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Praxxus pruning method for pepper plants

PepperJam

PepperJam

Saw this youtube video on another pepper forum and it looks very promising. Has anyone tried this? I'm going to be doing it for my a few jalapeno plants and a reaper to see how it goes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6ckg4Vh9ga8

and here is what i did today

cracked jalapeno from pepperlover - before pruning
BDC4FA1A-33D8-49AB-9E29-F234B51EAF1B-3201-00000251DA44E744_zps3eb73a54.jpg


after pruning
5FF23256-8480-4E44-9B8F-D675358AA896-3201-00000251E2D30E8C_zps83b60cf1.jpg


i did that to my biker billy, zapotec jalapeno, and 5-gallon reaper too. I have a reaper in a 10 gallon root pouch that i have left alone. Each of these pair of plants are in 10 gallon root pouches and i put them in pairs just to increase my yields. This is a great way to compare how pruned vs non-pruned goes.
 
i didnt watch the whole thing, but wow, hes droping the entire apical bud? that's way drastic imo... at the very least wait untill you have lateral buds, and then make the cut just above the buds. i suspect hes setting the plant back several weeks doing that.

you dont have to decapitate the plant to release apical dominance btw. you can accomplish that in many ways, but i suspect hes chasing astetics more so than maximizing yields.

personally i prune based mostly on what type of plant it is. anuums with heavy fruits get all of the lower laterals removed at the main stem. i will do this untill the plants can keep the fruits off of the ground easily.
later on i will remove the apical growth that is tending to grow laterally outside the area where the plant can support the fruits without breaking branches.
when the plant gets too dense, ill make a bunch of thinning cuts removing dense growth towards the bottom of the plant, taking the shoots back to a node close to the stem somewhere.




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He has several videos that show the progress of this plant and it is rather impressive. This plant gets huge.
 
I plan on pruning this way. It seems drastic, but following his videos for almost a year, his results are great. Heck, even if it just makes for stronger limbs, I'd be happy.

As far as setting the plants back, he starts really early indoors, so maybe that helps.

He's recently just begun a side-by-side grow of two plants, one will be pruned his way and one not. I'm curious how it will go!
 
I have done it and it works. Is it the best way, well if you want a short bushy plant then it is not bad. LST (low stress training) works better IMHO
 
Proof is in the pruning. Take a look at Spicey Chickens 2013 glog. I pruned all my plants and within 1-2 weeks and have had great results so far. Looking forward to summer once they start to bloom.
 
I had a potted up bhut that fell off a wall during a thundestorm last year and snaped in two, 4'' inches from the soil. It didn't put out pods until VERY late in the year, but was the bushiest plant of the season.
 
Below is from the other thread on topping, but this all stems from Praxxus:

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Ok, I have been topping all of my plants this year. The first topping happened when my plants reached somewhere between 6-12" tall. I have started doing the 2nd topping now about 3-4 weeks later. I have also been pretty diligent about plucking off the flowers as soon as I see them, however when dealing with 200 plants that can be a little difficult LOL.[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]When topping I cut about 1" above the 4th leaf. this should (Most of the time) give you 1 base growing leaf on 3,6,9, and 12. If some of these leaves turn yellow, or look odd it is ok. As long as the plant has grown other leaves in the meantime to help with growth you should be ok. I have seen other people cut their plants down to sticks leaving no leaves at all. 100% of the time I have lost the plant when I try this method. This is what works for me, and possibly not others.[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Here are a couple plants I have topped:[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]
20130406_180738_zps989810b6.jpg
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[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]
20130406_180820_zpscb75bf5e.jpg
[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]
20130329_185420_zps1acb7be4.jpg
[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]
20130406_180929_zpsf1cb5096.jpg
[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Single plant Jalapeno[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]
20130406_180910_zpseaeadd55.jpg
[/background]
 
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