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topping small plants

cycadjungle

cycadjungle

Through observation I've noticed that seedling pepper plants will grow straight up and not branch very often. Once they start to flower, they seem to branch on their own, but there is that one to two month period where they don't normally get bushy on their own.
I'm just curious to see how many people will pinch the tops 1 or 2 times before they start to flower and how many people don't do anything extra and let them do what they naturally do. I can see where the people who grow their peppers as annuals and only keep them for the one crop in the year might not want to cut anything back because that would delay flowering and pod production. For the people who will keep their plants for more than one year, I would think it would be better to start off at once to make a much thicker plant that will produce way more peppers in the long run.
So, what does everyone do here? Tom
 
I've topped all of my Chinenses this year. Each is around 4 inches tall. I may overwinter 1 or 2 but most will be treated as annuals. I do it to ensure that the plant is sturdy and it creates more nodes for flowers to form.
 
Pruning and topping pepper plants allows the plants to become bushier and creates more nodes and flowers which in most cases leads to more pods. + 1 Compmodder. Pruning is also recommended to rid any old, bad, or damaged leaves as this also helps create more foliage. Of course its only recommended to top plants after the form the Y branch from the central stem.
 
megahot said:
Pruning and topping pepper plants allows the plants to become bushier and creates more nodes and flowers which in most cases leads to more pods. + 1 Compmodder. Pruning is also recommended to rid any old, bad, or damaged leaves as this also helps create more foliage. Of course its only recommended to top plants after the form the Y branch from the central stem.
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Why only after it forms the "Y"? Appears most on here top prior to. Maybe i am mis understanding.
 
I was talking about topping after the Y forms. I suppose it would be ok to top before the Y forms. But I think the plant is at the perfect stage of growth to top just when the Y appears. The growth regenerated for me at a very fast rate.
 
I top before they begin to Y in order to make the Y form early/low. I want the Y to start low so the base stem stays short and thick.
 
Here's an example of a Yellow Moruga Scorpion plant I topped 6 days ago. You'll notice that it's not only making the Y, but I've also induced other growth out of the stem. Before I topped it, there was 0 growth coming out of the stem.
2013-04-24%2016.09.26.jpg


Here is the same plant just two days earlier. This gives an indication of how quickly the growth is coming in:
2013-04-22%2015.47.18.jpg
 
Hmmm ok I will have to try that. I didnt think it would help accelerate the growth any. Maybe Im wrong. All I know is the plant I topped just when it Y'ed had crazy bushy growth. So if there is a difference it's probably just a little.

You may make a believer out of me Brian!
 
So what height or age would you recommend topping at? My anuums are about a foot tall and still no serious branching, seem a bit leggy for that far up, especially since they've been going out into the sun and wind daily.
 
I have a few for indoor houseplants.
2 or 3 sprouts together in each pot.
Topping radically.
Just an experiment to see if I can manage to get a nice little bush with a couple types of pepper plants, maybe some small pods through the winter.

For the regular ones waiting to be planted outside----no "intentional" topping yet, but have removed the bottom 3 or 4 sets of leaves to encourage the nodes to grow out on all but the bushy ones---who already have many side growths.
Most are 2' or better and have Y'd. After a month or so outside, I will revisit topping.
 
Too late. Looks like bakerspepper has things down to a science so I took his advice. And I can tell he has experience by his "southern drawl" or any other speech slowing variables. Jk man. Can anyone spell out fimming for me? Does it increase pod yield?

And sorry to double post, but judging by your region you are planting directly outside bob? I have excessive leggyness from grow lamps. Was about to put them out when cold snap with 34F low hit mid april. I having a feeling temps where I live will make growing a bit hard on my greenhorn arse.
 
i topped one of my peach ghost scorpions the other day. the 3 leaves i pinched from the crown had 8 or so leaves come to their funeral.
Planning to top the others this weekend :)
 
Very encouraging and nice analogy George lol. Ideally transplanting should be a breeze since these plants have been hardening two weeks, minimum, longer than intended.
 
[sub]I topped my small plants (about 9 inches, before first Y) and i am certain most died. I had 33 plants and out of them 30 i topped. It Looks like only one or two will make it. I posted Pictures under the in another posting a few days ago. Since then the stems have started to turn Brown from the bottom leading me to believe they are infact dead. Be VERY careful when considering topping small plants. I went from a good variety of plants to almost None. I am debating starting over but then again it is already almost may.[/sub]
 
jjdillion said:
[sub]I topped my small plants (about 9 inches, before first Y) and i am certain most died. I had 33 plants and out of them 30 i topped. It Looks like only one or two will make it. I posted Pictures under the in another posting a few days ago. Since then the stems have started to turn Brown from the bottom leading me to believe they are infact dead. Be VERY careful when considering topping small plants. I went from a good variety of plants to almost None. I am debating starting over but then again it is already almost may.[/sub]
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I saw your post and it looked like you had no leaves at all on those plants. You want to be sure you have a fair amount of healthy leaves underneath the point you top at. Otherwise there will be no photosynthesis occurring and no new growth.
 
I'm glad to hear that most people are on the same page as I am on this subject. I've been pinching off the tops of the young seedlings at around 4 inches tall and then when those tops branch, I am topping them again. I had done some experimenting with this a few years ago and had a special way to top them that after 2 toppings, I was getting anywhere from 8 to 14 main branches on the plants before they were even 8 inches tall.I found that Red Savinas worked perfectly for this, where Bhut Jolokias didn't do much, so I am working with several types right now, seeing which ones react the best with my treatment. (believe it or not, the Reapers are doing best right now)
I don't know anything about topping them making them die, I have never lost a single plant by doing this at the right time of year, or early in the growth cycle.
I was just curious because I am starting to work on a couple of totally different experiments dealing with apical dominance in pepper plants and how the results of these experiments will exponentially increase the pepper production. If people didn't think topping was important, I wouldn't make a big deal about it, but since most people think this helps, that gets me more motivated to work harder on this.
I just started looking at people's glogs over the last month and I'm thinking about starting one myself. I think there is a way that may cost money, to be able to post pictures directly in the forum instead of having to resize the pics and use a site like Photbucket just to be able to post a picture. It might be fun to show my grow, show my experiments as they happen, (which would then have to include my failures as well as successful experiments), and then of course, show everyone as much pod porn as possible. I know I have some huge pods coloring up already and most everyone from up north only have pics to get them through this time of year.
Anyway, thanks everyone for giving me an idea on what you all do in this situation. Tom
 
My experience only - I try to get first season plants to the next season and I've found less is more. I don't do to much the first season. If I get them to the next season, then I will trim.

In my growing zone, I find that the less I mess with the peppers, the better.

Second year, third year. fourth - different story.

But still, peppers are easier to grow than other stuff I grow.

Just not as tasty!
 
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