots. They're probably 10 inches tall or so. Not sure what made them go crazy like this. Nothing else is close to as tall or flowering nearly as much, and they're all in the same pots with the same growing media/lights/nutes etc.
Click to expand...
 
I'm thinking a 10" plant in a 4" pot has felt the restriction and that is forcing it to bloom.  I would pinch the early flowers off to redirect the energy into building a stronger plant. Try pinching flowers off a few/some and leave some as is. Mark the plants you removed the flowers and follow during the season to see if there is any difference in production.
 
 
 
Repot them if possible and let them be ... They won't just flower once and then be done ... If the conditions are right they will flower all summer ... The stunting of a chilli plant isn't caused by early flowering but it is mainly caused by root restrictions/poor root health
 
Valleyman said:
 
I'm thinking a 10" plant in a 4" pot has felt the restriction and that is forcing it to bloom.  I would pinch the early flowers off to redirect the energy into building a stronger plant. Try pinching flowers off a few/some and leave some as is. Mark the plants you removed the flowers and follow during the season to see if there is any difference in production.
 
 
Click to expand...
 
Thanks. Pinching one plant and leaving the other would be informative for next year.
 
Trippa said:
Repot them if possible and let them be ... They won't just flower once and then be done ... If the conditions are right they will flower all summer ... The stunting of a chilli plant isn't caused by early flowering but it is mainly caused by root restrictions/poor root health
Click to expand...
 
Thanks. What size pot would I need? They're going in raised beds in a couple weeks.
 
Two weeks is a long time if a plant is rootbound... If it's not I'd wait but if it's stunted already I wouldn't want my quality to suffer from not up-planting for the next two weeks
 
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