Topping Your Plants?

Sick625

Sick625

1. Does Topping Your Plants Really Produce More Flowers/Peppers?​
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2. Have Your Tried It & Could You Tell a Difference & Did You Get More Peppers Off A Plant??​
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Whats Really The Whole Purpose Of Topping Your Plant?​
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Thanks For anyone response im thinking of doing this but i wanna hear from others who might have tried it & worked for them :rolleyes: ​
 
BakersPeppers said:
I top everything i grow....EVERYTHING! :) It promotes a "bushier" type plant...which makes more flowers n fruit...just my "OPINION" ;)
 
 
Dale Jr
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Do You Cut It By The "Y" Shape Part Of The Plant or u doit a different way?
 
The jury is still out.
 
I have topped some plants and it does promote EARLY branching. however I have noticed that my reapers and Butch T's branch heavily on their own without topping. And I am seeing lots of flowers too.
 
I did top one of two tabasco plants and left the other to grow naturally. there is no noticable difference in pod production but this particular instance is by no means definitive.
 
On a similar subject.... If you lay a potted plant down on its side I've been told that will also encourage the plant to branch out from lower down as it is now searching for sun from that point! Has anyone tried this? I've been thinking about giving it a go with one of mine as he's getting tall with only about 4 branches?
 
I would imagine that topping would certainly produce a bushier and thus more fruitful plant IF you have a long enough grow season for it. I experimented this season in Pennsylvania and found that with our incredibly short grow season my topped plants did not catch up to the others. My 4 - 4 1/2 month grow season limits me....
 
ms1476 said:
I would imagine that topping would certainly produce a bushier and thus more fruitful plant IF you have a long enough grow season for it. I experimented this season in Pennsylvania and found that with our incredibly short grow season my topped plants did not catch up to the others. My 4 - 4 1/2 month grow season limits me....
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Also in PA.  I topped 2 bhuts and left 2 grow.  I also topped one of my cayennes and left the other uncut so I could see how both a chinense and an annuum would respond.  I topped these when they were between 4-6".  In the end, I noticed no significant difference in the overall size of the plant or its productivity.
 
There is a noticeable difference in the stalks of the bhuts between topped and untopped though.  The ones that WERE topped have WAY more branches coming out low on the stalk.  The untopped ones have a nice thick stalk that runs fairly high up the plant.
 
I topped the bhuts knowing I would likely be sacrificing some production because of our relatively short growing season in PA, but I also knew I was going to overwinter.  I'm banking on the topped ones coming back from overwintering WAY more rubustly than the untopped ones because of the diverse growth low on the stalk.
 
I suppose I'll have to wait until next season to see if it was really worthwhile.  But if I wasn't planning on overwintering, I'd say it's not worthwhile where I grow.
 
jblo said:
 
I topped the bhuts knowing I would likely be sacrificing some production because of our relatively short growing season in PA, but I also knew I was going to overwinter.  I'm banking on the topped ones coming back from overwintering WAY more rubustly than the untopped ones because of the diverse growth low on the stalk.
 
I suppose I'll have to wait until next season to see if it was really worthwhile.  But if I wasn't planning on overwintering, I'd say it's not worthwhile where I grow.
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I grew 2 bhuts this year and one must have grown 12" before it's first branch and the other started branching right at the ground and has tons of branches. Neither were topped and I only picked one to over winter. guess which one?
 
The more low branches you can get, the better. Topping a plant is supposed to facilitate this.
 
From everything I have gathered as it regards to Peppers is that topping only makes sense if you NEED a busier plant. If you are outdoors with no size restrictions, by all means let it ride. If you are indoors like me topping is a must.
 
Just remember if you top it will take longer to produce the same amount of pods, though you may have more pods on the plant at one time. That does pose some problems with making sure your plant can sustain all of those peppers.
 
But yes topping also changes the plants hormone distribution making undergrowth stronger. 
 
You will get 50/50 answers on this topic Btw
 
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