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To pinch or not to pinch

jetskee

jetskee

Hello, everyone.

This is my first post to the forum, and my 2nd season growing
peppers. Last year, I just started Early Jalapeno and habernero
seeds in flat containers in mid-May, and planted them in raised beds after they got about 6 inches tall.

The haberneros didn't do so hot, probably because I got such a late start...I got three plants about 1 foot
tall that produced peppers, a grand total of maybe 20 peppers.

The jalapenos did well (or what I considered well at the time). The tallest got about 18" tall and had 15-30
peppers per plant at any given time (I had about 20 plants).

All I did was water and weed them, and I had more peppers
than I knew what to do with.

Now, this year, I started seeds in early March for Jalapeno, Big Jim chiles, and sweet bell peppers. Most are in flat containers or little 3" pots still, about 6-8" tall. However, I grew one Jalapeno and one Big Jim in individual 8" diameter pots, and they started to dwarf the rest. I moved them to a 30" windowsill container and took them to work with me. My window gets sun from around 1:00pm until it goes down, and the Jalapeno is now about 20" tall, and Big Jim about 16" tall.
They are AWESOME compared to the others that I have in
flats and small 3" pots which are still only about 6-8" tall
and no buds.

The big guys are both starting to bud and produce flowers, and I've been reading about "pinching" on here and the benefits of it.

Should I pinch those and see how big I can get these plants, or is a 20" tall jalapeno pretty good for only 8-9 weeks old? I would consider them tall and skinny, not real bushy. If I had my camera here, I would post a picture (maybe tomorrow). I plan to keep these guys in my office and let them grow for as many
years as I can keep them alive.

I just find it hard to pinch off the buds, being only my
2nd year and all....

Also, should pinching be done when the plants are not
in direct sun, or does it really matter?

Recommendations? Thanks!
 
I'd pot anything in those 3" containers up if they've been there for more than 3 weeks. I noticed huge growth a week after each pot up. I pinched buds for maybe a month then got tired of it and didn't fight them. As I understand it, potting up will give you MUCH bigger results than pinching buds and letting those plants get root-bound in 3" pots, me thinks.
 
Welcome from Fort Worth...I don't pinch or prune...on purpose... :lol:
 
SumOfMyBits said:
I'd pot anything in those 3" containers up if they've been there for more than 3 weeks.
Click to expand...

Most of my sprouts are in 3" pots, but they are only 5 weeks old and are about 5-6" tall. Should I go ahead and put them in bigger pots and put them outside?

Some of them actually share a 3" pot because I didn't have enough room to dedicate a pot to each and every plant as almost every seed I planted had a sprout and I ended up with over 120 plants in all from a 72 cell seed germinating grower.
 
I pinched a lot of buds this year (first year growing) and have had decent results. Others, like AJ don't pinch a thing. He's had excellent results. In the end I got tired of pinching because it would take 30-45 minutes to go through all my plants and snip each one of the buds. Seems like every time I'd pinch a bud, two more would pop up to replace it.

Dunno if I'm going to bother on the next batch I have coming up.
 
I too am torn on this issue of pinching. I've been doing it on some of my plants, but the one big one I bought instead of starting seems to now be dropping its own flowers for me! I think this is because of the insane rain we've been having.

For now, I'm pinching the first set of buds that show up on my smaller plants, and I'm gonna play by ear for the rest of them that show up.
 
Based on these reponses, I'm going to leave these two big plants alone, and just see how they develop.

I'm going to move the smaller ones out to the raised beds
this weekend, and I will have about 10 Jalapeno plants. I'll
just experiment...pinch on half of the plants, and don't pinch
on the other half, and see the results side by side.

Thanks!
 
LGHT said:
Most of my sprouts are in 3" pots, but they are only 5 weeks old and are about 5-6" tall. Should I go ahead and put them in bigger pots and put them outside?

Some of them actually share a 3" pot because I didn't have enough room to dedicate a pot to each and every plant as almost every seed I planted had a sprout and I ended up with over 120 plants in all from a 72 cell seed germinating grower.
Click to expand...

At only 5 weeks for sprouts that tall you should be fine. I have some like that, and my take is "they are just leggy". At the first sign of roots creeping through the drainage hole(s) of those pots... pot up! That's my take
 
jetskee said:
...
I'm going to move the smaller ones out to the raised beds
this weekend, and I will have about 10 Jalapeno plants. I'll
just experiment...pinch on half of the plants, and don't pinch
on the other half, and see the results side by side.
...
Click to expand...

Very wise, but I'd also test a pot up for a few if these have more than 2 months of growth. (edit: didn't notice you said "raised beds"... forget what I said ('cept for the very wise)... I'm a big dummy.:oops:
 
I don't pinch. The way I look at it is if the plant can support a pepper set it will; if it can't it will drop the flower on its own anyway. Besides, it's too time consuming to perform that many abortions and I think the plant should have the right to decide. :P
 
I dont pinch mine. My plants are inside from start to finish (250W HID) and i cut the new terminal growth (the 2 latest nodes) pretty early in the veg phase and then let them feel some artificial wind from the fan, get a bit thick, bushy, before moved to the final pot (jiffy->pot 1>pot 2>final pot).
 
I always pinch early flowers, and I've done many side by side trials. The plants pinched early are always way more productive for me, but not neccessarily bigger.
 
i only pinch first buds on each plants and that seems to work so far. most annuums are small but loaded with buds now.
 
Just a few pictures for reference, since I had none
in my original post.

The tallest Jalapeno that I potted up.
IMG_9633.JPG


The tallest Jalapeno and Big Jim, both potted up.
IMG_9634.JPG


The tall Big Jim along with smaller ones that I did not
pot up. Quite a difference.
IMG_9635.JPG


The rest of the crop (about 8" tall) that I plan to
plant outdoors this weekend.
IMG_9632.JPG
 
SumOfMyBits said:
At only 5 weeks for sprouts that tall you should be fine. I have some like that, and my take is "they are just leggy". At the first sign of roots creeping through the drainage hole(s) of those pots... pot up! That's my take
Click to expand...

I did notice the biggest one of the bunch had roots growing out of the pot and was about 1" long outside of the pot. I think I may have to bite the bullet and put them in bigger pots. I was hoping to let them grow as long as possible in the small pots so they can stay under the MH light longer, but once I pot up I won't have room for all of them and half of them are going outside.
 
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