Topping makes me nervous....

nubster · Jun 22, 2015

I guess hacking up plants that you have lovingly nurchured over the months can be a little unsettling for a first timer...I guess I need help deciding if I should cut or not. I have a good 2.5 to 3 months of growing season left. Largest plants are about a foot tall. Smallest are just 3-4" tall. Should I do anything with them yet or at all? Trim some leaves, full blown topping, let nature take it's course?

Here's some pics of the plants just to get an idea....

TNKS · Jun 22, 2015

YES!!! pinch'em off and let them rock
Its not that big of a deal really,makes some damn fine bushs that hold more pods
Come winter they are dirt anyways and then you do it again next season

Clip off those big shade leaves and resources will go else where
There is nothing to shade at the stage just let'em roll . . . . . . .

President Trump · Jun 22, 2015

You have absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Those plants look very nice and healthy and will be even better after topping them. Go for it!

Pariah · Jun 22, 2015

I top my plants. I know it is scary and hurts your feelings at first, but you will only benefit from it. All that energy will be redirected into branching out new limbs and they will explode with new growth.

moruga welder · Jun 22, 2015

i don't know what you will do , but i would definitely pull that yellow leaf off . being only 2.5 / 3 months left . and your first grow i would leave them , the shoots will still grow out . just pull the leaves off that block any light to them . maybe top 2 . i topped my jays peach scorpion / ghosts but with 6 months of grow left . i'll put a pick of one on in a minute .

Vicious Vex · Jun 22, 2015

I am going to be making the topping plunge here soon. Some really spindly plants hopefully will get reigned into some nice bushes. I'll be sure to take pictures.

nubster · Jun 22, 2015

Well...deed is done. Figured this was a good time. I watered them earlier today with a little fertilizer and now that the sun is down, they won't get beat up by the heat right after going on the chopping block. I didn't top any of them...just thinned out the bigger leaves and I removed any branches that were coming out of the base of the plant so they are all single stemmed. First cut was hardest...but got easier after that...lol

As far as growing season...I probably underestimated that. Really here we can grow into October...even November sometimes. It's just that the daylight fades earlier into September but there's usually no threat of frost until late Oct. or into Nov....most years.

moruga welder · Jun 22, 2015

heres my Jays peach scorpion/ghost . i topped it in march .

these 2 aren't topped , all the same age , one is ( judy's ) chocolate bhutlah , the other is yellow primo .

nzchili · Jun 22, 2015

I consider topping a "step sideways" .
It will set the plant back a bit, and it will branch out in time anyway.

its the middle of winter here, and most of my plants have already been pulled & thrown in the compost already, but this one here was NOT topped, (and the fact it has no leaves) IMO shows quite well that they can and will branch out anyway.

moruga welder · Jun 22, 2015

nzchili said:
I consider topping a "step sideways" .
It will set the plant back a bit, and it will branch out in time anyway.

its the middle of winter here, and most of my plants have already been pulled & thrown in the compost already, but this one here was NOT topped, (and the fact it has no leaves) IMO shows quite well that they can and will branch out anyway.

hey ! is them chills i see hanging around ? lol

nzchili · Jun 22, 2015

moruga welder said:
hey ! is them chills i see hanging around ? lol

yea i have quite a few just hanging around on bare plants lol..
iv got too many peppers in general, that many will just have to rot

Twice the Spice · Jun 22, 2015

I was skeptical about topping. That is until in april one of my foot tall butch t plants fell off a table and broke off 2" above the soil, nothing left on it but 1 leaf. Now it has about 30 pods forming and a good 100+ flowers definatly going to push out more pods then the other plants. I'm a convert, topping from now on for me.

Geonerd · Jun 23, 2015

They seem rather small. If I ran the zoo, I'd wait a while and just encourage them to grow as much as possible. Tearing off food producing leaves probably won't help that cause.

You might try giving some of them the FIM treatment in a few more weeks, then comparing the results over the rest of the season. Next year, you'll have a better idea of what you want to do.

D3monic · Jun 23, 2015

People on this forum top weird. Should be just pinching off the top newest growth at the node or fimming like geo mentioned. I see too many basically chopping plants in half at old growth stem with a bare stick poking out to sky. Smh

moruga welder · Jun 23, 2015

Twice the Spice said:
I was skeptical about topping. That is until in april one of my foot tall butch t plants fell off a table and broke off 2" above the soil, nothing left on it but 1 leaf. Now it has about 30 pods forming and a good 100+ flowers definatly going to push out more pods then the other plants. I'm a convert, topping from now on for me.

topping is fine as long as you have a decent amount of grow time .

Geonerd said:
They seem rather small. If I ran the zoo, I'd wait a while and just encourage them to grow as much as possible. Tearing off food producing leaves probably won't help that cause.

You might try giving some of them the FIM treatment in a few more weeks, then comparing the results over the rest of the season. Next year, you'll have a better idea of what you want to do.

+ 1 i never pull lower leaves on such small plants .

Geonerd · Jun 23, 2015

moruga welder said:
topping is fine as long as you have a decent amour of grow time .

+ 1 i never pull lower leaves on such small plants .

Oops, I think that was the wrong verb. 'Tearing' might suggest stripping most/all of the leaves.

IMO, while a little FIM action is fine, radical 'topping' makes me cringe, and I'm not a fan of stripping under any normal circumstances.
Plants put a lot of effort into making leaves, to rob them of those resources can't be good.

nubster · Jun 23, 2015

Geonerd said:
They seem rather small. If I ran the zoo, I'd wait a while and just encourage them to grow as much as possible. Tearing off food producing leaves probably won't help that cause.

You might try giving some of them the FIM treatment in a few more weeks, then comparing the results over the rest of the season. Next year, you'll have a better idea of what you want to do.

Well...too late for that. I already chopped. Didn't top anything, just thinned out the leaves and exposed the small leaves that were being shaded by the older big leaves...some where not in great shape and needed removed anyways. I only did the largest (oldest) plants on the top row. The smaller plants I left alone and will let them grow more until I decide what to do with them.

Gotrox · Jun 23, 2015

Leaves are the engine of photosynthesis. Cut them off and the engine stalls.
Topping however, forces the plant to make new tops---2 from every pinch.

I top my big ones at 3, 5, and 7 leaves-----smaller ones in flower pots I top for height whenever it suits me.

Naturally bushy peppers can get out of hand and need some support, but others seem to like it.

Just don't do much trimming when in flower.

IMHO, those were perfect looking plants, a topping would have made them branch out more before forking.
Yes, you removed the shading of the inner stem, but also removed the power source for promoting them to grow out.

nubster · Jun 23, 2015

Gotrox said:
Leaves are the engine of photosynthesis. Cut them off and the engine stalls.
Topping however, forces the plant to make new tops---2 from every pinch.

I top my big ones at 3, 5, and 7 leaves-----smaller ones in flower pots I top for height whenever it suits me.

Naturally bushy peppers can get out of hand and need some support, but others seem to like it.

Just don't do much trimming when in flower.

IMHO, those were perfect looking plants, a topping would have made them branch out more before forking.
Yes, you removed the shading of the inner stem, but also removed the power source for promoting them to grow out.

Oh well...live and learn. I didn't kill them at least. They look great today when I checked on them. Guess we'll see what happens now.

Geonerd · Jun 23, 2015

nubster said:
Well...too late for that. I already chopped. Didn't top anything, just thinned out the leaves and exposed the small leaves that were being shaded by the older big leaves...some where not in great shape and needed removed anyways. I only did the largest (oldest) plants on the top row. The smaller plants I left alone and will let them grow more until I decide what to do with them.

Oh, THE HUMANITY!! :scared:

I'm sure they'll be fine.