I know most chilli growers probably already know this but topping your plants is remarkable.The number one reason is yield.....it is vastly improved by topping. I sound like captain obvious to a lot of you but I see tons of plants on here that aren't topped so I'm just throwing it out there.I'm sure some varieties take to it better than others and also maybe it's a time thing because winter rushes up on Ya and topping takes a bit longer for harvest.
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topping is the only way
- Thread starter FROG DOG
- Start date
Most people prune too late and set back their plant instead of guiding the direction of growth when its young.
"Cosmetic" pruning is a good thing too, not letting the plant go wild in width or height so branches won't break when it pods up like crazy.
Applied correctly, its a good thing for sure. Is it mandatory all the time? no.. some plants naturally grow just right.
"Cosmetic" pruning is a good thing too, not letting the plant go wild in width or height so branches won't break when it pods up like crazy.
Applied correctly, its a good thing for sure. Is it mandatory all the time? no.. some plants naturally grow just right.
   I almost never top pepper plants (I used to, though). The ensuing over-bushiness and low branching that forces new shoots (and subsequently, pods) to grow in contact with the mulch and rain splash create nothing but problems with rotten pods, foliar disease and insect damage.Â
   I prune my plants so that they (depending on the variety) have no branching below about 4-8" above ground level. Sure this means that my plants will have to wait an extra week or two before they really start to bush out, but it all comes out in the wash. Pepper plants are going to bush out and produce lots of pod-bearig shoots - if a plant is healthy, it will do this regardless of any tinkering on behalf of their grower. A plant that isn't topped just happens to produce its bushy, pod-producing growth a little further above ground than a topped plant - simple as that. Â
   If you think i'm full of feces (I usually am), and this is all hyperbole, feel free to check out my glog http://thehotpepper.com/topic/44657-dash-2-2014-youre-doing-it-wrong/?hl=%2Bdash+%2B2+%2B2014.
   I didn't link to my glog to to show you that is this is the only way to prune your pepper plants, just to give you an idea of what the other side of the coin looks like. My plants' canopies are all (pretty much) safely out of harm's way of rainsplash and slugs that want to crawl up leaves and pods that are dragging on the ground. Also, lifting the plants' crowns off the ground facilitates airflow under and through the plants' canopies. This allows rain and dew to dry off the plants a lot faster than if they were all bushed out at ground level. The less time a plant spends with wet foliage, the less of an opportunity foliar pathogens have to get a foothold.Â
   Last and not least, when a plant is young, the nodes on it's central stem are very close together. When a plant is topped, all the new shoots are forced to grow from this clusterf**k of nodes all right next to each other on the main stem. As stated above, this impedes airflow through the plant. Also, all those crowded side shoots have to compete with each other when they all originate from the same place at the same time. This leads to weak, leggy growth with poor attachment points to the main stem. This is a recipe for branches that bend down to soil level, or worse, break off altogether.
   Maybe a topped plant produces more pods sooner, I dunno. Mine never did. My less drastically pruned plants have produced a metric shit-ton so far this year, with no signs of slowing down. Maybe if I had topped them I would've gotten a pods a week or so sooner. But the amount of lost pods due to BLS and slug damage that could have resulted from topping probably would have negated any gains.
   I prune my plants so that they (depending on the variety) have no branching below about 4-8" above ground level. Sure this means that my plants will have to wait an extra week or two before they really start to bush out, but it all comes out in the wash. Pepper plants are going to bush out and produce lots of pod-bearig shoots - if a plant is healthy, it will do this regardless of any tinkering on behalf of their grower. A plant that isn't topped just happens to produce its bushy, pod-producing growth a little further above ground than a topped plant - simple as that. Â
   If you think i'm full of feces (I usually am), and this is all hyperbole, feel free to check out my glog http://thehotpepper.com/topic/44657-dash-2-2014-youre-doing-it-wrong/?hl=%2Bdash+%2B2+%2B2014.
   I didn't link to my glog to to show you that is this is the only way to prune your pepper plants, just to give you an idea of what the other side of the coin looks like. My plants' canopies are all (pretty much) safely out of harm's way of rainsplash and slugs that want to crawl up leaves and pods that are dragging on the ground. Also, lifting the plants' crowns off the ground facilitates airflow under and through the plants' canopies. This allows rain and dew to dry off the plants a lot faster than if they were all bushed out at ground level. The less time a plant spends with wet foliage, the less of an opportunity foliar pathogens have to get a foothold.Â
   Last and not least, when a plant is young, the nodes on it's central stem are very close together. When a plant is topped, all the new shoots are forced to grow from this clusterf**k of nodes all right next to each other on the main stem. As stated above, this impedes airflow through the plant. Also, all those crowded side shoots have to compete with each other when they all originate from the same place at the same time. This leads to weak, leggy growth with poor attachment points to the main stem. This is a recipe for branches that bend down to soil level, or worse, break off altogether.
   Maybe a topped plant produces more pods sooner, I dunno. Mine never did. My less drastically pruned plants have produced a metric shit-ton so far this year, with no signs of slowing down. Maybe if I had topped them I would've gotten a pods a week or so sooner. But the amount of lost pods due to BLS and slug damage that could have resulted from topping probably would have negated any gains.
For me non topped > topped - I am with dash on the nasties it causes me
ÂZoli said:
   That's what we arborists like to call "crown shaping" and "tip weight reduction". Both good techniques to employ when maintaining an "orchard" of pepper "trees"!Â
millworkman
eXtreme
I dont top, my plants naturally bush out once outside and have multiple main stems without worrying about it.
I don't top, or bottom, or side because my Charlie Brown Christmas Special pepper plants are already such a source of shame and despair for me that intentionally cutting off any of their abysmal growth threatens to cause the blackness in my soul to engulf my very existence.
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Also, I've heard that once you've started trimming the bushes it can be hard to stop and I'm not sure I'm ready for that level of commitment to grooming.
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Also, I've heard that once you've started trimming the bushes it can be hard to stop and I'm not sure I'm ready for that level of commitment to grooming.
hah hah hah, that last line reminds me of one of my favorite jokes as retold by Norm McDonald.Wulf said:
http://uproxx.com/tv/2014/07/screw-it-lets-all-watch-norm-macdonalds-legendary-moth-joke-again/
When talking yield you should give specifics like type of pepper, yield w/o topping, yield with topping, and any environmental conditions that deviate from *normal* such as a short season or temperatures outside the range peppers do best in. Otherwise we don't know what you're really comparing.
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We've discussed topping countless times previously, but briefly, topping causes more early branches and nodes for more early peppers, but these branches cannot support many pods without bending to the ground or breaking, nor will they continue to fork new nodes as much as a non-topped plant. If we arbitrarily say two months in a poor grow environment were equal to one month in a good environment (arbitrary because there's poor and then there's very poor), you may do better topping if you have less than 4 good months to grow and far worse with 5 or more good months.
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For example those little side shoots you get after topping would be destroyed if they tried to support something like you see in the following picture. You can constantly stake and tie them for support but they will still be growth limited later in the season.
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We've discussed topping countless times previously, but briefly, topping causes more early branches and nodes for more early peppers, but these branches cannot support many pods without bending to the ground or breaking, nor will they continue to fork new nodes as much as a non-topped plant. If we arbitrarily say two months in a poor grow environment were equal to one month in a good environment (arbitrary because there's poor and then there's very poor), you may do better topping if you have less than 4 good months to grow and far worse with 5 or more good months.
Â
For example those little side shoots you get after topping would be destroyed if they tried to support something like you see in the following picture. You can constantly stake and tie them for support but they will still be growth limited later in the season.
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