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Regarding the pinching off of buds...

huntsman

huntsman

...does this really make a dramatic difference to the size of the plant?

I feel like a pervert of some kind, creeping up on my kids and ripping out their unborn foetus'...

Do you fellas generally remove all buds, and if so, until when?

Or do you have a bush that you allow to fruit, whilst performing abortions on the rest?

:crazy:
 
My plants are starting to bud (15-30cm tall) and i pinch/cut off some, but some are so tightly bunched or close to new foliage that i can't get to them easily. So i'm also interested in if it's really worth it!
I have been cutting all that flower though.
 
Pinching buds will definitely make the plant taller and bushier IMO...

If you are going to pinch the buds, you need to think about when you want to harvest peppers...then back up from the number of days to maturity and quit pinching then...

I don't pinch them much and get two months good harvest twice a year because of my long grow season...they would probably produce straight thru but the July and August heat kills me....
 
I'm a big believer in pinching early buds, especially on C. annuums. I usually pinch for a couple of months to avoid small early plants and pods, and let the plants develop into production machines for the rest of the growing season.
 
Absolutely!!!!

You will have a shriveled little runt of a plant with 5 or 6 ripe peppers, or a bush that produces hundereds.

If the plant can make 2 or 3 ripe pods, it thinks it has done it's reproductive job.

Pinch buds, and it will try to produce tons of peppers so that a few of them survive.
 
I guess an important question is this:

Where can I find out how many days to maturity on the different varieties? (I'm sure they all differ, right?)

Thanks for the answers, fellas!
 
The days to maturaty is usually written on the back of the seed pack, but failing that, there are a number of good sites that list it as well. thechiliman.org is the first one that comes to mind. You can search the different types of peppers and may find a review or background on the pepper in addition to the growing times.
 
Oh, ok thanks Blister.

I thought perhaps the different species had the same germ times but obviously not...

@ cheezy...

Why do I ask about the maturation times? Unless I know which matures when, I'll probably bugger it up, so I need the times, but I'll check out Blister's recommendation...

@ AJ - We have similar temps to you. How would that affect my bud pinching?

Would I stop pinching X amount of days before the hottest part of summer, and remove all pods when mature, and then pinch again until X amount of days before the end of the season? Is that how you get two harvest periods?

Just to clarify -

Is the maturation calculation taken from the day the hook is first seen, and if not, when?
 
huntsman said:
Just to clarify -

Is the maturation calculation taken from the day the hook is first seen, and if not, when?
Click to expand...

I believe it is from the date you plant out. They recommend starting them something like 8 weeks before you plant them outside. So...if it says 90 days then the total time would be around 5 months.
Hopefully someone who knows for sure will chime in.
 
I think Josh is right. I count days to maturity (for my tomatoes) from the day of "transplant" which is when they go into the ground. I guess peppers could be the same.
 
That certainly makes sense, and chiliman.org also suggests it's from the plant out date, so I'm going to use that, then!

Thanks!
 
I stop pinching at plant out....
 
I think another thing to think about here to is that you can have very twiggy plants and be only a foot or so tall (in my case) and still produce. The key though (and I know now) that if you even pick off the first set of buds you will be helping yourself and the plant. The main goal of the plant is to grow fruit and reproduce and by you picking the buds causes new growth to the plant which in turn will cause more buds to pop. Simple math says more buds = more fruit, given the proper conditions and other factors of course.

To clear it up and if I understand correctly if you start the seeds indoors on Feb 1. and put them out April 1. you have about 90 days from April 1 for them to reach maturity which sets you back to July 1 (roughly of course). Now in my neck of the woods it gets colder right around sept./oct. As of now I am harevsting and if I wanted to go by those dates I just posted, I could in theory pick buds for 2 months.

I have never done it but I think I may next season. I think to be safe I would say a solid month or picking should give huge results. Guess there is only one way to find out. You could always designate one plant as you "test plant" so if you have 5 Jalapeno plants you could designate one of them to be the one you pick buds off of and that way you have something to compare and see the difference and if it doesnt work out, well your only loosing out on one plant.
Hope all of this info helps. This is only my first year and have a lot to learn so I may not be 100% on everything but I felt I would throw in my 2 cents. Good luck.
 
I pinched for the 1st time this year and had great results. Over 3500 pods from 40 plants so far. Of course the Pro Mix BX I used had to help. I pinched for about 2-3 weeks after they went outside. The plants got bigger than ever.
 
So then I wasn't all that far off when I said to do a month to be safe. :D 3500 pods from 40 plants, that is amazing. I had 25 plants this year (my first time) and though I had great results I would be surprised if I got more than 100 pods. On an average you got almost 87.5 pods/plant. Man I couldn't imagine having even half that from my plants. Next year I will be aborting for a month on all my plants. :D
 
bigt said:
I pinched for the 1st time this year and had great results. Over 3500 pods from 40 plants so far. Of course the Pro Mix BX I used had to help. I pinched for about 2-3 weeks after they went outside. The plants got bigger than ever.
Click to expand...

Geez. Thought you wrote 3500 POUNDS - almost wet myself:shocked:.

I haven't pinched as yet, but with results like yours, I just might give it a try next year.

Way to go.
 
Sharing is caring, right?!

Great to read these suggestions, and I will certainly pinch everything off until I plant out, at least! ;)

Thanks, guys!
 
One of the things I read in another thread was to pinch until the plant was at it's average size... that is what I'm doing.
 
That would sound like a safe bet to me. After all the goal here is to not to just have your plant produce hellish amounts of pods but even more so to be able to support itself along with the production of its pods. That time of pinching until the plant is its average size may still even fall in the 2-4 week period that has been somewhat established in this thread. Give it a try then report back with your results. :D
 
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