How long does everyone pinch the flowers off of your plants? I have some that I've transplanted into 7 gallon containers outside that are about 8 weeks old and roughly about 8 inches tall. I would say that they are definitely too small right now, but when do you quit? Does the stalk need to get to a certain thickness, or do you just wait until they're about 3 months old?
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Pinching buds
- Thread starter RandyYJ
- Start date
I haven't pinched buds, but about the same time my plants started producing buds, the weather wasn't so friendly and anything that flowered didn't have pollen and most buds didn't survive long enough to even flower.... My oldest plants are 4 months old now and are starting to ripen, full of pods and flowers and buds....
I did pinch the top of one plant to see how it affected things, it ended up being the first to flower and set fruit and ripen by about a week....
I did pinch the top of one plant to see how it affected things, it ended up being the first to flower and set fruit and ripen by about a week....
I pinched the first 2 flushes when they were indoors and under 1' tall then i let them grow them out after that. They definately get a growth spurt if you pinch the first couple bud flushes off.
I'm the same way. I start mine out indoors in October and pinch whatever blooms while indoors, then bring them outside after the last frost in March and let them be.
I had some plants that couldn't support the weight of the peppers. I pruned and pinched buds until it seemed like the main stalk was robust enough to support the weight of the peppers. This was the case with Goccia d'Oro and Beaver Dam for me. On the other hand, I did not pinch or prune an Aji Crystal, and it exploded, giving me more pods than any other plant.
I pinched buds until the plant seemed like a good mature size, whatever that means. I say, play it by ear.
I pinched buds until the plant seemed like a good mature size, whatever that means. I say, play it by ear.
It's hard to go by height because if you start them indoors under strong light OR outdoors with long sunny days, they will become thicker stemmed and shorter instead of putting their energy into growing taller. With that written I consider both height and stem thickness and at a minimum pinch off the buds from the first fork in the plant and most off the secondary forks. I do this casually, not vigilantly. That's when the plants are usually around 10-12" tall but it varies by type.
Maybe it's because I started too late and had to deal with alot of heat and humidity, but I've never had to pinch buds.... My butch t recently started branching, if it was earlier I'd consider pinching but I'm wanting/needing a few pods for seed mainly before the winter.... Temperatures are perfect now, low 70s at night, low 80s during the day.... The first set of buds fell off on their own, the buds at second branchings are doing fine....