Pinching off...should I?

[Adrian]

Should I be pinching these guys off? there's about 5 or so buds, and one of them is about to flower. These are grown indoors with no fans using 8-inch pots, and from the soil to the top of the plant, they are about 8 inches tall, with the widest span about 8-10inches.

 

[teh purple penguins]

it would help your plant produce more later if you did since the plant will get larger

 

[Sid03SVT]

its a tough choice; it can help them produce more later, but if you dont pinch them off you can get fruit earlier.. you should have a fan on those however to stimulate stock thickening, otherwise they may be too weak when fruit sets

 

[TXCG]

its a tough choice; it can help them produce more later, but if you dont pinch them off you can get fruit earlier.. you should have a fan on those however to stimulate stock thickening, otherwise they may be too weak when fruit sets

QFT

Fatter stems = fatter fruits
fan = fatter stems
∴ fan = fatter fruits

 

[Adrian]

do you physically just rip off the stem+bud or stem+flower? and how many times do you do this?

 

[Pepperfreak]

Adrian, this was my first year starting from seed and I too had this dilemma and I found that this was a difficult chore to do because it seemed so cruel. But, the plants that I did pinch off the buds turned out to be quite productive. For me I used a small pair of scissors that simply cut off the buds. I did this until it was almost time to plant out. Nice looking plants BTW

 

[LUCKYDOG]

I dont know if made that much of a difference honestly - once they started growing and blooming it seemed they were all on the same page. I noticed the first fruit set didnt do that well on the ones I didnt pinch still grew though

 

[Chiliac]

Some people swear on it and I have been doing it, too. I didn't note any positive results, though. Dave DeWitt once said that the only difference it is gonna make is that you'll harvest one pepper less!

 

[fineexampl]

Every plant i've pinched off or cut back has always grown back to triple the size it was before i did. I did this with my bhuts and they're now producing ALOT, but my dumb luck is that it's too late in the season and i won't have but a few ripe fruits.

So yes, pinch it back. If it were me, i'd just cut the first 2-3inches off the top. It'll grow back. The plant looks very happy and healthy.

Example, if i don't pinch back my basil, it produces like crap. If i do pinch it, i get quadruple the volume i would have if i didn't.

 

[Chiliac]

Oops, thought he was asking if he should pinch off the first flowers. Sorry!!!

 

[Adrian]

So, do I pinch back all the the buds currently on the plant, or just a few? and is this only done once?

 

[LUCKYDOG]

He is talking about the flowers. Pinching the plant top will make them bushy-ier

 

[rainbowberry]

I've never pinched flowers off, they tend to just drop off themselves for me.

 

[LUCKYDOG]

It does seem as though the early flowers do drop in most cases. In my experience I havent noticed a marked difference

 

[ABurningMouth]

Just twist 'em off.
That thing has some fat stems already.

 

[Adrian]

I'm going to try cutting 3" off the top and put some cloning gel and stickign it in a small pot, then i'll have the best of both worlds I guess.

 

[Chiliac]

That is definitely going to make the branches on the side grow much more, your plants look pretty bushy already, that should add to it!

 

[Omri]

I personally am against pinching, cutting back or any other physical intervention. I manipulate mine with different types of lights, temps and nutrients.