TMS pinch or not to pinch?

J

JayC

For everyone who has helped this new guy so fare I thank you much. My plants are seriously kicking and everything is green and pretty, and I'm having a lot of fun with this. I noticed tonight that I have what appears to be flower buds forming one of my 12" tall plants. After search about removing them I'm very confused. Could someone help me out?
Kind of funny I have leaves that are much larger than my hand on come of these plants. Doesn't appear to be to common on this variety of pepper....
 
Trinidad scorpion? Yes, i have leaves that are huge on my moruga. Depends on your goals. Are you growing inside or outside. For my outside grows I pinch religiously till plant reaches a good height. right now i have some footlong plants inside that im going to just let pod up because they are staying inside so i want to see what happens. got a hab with like 30 flowers going and only two months old maybe.
 
Yes, I am growing indoor in 5gal buckets. I think I'll just let them go.......just kinda feel like my kids are hitting puberty early....
 
12"?  Yeah let em grow.  They'll flower and grow taller at the same time.  Pepper plants aren't like some "other plants" that only have a grow and bloom phase.  They do both at the same time and for the life of the plant, given the right conditions.
 
Sounds good! I looked again this morning and it appears that I have some buds on all but two of my seven plants. All of them are about 12" tall at this point. Thanks to the tips from members about using fans I feel that they are gaining much strength.
 
Leave them. In fact, because plants intake extra nutrients to grow the fruits, if you ramp up on ferts AFTER they start growing pods they will grow a bit faster, at least until they get used to the new dosage and limit intake.
 
Great! I'm leaving them on and will try to keep them feed after I get some small pods. Here is one of my crazy leaves....Sorry about the light..its bright in there..
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Woah that leaf is huge. If that was up the top id probably snip the leaf to allow light through. How old are your plants? They look awesome. Id let them run. As others have suggested they grow both ways in good conditions.
 
Its about half way up the stem. I planted the seeds on Labor day weekend and they have been inside only. They seem happy in the 5gal buckets. Will I need to go larger pots eventually?
 
Labor day. I was like wow thats some insane growth. Aussie labot day was 2 days ago lol. 5 gal is 18 litres. From a local grower he has awesome plants in 25l pots and they're outdoors. I think you csn definitely get away with those pots for a while.

Was labor day 2nd september? If so you've done some amazing work. Can I harvest info off you? How did you germ, what type of lighting, when did you start feeding and what's your soil mix. My seedlings were planted mid august hooked in about a week or so. Now they're about 3 inch tall lol.
 
Yes, September second. I'm still very new to this so take what info I have with warring that I'm still a noob. The seeds from these plants where from http://www.refiningfirechiles.com/. Germ was by way of Jiffy Pellets. The ones that I purchased did not have a container with them so I used a Tupperware container. After wetting the pellets I just set seeds right in them as the directions on the box, about 1/4 deep. This was all before I joined here to learn. They sprouted out about a week later. I did 12 pellets single seed. All but one sprouted and three others have been runts. Once they were about two inches tall I put them in some 6" pots I had laying around. I used some Miracle grow potting mix...nothing more. http://www.scotts.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-potting-soil/prod70332/7800019
I did make the mistake of using fish fert while they were young and had some issues but found this site and advise of some members and stopped the ferts before it was to late. Here is what I was using...http://www.homedepot.com/p/Alaska-32-oz-Fish-Fertilizer-100099247/100131259#.UlTXTlDbMZk
When they got to about 6 or so inches tall I re-potted to the 5ga buckets. Lots and Lots of roots winding around the bottoms of the small pots. I drilled lots of holes in the bottom of the 5gal with a 1 inch bit. I only had time to do about half of my plants, this was a good thing.The soil that I used was not draining as well as it should have.About a week later I did the other plants but this time I changed up my soil. This time I got some miracle grow without any ferts http://www.scotts.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-moisture-control-potting-soil/prod70262/7800019
This also didn't have an perlite or anything else. So I added some vermiculite and perlite not being sure about which one was best. I'll have to get more picture up so that you see the difference. And remember like I said before this is my first rodeo so don't go off what I did. You just asked me and I wanted to give an appropriate answer..
My light setup is cheap. One of the reasons I started into this new hobby is that my other hobby of collecting antique custom hunting rifles and antique John Deere tractors was putting me in mad debit. With our number two on the way those days are now officially over. So in order to get started with a minimum start up I just purchased T5 fixtures from lowes for $25. I started with one and now I have three for a total of six bulbs that are 6500K. I build a wood arch that they hang from and i can adjust it any ware from the floor of my shop to about five feet. Currently it hangs about 3 inches above my plants. 
Another reason I got into this is my super bright two year old was very interested in her grandparents gardening and has been out there with me everynight in the shop and love talking to "Mr.Peppers".
Currently my lights are on a 17/7 timer and I have a large fan on the other side of the shop that is far enough away to create a kind of non direction wind in the shop.....since I added the fan my plants have been much happier......
 
Sarge said:
Woah that leaf is huge. If that was up the top id probably snip the leaf to allow light through. How old are your plants? They look awesome. Id let them run. As others have suggested they grow both ways in good conditions.
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It does nothing useful to snip a leaf to let light through unless you're trying to grow a short bushy plant because of space limitations inside (multi-shelf grow rack) or high wind outside.  It's the same amount of light either way and the leaf is specifically there because there was light there.  That's how plants work.
 
Snipping instead just steals from the plant a source of energy because it then has fewer leaves, and steals away the benefit of the energy and nutrients it used to grow that leaf, and increases the risk of pod sunburn.
 
Dave2000 said:
 
It does nothing useful to snip a leaf to let light through unless you're trying to grow a short bushy plant because of space limitations inside (multi-shelf grow rack) or high wind outside.  It's the same amount of light either way and the leaf is specifically there because there was light there.  That's how plants work.
 
Snipping instead just steals from the plant a source of energy because it then has fewer leaves, and steals away the benefit of the energy and nutrients it used to grow that leaf, and increases the risk of pod sunburn.
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One can only assume that he is A growing in doors and B because he is growing indoors his space may be confined, hence the suggestion! Its never necessary to cut leaves but can help in the situation I was implying.
 
I understand what you guys are saying. Yes I am going inside but I have no room restriction so size of the plant doesn't bother me. No sniping is going on.
 
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