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Pinching blossoms

T

Tortelvis Himself

I have some Super Chili Hybrids and Cayennes growing under lights and they are about 7 weeks old. I thought they might have the odd blossom before transplanting but they all have a dozen or more forming. Should these all be removed before they go outside in a week or so? If so, when should a blossom be removed? Some flowers are opening and other buds are tiny and just beginning to form.
 
 
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this topic has been covered over and over again. some say pinch'em others will say leave'em. sometimes i pinch and others i dont. how about piching some and not the others and compare the growth difference then do whatever makes you happy after that
 
Thanks guys. The plants don't seem big enough to support a bunch of peppers and I wasn't sure how much it would grow without the pinching. I'll remove some of the more advanced blossoms.
 
After reading these forums for a while you'll probably come to the same conclusions that I did:
 
 - if you live in an area with a rather short growing season or conditions, you will probably want to let the blossoms remain to start your pod production as soon as possible; the idea being that with a shorter season you will get more pods by starting earlier than pinching and waiting for bushing and re-flowering at the risk of not having sufficient pod maturity by the end of the season
 - if you otherwise live in an area with a longer season, pinching blossoms tends to drive more growth effort from the plant into branching and bushing out, which allows for more foliage, which in turn allows the plant to have greater photosynthesis potential for larger pod yields
 
Since I'm in Florida and it's hot and humid forever down here, I pinch almost everything to make the plants put on more foliage and structure before letting them go into full production.  This year with SO MANY plants on deck I actually plan on doing a mix of pinching and non-molested flowering so I get some now, TONS later.
 
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