container Young plants questions (topping, pinching, watering a wilted plant)

[kizonis]

This is my fifth year growing, but only the second year doing things properly (grow light, heating mat, etc.) These plants were planted two months ago, and most will be moved to my terrace on Wednesday. Before doing that, I have some questions to make sure I'm doing everything right.

Soil: BioBizz Light Mix, extra perlite, thin pine bark (for the cats and to keep the surface drier)

Fertilizer: BioBizz Fish Mix earlier, Fatalii EasySlo and worm castings when repotted.

Temps: 23C/73F day, 15C/59F night (Greece)

Plant A (Aji Mango)

This one started forking a bit too high imo. I wouldn't mind it, but things can get windy on my terrace and I'm afraid the wind will mess it up. Would you advise topping it, and if so, where should I top it?

Plant B (Jalapeno Orange Spice)

Not sure how visible that is, but buds have started appearing on this one. The plant is still very thin, so I would pinch the flowers to promote growth, but I'm hearing that there is debate as to if this would benefit the plant.

Plants C & D (Bhut Jolokia, Madame Jeanette)

These will be moved to my yard for some further hardening before going to the terrace. I'd like to water them before I leave for a week's vacation, but I'm afraid that the leaves will be damaged from lying on the wet soil. Are there any tricks for watering them?

Plant E (Tabasco Bonchi)

No question here, just proud of my Bonchi. After a couple of weeks with no real growth, it started going crazy lately!

Thanks for reading!

 

[HerbCasa]

They are doing pretty good
Love that Bonchi
Questions
What are all the sticks in the potting soil?
Have you tried to get the plant to plump up?

Maybe pot up so they don't wilt
Then you can top and repot it

 

[kizonis]

The sticks are just some bamboo skewers, they are there to deter cats from using the plants as their litter...
Not sure what you mean by plumping up, is it something that has to do with watering?
As for potting up, these are already 5.5 gallon pots, this is going to be their last destination.
The two wilted plants were potted up from 1 gallon pots very recently (3 days ago), maybe that's why they look like that. I'm just wondering how I should water them if the leaves are touching the soil.

 

[HerbCasa]

Yes
If they unwilt and are healthier
Then you should be okay.

Rather, than pruning or cutting the plant while it's in the wilting, may shock plants already stressed.

U can set pots on saucers to bottom water.

 

[MarcV]

That bonchi is indeed very nice!
Personally I would leave the plants alone unless you really need to for some reason. Some people claim that topped plants produce more pods but I haven't noticed much difference in that respect. I topped my plants to keep the size small while it's still too cold to put them outside. Topping them may also be an advantage if you want to create a bonchi at the end of the season as branches will form at low height.

 

[kizonis]

Re: topping. My terrace has a lot of open space, and it's not well protected from the wind. If it were a fully developed plant, with a thick trunk and all, I wouldn't mind it being a bit taller. But I'm afraid that wind gusts will torture it, and I will be away for a week...

I am still torn, I wasn't planning on topping this year because I started my seedlings a bit late and last year's topped plants didn't produce that much. But if I decide to top this one, I'm not sure where exactly I should do it.

Here's how the top of it looks:

 

[CaneDog]

It's not always easy to figure out where to top a pepper if you choose to top it. That one's going to be challenging to figure out and may no longer be a great candidate for topping at this stage.

Because it doesn't show much development at the nodes already, it likely will branch from only the top 2 or maybe 3 nodes after topping. That means a higher topping isn't likely to accomplish what you want. Because it's a fairly big plant now, it has a lot of energy in the roots and a low topping (or any topping to a degree) will likely result in the 2 to 3 branches that develop (what I expect, anyway) will grow quickly, with longer spaces between the nodes and without the sturdiness you seem to want. When this happens, it can require a second topping of the branches that divides the energy more to get the sturdiness. This further delays progress.

If I were to top this one, I think I'd top it either above or below the growth node with the red circle around it - it can be hard to tell without seeing the plant in person. Then I'd be sure to get it under reasonably strong lighting to minimizes stretching as much as possible. I might be inclined to just stake it really well like you're doing, though.

 

[kizonis]

Understood. I guess I'll choose the uncertainty of the wind against the uncertainty of the plant growth then. I added an extra Velcro tie closer to the top to secure it, and placed at the least windy part of the terrace. Let's hope it holds up...

I also pinched the tiny flowers that started appearing on it as well as on the Jalapeno. Not sure if I should keep doing this though (and for how long). Never had flowers forming that early on my plants, I guess doing things a bit more properly this year has sped up the process by a lot.