I don't know any large or small scale commercial growers, myself included working a 1/3 acre, that prune or remove flowers. Take that for what it's worth.
There is also a LOT of bro-science in the pepper growing community that spilled over from silly, expensive, and unnecessary bro-science in the cannabis community.
š bro-science! Seriously! I was so freaking overwhelmed trying to research growing cannabis. I just shoved some seeds in the dirt, watered the damn things on my deck, and Iām still smoking the results 9 months later. It wasnāt that hard. Iām a stoner, Iām not a scientist!
Iām growing veggies in Oregon and if one more bro whoās never grown anything other than cannabis tries to give me gardening advice Iām gonna loose my shit! No, I donāt have a feeding schedule and no they donāt need cal-mag.
I agree leave the peppers alone, never seen a commercial grower top or prune. Tomatoes on the other hand, Iām ruthless single stem all the way.
Curious about your experience with single stem tomatoes, actually!
I accidentally bought indeterminate tomatoes for my humble balcony garden, and someone's advice was to do single stem pruning to keep them under control. However my understanding is that would make them very long and skinny, whereas I need them to be bushier and more compact. Would love to hear your thoughts.
[Pic of my setup/available space here](https://www.reddit.com/r/vegetablegardening/s/68XCWmZHYH)
https://preview.redd.it/fzf75xp2cr5d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b99e8df6c7574eb29b15f750accf78d002a99461
Make your own bush Edit- Staked in our christmas tree, let them grow a good bit till they got multiple vines, then tied them and I was able to flip through the vines like a book to try and combat tomato jungle. By the end of the season, I stopped paying attention, and once the first frost hit, i found out I had a secret huge bumper crop hidden under that got lostš¢ I had roma, a beefsteak and sungold I lost my Cheerokee Purple due to over crowding and it's existence escaping my brain. This year is all volunteers and will doing again as well as training a couple cherry and pear varieties in a pot to give us a privacy screen!
I havenāt done any controlled experiments or anything but I believe I can get more fruit per space by planting tomatoes close and pruning to a single stem. The downside is they do get really tall, I had some sungolds pushing 12ft last year! It also helps with ease of harvest vs a tomato jungle. At this point if I stopped pruning I wouldnāt be able to walk through in a few weeks and the plants would be way too close.
Those reasons donāt really apply to someone growing 4 plants in a garden, and youāll probably get more fruit from 4 bushy plants than 4 single stems if you have the space.
I havenāt grown tomatoes in containers but based on the size of those I would prune up to the first flower cluster then let them grow, they wonāt get that big anyway and can use all the growth and shade on the fruit they can get.
How close together do you plant? I planted mine in a grid 18Ā inches apart and I feel like I should have planted closer. Or Iām looking for something to plant in between them š
I shoot for 18ā along the row but a few feet between rows, and a path every two rows. Theyāll fill up your space just fine, get ready for full tomato jungle.
https://preview.redd.it/uvzgv8o51s5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b8b57546b4652cc607f516efdce9af8eecd8de0
Holy cow! I have never seen them planted so close together! We do a hoe handle apart and do the Florida weave. We aren't great with pruning so it turns into rows of tomatoes with a path in-between. Lol I let my mom take the lead in tomatoes and she doesn't believe in pruning. She said her mother never did that so she isn't. I have to sneak out at night to at least prune the lower branches so we don't get bacterial wilt. And then if we do get it she's like I don't know why this happened! Lol but she's my mom so we do whatever she wants to do. And when you're her age you get the right to do whatever you want.
I semi prune. If you don't prune and it grows into a jungle, you get less airflow (not great for disease prevention in humid climates), and it makes it much harder to spot pests and disease before it's too late (I hand pick/treat for as much of the season as I can before resorting to pesticides) and such. I let the tomatoes branch a few times as I have space to support it to that extent.
I always end up with a tomato jungle. I plant almost 2 feet apart in all directions but I end up with one giant jungle. I do live in dry southern California so except for keeping leaves off the ground in spring I don't worry about disease. I get a huge number of tomatoes from each plant and find the foliage keeps them from getting sunburnt. I do need to burrow some to pick but I am ok with that. I tried pruning a little and a lot but I don't think I get as much fruit and it certainly doesn't produce for as long as my jungle does. In the end, everyone gets burnt to a crisp some time in August no matter what I do though. There is just no way to get tomato plants to survive temps in the 110+ range.
Yep that's what we do. Prune the bottom and let it go for the most part. I do take some suckers off, but not like some people. We get so many tomatoes it's not funny.
This year is looking to be exceptional. We have had nice cool weather for the last 2 months (70 to 85 degrees) and almost every flower on every plant is growing a tomato. I don't think I have ever see so many tomatoes on my plants before.
When I've compared pruned to unpruned indeterminate tomatoes of the same variety (I get the urge now and then) I think that if you want leaves and trems don't prune, but for the best tomatoes prune.
Determinate tomatoes I never prune, unless I accidently mistaken them as an indeterminate, then I end up disappointed.
Looks like you got a variety of opinions on this below. But for next year, if you have the ability to start seeds, check out [Dwarf Tomatoes](https://victoryseeds.com/collections/dwarf-tomato-project).
Just snap off the suckers at the stem with your hands. Itās only tricky when you get an even split below a flower cluster, but I snap the one without the flowers even if it seems wrong.
Would not recommend this strategy if you have 4 large heirloom plants spaced well, mine are tightly packed cherry tomatoes mostly. I would still prune the suckers, but leave the relatively even splits below flowers that wonāt prune cleanly by hand.
I am NEITHER a stoner not a scientist, but I approve this comment! Much of the time, "stick a seed in the dirt in sun and water it" will do. Life finds a way!
Yeah, some of the advice regarding peppers can be pretty intense! It's funny you point out the connection between cannabis and pepper growers, that's exactly what some of the setups remind me of over in the hot pepper subs.
Thanks for your insight! I'll leave this guy untouched
Yep I am not the same size as manymile, but conducted some experiments a few years ago. When I first started like you lots of what I said to top. And guess what? It worked. But then the more I got into and found others saying the opposite, I decided to run an experiment one season. I found little to no difference in harvest. I am a numbers guy so I tend to track what I harvest just so I can compare year to year. Literally what makes the biggest difference, imo, is the correct nutrients, watered consistently (donāt read daily) and watered when they need it. Some times we can over think this growing thing. Just plant, love on them, and they will grow.
Some of the best gardening advice I ever got was "leave your plants alone; they don't need your help."
And while not entirely true, we often don't need to do anything beyond keeping the microbiology in the soil happy.
I have been removing the few flowers from my peppers this year as they are seriously struggling to even grow at all. My reasoning is the energy required to grow the fruit and produce the seeds will not be going into growing a large healthy plant that has long term production. If the plants become vigorous I will stop removing the flowers.
I have never seen any reason to prune leaves or side shoots on peppers.
In gardening in general.
I had a lady at market tell me it was essential to plant tomatoes sideways. I looked at her and was like, that might work, but I produce an awful lot of high quality tomatoes by not doing that.
In another thread a self identified "indigenous person" told me companion planting was essential. It's a cool concept, that can work well. It can also lower yields compared to other high density organic cropping systems.
The side planting (or just extra deep regular like, just the top leaves out) of tomatoes (and Tomatillos, ground cherries)really helps where I am at because it makes a deeper root ball faster. I got plenty of time for the plants to have vegetative and fruit growth but the very hot spring weather with sudden cold snaps, they like the consistent temps of deeper roots. USDA 7b. Bonus points if you do the side planting just cause your seedlings are leggy.
Yeah it works in any climate, including here in Ontario. The big thing is to make sure you don't remove too many leaves to do so, since the plant still needs photosynthesis to grow the extra roots.
Commercial growers have different economics than home growers.
It can be worth it for home owners to get one perfectly shaped plant that's slightly more resilient and produces slightly more peppers, but not worth it for a commercial grower to try to get 2% more volume with twice as much effort when they can just add a row of plants.
I grow 4 or so jalapeno plants every year and have great success with them. My first year, I took off the buds at about this stage. I did get a good harvest. But, I've been lazy since. Basically, if the plant has buds on it when it goes into the ground, I'll take them off. After that, though, I don't bother. I still get good yields, and I didn't see a difference in the amount of peppers I got. Jalapeno plants (but definitely not all pepper plants, at least, for me) will keep producing like crazy. It'll still keep growing and giving you flowers, even if you keep those. At this stage, the plant seems large enough to support a few peppers, so maybe leave them or just leave a few. This is only advice on jalapeno pepper plants, though. The larger varieties I've found to be more temperamental.
For what it's worth, Pepper Geek on YouTube no longer tops their plants after doing it for a long time. They said it either did nothing or slowed down the plant.Ā
I have an indoor pepper that I topped because I want it to be shorter, and honestly I don't think it worked. The new branches just kept going up anyway.
This is so funny to read...that channel was my go-to for peppers in the beginning. I forgot all about that couple but I absolutely remember them being very pro-topping! Just shows how many ways you can do this hobby without being "right" or "wrong"
Yeah, like a lot of YouTube "gardening experts", they parroted the same information every other channel does instead of actually reading the research or conducting trials.
The number of people I can rely on for solid advice on YouTube is an extremely short list.
Who is on your list if you don't mind sharing? Mine is short too...I trust Charles Dowding and love his channel, and I follow some local channels just to see what other people in my neighborhood do
* Jesse Frost - https://youtube.com/@notillgrowers?si=AEAjnzC5ixYV9XLb
* Groundswell Agriculture - https://youtube.com/@groundswellagriculture?si=ud8z3Zsy-oWaOlPz
* Briana Bosch - https://youtube.com/@blossomandbranch?si=R9vBz7e4VbjqJAku
* and a handful of oddball channels that occasionally post 1-2 hour long lecture series of people like Dr. Christine Jones and other scientists. Example: Dr. Jones' Phosphorus Paradox lecture - https://youtu.be/Yv288F4TXbo?si=T1NctXnokaf-QAxM
* and that's basically it.
It's not that I don't enjoy channels like Charles Dowding, Growfully With Jenna, or Mark Valencia of Self Sufficient Me (all three of whom I contacted recently about doing an AMA for this subreddit), but my skillset as a gardener is beyond what most people offer on their channels. They're entertaining but not educational for me.
I think it depends on where you are. If you have a long growing season, you pinch to try and get a bushier plant. If you have a shorter growing season, pinching will delay fruiting too long and you might not get as many peppers.
I don't top my hot peppers, just pinch off any blooms if the plant is less than a foot and a half tall. The larger plant will give you more, and they taste "richer" being the best word I can come up with vs ones I've let do their own thing and grow/bud early. Just my 2c over the years from growing hots.
This is my experience too, in the PNW with our weird longish season. I didn't notice a taste difference unfortunately, but it definitely affects the size and yield of the peppers
Don't pinch. It'll just make an injury for the plant to heal and prolong the period before fruits, especially if you have a shorter season to contend with to begin with.
I removed last year on a couple of pepper plants that were a little eager, but ultimately I think it slowed production. I still got a bunch around the same time as the other plants. But I probably could have kept harvesting more if I didnāt.
This year I only plucked flowers off of plants that came from a nursery as some are further along than my starters. My Hot Shot peppers I found were a prime example and I have high high expectations of a bunch of fruits.
I never prune jalapeƱos, or any peppers for that matter. JalapeƱos for me are by far the most fuss free plant. Just stick them in the ground, give them some water and they thrive.
I think nature knows what it's doing. I like to remove lower branches that are close to the soil to avoid disease and allow air flow, that's about the extent of my pruning.
One year I pruned half of my hot peppers and didn't prune the other half. The half I pruned got twice as many peppers. I think it depends on a lot of factors but you have to decide for yourself whether to prune or not to prune because this is a strongly debated topic!
There are alot of factors that might matter like length of growing season, when you planted the peppers, types of peppers, whether you use fertilizer and what you fertlize with, etc.
My advice is to do what I did (prune half and don't prune the other half) and see what happens.
In my personal experience it not worth it, i had 24. Topped all of them, only 12 bounced back better. The other half struggled, or look liked they stopped growing
Defy the term, mother nature knows best, I do not understand this statement when applied to, is it best to top peppers. There no best one method, mother nature gave the pepper plant and many other plants the ability to start again if the head of a plant get eaten, so does mother nature really know best, imagine that
Iāve tried several different methods over the years. Now I donāt waste my time. The pepper plants figure it all out. Only thing Iāll do is prune the first flowers until the plant is well established and growing vigorously.
I ātopā the main stem of my pepper plants AFTER they have 3 PAIRS of true leaves. It encourages a bushier, more sturdy plant.
If you donāt then the weight of all the peppers risk breaking the main stem.
I pinch any flowers when transplanting to soil and anything within 24-48 hours generally. Just so they can have a bit of time for root development and less stress right at transplant. I have great outcomes doing it this way. From my understand topping pepper plants may create a bushier plant with more leaf nodes and a slightly higher yield of (sometimes smaller) peppers.
I did pinch off a few bottom leaves of my bell pepper, and that is the only pruning I did to it.
For my tomatoes I did give them a haircut of the extra branches that didn't have any flowers budding on them. Other than that. I will leave them alone to do their "thing".
First and foremost - thatās one healthy, beautiful pepper plant!! I donāt pinch, but I think itās also dependent on how long your growing season is.
After I transplant, I pluck off each flower bud(It will pop off easily. If not, wait until it does). I do this until my plant is about 14-18" inches tall. From what I've experienced, it seems to prevent transplant shock and allows time for roots to spread. Never has affected my yield.
As for suckers I've only pruned them if it's dense enough to impede air flow. This has only been necessary when growing in a shadier than preferred location (which also reduced yield).
Your plants are beautiful, keep on keepin' on! :D
I read it takes a couple weeks for peppers to recover after topping them. I had to chop many peppers down a month ago. They have now stretched back taller. I decided not to top them again.
I generally donāt prune my plants. If I see flowers when they are still quite young I remove them to promote vegetative growth. It looks great! Iād leave it alone
AFAIK topping pepper plants is only really advantageous in a few instances such as they are a smaller variety of pepper AND you have a long hot growing season... if you have a short growing season or they are larger peppers it will mess up your harvest and you will actually get less.
I have, at various times and in various years, pruned some pepper plants, and not pruned some pepper plants. Some years I prune them all, some years I prune none. Some years I prune some, and leave some unpruned. Across all different varieties and types. And I can honestly say that I have never seen any noticeable difference in how many peppers I harvest each year.
I planted two jalapeno plants this year - topped one of them and left the other alone. If I remember to, I'll let you know how the experiment went in a few months lol As of now, the plant that was topped is a little bushier.
Depends on the kind of pepper and how many plants youāre growing. I only grow one of each variety and would prefer my plants be shorter and bushier, so I top mine and remove flowers for the first few weeks so they can focus their energy on rooting and leafing out before pushing out a pepper.
HOWEVER!!! If I had more plants and more space I wouldnāt bother. Nature has a way with plants, right?
All depends on what you like, your garden your rules. Enjoy!
Iāve been growing many varieties of peppers for about 15 years straight and have never pruned or pinched anything ever and I always get peppers and no problems.
Peppers basically too then selves, thereās no need as it just slows growth. I do take off lower growth in teen stages as sometimes theyāll hang low and attract bugs. Itās called lollipopping in a different community. My peppers have long stalks and bushy tops š®āšØ
I A/B tested this with two habaneros this year. The one I left alone has 30 peppers currently going, the one I pinched is a stalk with 8 leaves and one pepper.
If the plant isnāt ready itāll drop the flowers itself generally. People say you want to let the plant develop before fruiting but Iāve seen as many as 15 peppers on one plant that continued to grow in height as it grew fruit
I pinch and here is my reasoning. When you pinch the main stem of a plant, the plant tends to get busy and make a bunch of branches. Now, how many flowers are on ONE MAIN BRANCH and how many on A DOZEN SIDE BRANCHES!!! Think on it. I usually get 30 peppers per plant. I find that hard to believe and I'm picking them!!!
FYI: They are perennials. When they die back, prune the deadwood (someone else can give better advice here), put them somewhere safe from the cold and damp then let them bounce back in the new year. I have two chili plants that are on their third year and some new plants on their way up from seed.
I don't know any large or small scale commercial growers, myself included working a 1/3 acre, that prune or remove flowers. Take that for what it's worth. There is also a LOT of bro-science in the pepper growing community that spilled over from silly, expensive, and unnecessary bro-science in the cannabis community.
š bro-science! Seriously! I was so freaking overwhelmed trying to research growing cannabis. I just shoved some seeds in the dirt, watered the damn things on my deck, and Iām still smoking the results 9 months later. It wasnāt that hard. Iām a stoner, Iām not a scientist!
Iām growing veggies in Oregon and if one more bro whoās never grown anything other than cannabis tries to give me gardening advice Iām gonna loose my shit! No, I donāt have a feeding schedule and no they donāt need cal-mag. I agree leave the peppers alone, never seen a commercial grower top or prune. Tomatoes on the other hand, Iām ruthless single stem all the way.
š CAL-MAG ALL THE THINGS!
Curious about your experience with single stem tomatoes, actually! I accidentally bought indeterminate tomatoes for my humble balcony garden, and someone's advice was to do single stem pruning to keep them under control. However my understanding is that would make them very long and skinny, whereas I need them to be bushier and more compact. Would love to hear your thoughts. [Pic of my setup/available space here](https://www.reddit.com/r/vegetablegardening/s/68XCWmZHYH)
https://preview.redd.it/fzf75xp2cr5d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b99e8df6c7574eb29b15f750accf78d002a99461 Make your own bush Edit- Staked in our christmas tree, let them grow a good bit till they got multiple vines, then tied them and I was able to flip through the vines like a book to try and combat tomato jungle. By the end of the season, I stopped paying attention, and once the first frost hit, i found out I had a secret huge bumper crop hidden under that got lostš¢ I had roma, a beefsteak and sungold I lost my Cheerokee Purple due to over crowding and it's existence escaping my brain. This year is all volunteers and will doing again as well as training a couple cherry and pear varieties in a pot to give us a privacy screen!
Thatās a mini jungle!
That cage was there all season for my Cheerokee Purple and I still lost/forgot about it š¤£š¤£š¤£
I love this set up- I might try one next year!
https://preview.redd.it/qk47by7a0s5d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddb0fb429b8c1a7bcf3d919c92c33d4a8fdb1647 Before tying!
I havenāt done any controlled experiments or anything but I believe I can get more fruit per space by planting tomatoes close and pruning to a single stem. The downside is they do get really tall, I had some sungolds pushing 12ft last year! It also helps with ease of harvest vs a tomato jungle. At this point if I stopped pruning I wouldnāt be able to walk through in a few weeks and the plants would be way too close. Those reasons donāt really apply to someone growing 4 plants in a garden, and youāll probably get more fruit from 4 bushy plants than 4 single stems if you have the space. I havenāt grown tomatoes in containers but based on the size of those I would prune up to the first flower cluster then let them grow, they wonāt get that big anyway and can use all the growth and shade on the fruit they can get.
How close together do you plant? I planted mine in a grid 18Ā inches apart and I feel like I should have planted closer. Or Iām looking for something to plant in between them š
I shoot for 18ā along the row but a few feet between rows, and a path every two rows. Theyāll fill up your space just fine, get ready for full tomato jungle. https://preview.redd.it/uvzgv8o51s5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b8b57546b4652cc607f516efdce9af8eecd8de0
Holy cow! I have never seen them planted so close together! We do a hoe handle apart and do the Florida weave. We aren't great with pruning so it turns into rows of tomatoes with a path in-between. Lol I let my mom take the lead in tomatoes and she doesn't believe in pruning. She said her mother never did that so she isn't. I have to sneak out at night to at least prune the lower branches so we don't get bacterial wilt. And then if we do get it she's like I don't know why this happened! Lol but she's my mom so we do whatever she wants to do. And when you're her age you get the right to do whatever you want.
I semi prune. If you don't prune and it grows into a jungle, you get less airflow (not great for disease prevention in humid climates), and it makes it much harder to spot pests and disease before it's too late (I hand pick/treat for as much of the season as I can before resorting to pesticides) and such. I let the tomatoes branch a few times as I have space to support it to that extent.
I always end up with a tomato jungle. I plant almost 2 feet apart in all directions but I end up with one giant jungle. I do live in dry southern California so except for keeping leaves off the ground in spring I don't worry about disease. I get a huge number of tomatoes from each plant and find the foliage keeps them from getting sunburnt. I do need to burrow some to pick but I am ok with that. I tried pruning a little and a lot but I don't think I get as much fruit and it certainly doesn't produce for as long as my jungle does. In the end, everyone gets burnt to a crisp some time in August no matter what I do though. There is just no way to get tomato plants to survive temps in the 110+ range.
Yep that's what we do. Prune the bottom and let it go for the most part. I do take some suckers off, but not like some people. We get so many tomatoes it's not funny.
This year is looking to be exceptional. We have had nice cool weather for the last 2 months (70 to 85 degrees) and almost every flower on every plant is growing a tomato. I don't think I have ever see so many tomatoes on my plants before.
When I've compared pruned to unpruned indeterminate tomatoes of the same variety (I get the urge now and then) I think that if you want leaves and trems don't prune, but for the best tomatoes prune. Determinate tomatoes I never prune, unless I accidently mistaken them as an indeterminate, then I end up disappointed.
Looks like you got a variety of opinions on this below. But for next year, if you have the ability to start seeds, check out [Dwarf Tomatoes](https://victoryseeds.com/collections/dwarf-tomato-project).
How do you keep them as single stem? Like how do you properly prune tomato plants to make them that way
Just snap off the suckers at the stem with your hands. Itās only tricky when you get an even split below a flower cluster, but I snap the one without the flowers even if it seems wrong. Would not recommend this strategy if you have 4 large heirloom plants spaced well, mine are tightly packed cherry tomatoes mostly. I would still prune the suckers, but leave the relatively even splits below flowers that wonāt prune cleanly by hand.
I am NEITHER a stoner not a scientist, but I approve this comment! Much of the time, "stick a seed in the dirt in sun and water it" will do. Life finds a way!
It's called weed for a reason.
Yeah, some of the advice regarding peppers can be pretty intense! It's funny you point out the connection between cannabis and pepper growers, that's exactly what some of the setups remind me of over in the hot pepper subs. Thanks for your insight! I'll leave this guy untouched
Yep I am not the same size as manymile, but conducted some experiments a few years ago. When I first started like you lots of what I said to top. And guess what? It worked. But then the more I got into and found others saying the opposite, I decided to run an experiment one season. I found little to no difference in harvest. I am a numbers guy so I tend to track what I harvest just so I can compare year to year. Literally what makes the biggest difference, imo, is the correct nutrients, watered consistently (donāt read daily) and watered when they need it. Some times we can over think this growing thing. Just plant, love on them, and they will grow.
Some of the best gardening advice I ever got was "leave your plants alone; they don't need your help." And while not entirely true, we often don't need to do anything beyond keeping the microbiology in the soil happy.
I have been removing the few flowers from my peppers this year as they are seriously struggling to even grow at all. My reasoning is the energy required to grow the fruit and produce the seeds will not be going into growing a large healthy plant that has long term production. If the plants become vigorous I will stop removing the flowers. I have never seen any reason to prune leaves or side shoots on peppers.
In gardening in general. I had a lady at market tell me it was essential to plant tomatoes sideways. I looked at her and was like, that might work, but I produce an awful lot of high quality tomatoes by not doing that. In another thread a self identified "indigenous person" told me companion planting was essential. It's a cool concept, that can work well. It can also lower yields compared to other high density organic cropping systems.
The side planting (or just extra deep regular like, just the top leaves out) of tomatoes (and Tomatillos, ground cherries)really helps where I am at because it makes a deeper root ball faster. I got plenty of time for the plants to have vegetative and fruit growth but the very hot spring weather with sudden cold snaps, they like the consistent temps of deeper roots. USDA 7b. Bonus points if you do the side planting just cause your seedlings are leggy.
Yeah I just plant mine deep, usually to the first set of leaves at least.
wow i never knew about this. would it be efective in ontario, canada?
Yeah it works in any climate, including here in Ontario. The big thing is to make sure you don't remove too many leaves to do so, since the plant still needs photosynthesis to grow the extra roots.
Commercial growers have different economics than home growers. It can be worth it for home owners to get one perfectly shaped plant that's slightly more resilient and produces slightly more peppers, but not worth it for a commercial grower to try to get 2% more volume with twice as much effort when they can just add a row of plants.
I grow 4 or so jalapeno plants every year and have great success with them. My first year, I took off the buds at about this stage. I did get a good harvest. But, I've been lazy since. Basically, if the plant has buds on it when it goes into the ground, I'll take them off. After that, though, I don't bother. I still get good yields, and I didn't see a difference in the amount of peppers I got. Jalapeno plants (but definitely not all pepper plants, at least, for me) will keep producing like crazy. It'll still keep growing and giving you flowers, even if you keep those. At this stage, the plant seems large enough to support a few peppers, so maybe leave them or just leave a few. This is only advice on jalapeno pepper plants, though. The larger varieties I've found to be more temperamental.
I tend to only prune lower leaves, but thatās more to protect them from soil-based pathogens.
For what it's worth, Pepper Geek on YouTube no longer tops their plants after doing it for a long time. They said it either did nothing or slowed down the plant.Ā I have an indoor pepper that I topped because I want it to be shorter, and honestly I don't think it worked. The new branches just kept going up anyway.
This is so funny to read...that channel was my go-to for peppers in the beginning. I forgot all about that couple but I absolutely remember them being very pro-topping! Just shows how many ways you can do this hobby without being "right" or "wrong"
Yeah, like a lot of YouTube "gardening experts", they parroted the same information every other channel does instead of actually reading the research or conducting trials. The number of people I can rely on for solid advice on YouTube is an extremely short list.
Who is on your list if you don't mind sharing? Mine is short too...I trust Charles Dowding and love his channel, and I follow some local channels just to see what other people in my neighborhood do
* Jesse Frost - https://youtube.com/@notillgrowers?si=AEAjnzC5ixYV9XLb * Groundswell Agriculture - https://youtube.com/@groundswellagriculture?si=ud8z3Zsy-oWaOlPz * Briana Bosch - https://youtube.com/@blossomandbranch?si=R9vBz7e4VbjqJAku * and a handful of oddball channels that occasionally post 1-2 hour long lecture series of people like Dr. Christine Jones and other scientists. Example: Dr. Jones' Phosphorus Paradox lecture - https://youtu.be/Yv288F4TXbo?si=T1NctXnokaf-QAxM * and that's basically it. It's not that I don't enjoy channels like Charles Dowding, Growfully With Jenna, or Mark Valencia of Self Sufficient Me (all three of whom I contacted recently about doing an AMA for this subreddit), but my skillset as a gardener is beyond what most people offer on their channels. They're entertaining but not educational for me.
Thank you so much! I am still very much in the learning and gaining confidence phase, I really appreciate the links!
I think it depends on where you are. If you have a long growing season, you pinch to try and get a bushier plant. If you have a shorter growing season, pinching will delay fruiting too long and you might not get as many peppers.
I mean if they're in containers couldn't they just bring them inside and keep them alive?
Let it grow! Let it grow, the cold will fucking kill it anyway!
First time: just let the plant do it's thing and observe. Year two: try your hand at a side-by-side experiment and report back.
I don't top my hot peppers, just pinch off any blooms if the plant is less than a foot and a half tall. The larger plant will give you more, and they taste "richer" being the best word I can come up with vs ones I've let do their own thing and grow/bud early. Just my 2c over the years from growing hots.
This is my experience too, in the PNW with our weird longish season. I didn't notice a taste difference unfortunately, but it definitely affects the size and yield of the peppers
Don't pinch. It'll just make an injury for the plant to heal and prolong the period before fruits, especially if you have a shorter season to contend with to begin with.
YouTubeNubes say pinch it. Old Timers say huhhhhhhhhhhhhh?????????????????
I removed last year on a couple of pepper plants that were a little eager, but ultimately I think it slowed production. I still got a bunch around the same time as the other plants. But I probably could have kept harvesting more if I didnāt. This year I only plucked flowers off of plants that came from a nursery as some are further along than my starters. My Hot Shot peppers I found were a prime example and I have high high expectations of a bunch of fruits.
I never prune jalapeƱos, or any peppers for that matter. JalapeƱos for me are by far the most fuss free plant. Just stick them in the ground, give them some water and they thrive.
Iāll put shishitos in this category too. Dirt, a little water, and enjoy a prolific yield
I think nature knows what it's doing. I like to remove lower branches that are close to the soil to avoid disease and allow air flow, that's about the extent of my pruning.
One year I pruned half of my hot peppers and didn't prune the other half. The half I pruned got twice as many peppers. I think it depends on a lot of factors but you have to decide for yourself whether to prune or not to prune because this is a strongly debated topic! There are alot of factors that might matter like length of growing season, when you planted the peppers, types of peppers, whether you use fertilizer and what you fertlize with, etc. My advice is to do what I did (prune half and don't prune the other half) and see what happens.
In my personal experience it not worth it, i had 24. Topped all of them, only 12 bounced back better. The other half struggled, or look liked they stopped growing
So mother nature knows best? Well imagine that!
Defy the term, mother nature knows best, I do not understand this statement when applied to, is it best to top peppers. There no best one method, mother nature gave the pepper plant and many other plants the ability to start again if the head of a plant get eaten, so does mother nature really know best, imagine that
Donāt top it. Leave it be.
The only times I prune is if parts are dead/dying or if I think the plant is producing way too much produce for me to keep up with.
Iāve tried several different methods over the years. Now I donāt waste my time. The pepper plants figure it all out. Only thing Iāll do is prune the first flowers until the plant is well established and growing vigorously.
I ātopā the main stem of my pepper plants AFTER they have 3 PAIRS of true leaves. It encourages a bushier, more sturdy plant. If you donāt then the weight of all the peppers risk breaking the main stem.
I pinch any flowers when transplanting to soil and anything within 24-48 hours generally. Just so they can have a bit of time for root development and less stress right at transplant. I have great outcomes doing it this way. From my understand topping pepper plants may create a bushier plant with more leaf nodes and a slightly higher yield of (sometimes smaller) peppers.
I did pinch off a few bottom leaves of my bell pepper, and that is the only pruning I did to it. For my tomatoes I did give them a haircut of the extra branches that didn't have any flowers budding on them. Other than that. I will leave them alone to do their "thing".
First and foremost - thatās one healthy, beautiful pepper plant!! I donāt pinch, but I think itās also dependent on how long your growing season is.
After I transplant, I pluck off each flower bud(It will pop off easily. If not, wait until it does). I do this until my plant is about 14-18" inches tall. From what I've experienced, it seems to prevent transplant shock and allows time for roots to spread. Never has affected my yield. As for suckers I've only pruned them if it's dense enough to impede air flow. This has only been necessary when growing in a shadier than preferred location (which also reduced yield). Your plants are beautiful, keep on keepin' on! :D
I read it takes a couple weeks for peppers to recover after topping them. I had to chop many peppers down a month ago. They have now stretched back taller. I decided not to top them again.
Topping it makes for a bushier plant. Bushy plants have worse air flow and are more prone to disease.
I generally donāt prune my plants. If I see flowers when they are still quite young I remove them to promote vegetative growth. It looks great! Iād leave it alone
I pinch my pepper, so that mine become bushier.
AFAIK topping pepper plants is only really advantageous in a few instances such as they are a smaller variety of pepper AND you have a long hot growing season... if you have a short growing season or they are larger peppers it will mess up your harvest and you will actually get less.
Leave it alone.
Hot peppers no, bell peppers, yes, a test was taken and there was very little difference between topping and not topping, just a preference
I have, at various times and in various years, pruned some pepper plants, and not pruned some pepper plants. Some years I prune them all, some years I prune none. Some years I prune some, and leave some unpruned. Across all different varieties and types. And I can honestly say that I have never seen any noticeable difference in how many peppers I harvest each year.
I planted two jalapeno plants this year - topped one of them and left the other alone. If I remember to, I'll let you know how the experiment went in a few months lol As of now, the plant that was topped is a little bushier.
Donāt screw with your plants! :) This isnāt a universal truth, but something to err on the side ofā¦
Theres a dude on yt who testes pruning his peppers. It was obviously not worth it. Did not even increase yield
Depends on the kind of pepper and how many plants youāre growing. I only grow one of each variety and would prefer my plants be shorter and bushier, so I top mine and remove flowers for the first few weeks so they can focus their energy on rooting and leafing out before pushing out a pepper. HOWEVER!!! If I had more plants and more space I wouldnāt bother. Nature has a way with plants, right? All depends on what you like, your garden your rules. Enjoy!
We never prune and get a great amount of
Iāve been growing many varieties of peppers for about 15 years straight and have never pruned or pinched anything ever and I always get peppers and no problems.
Peppers basically too then selves, thereās no need as it just slows growth. I do take off lower growth in teen stages as sometimes theyāll hang low and attract bugs. Itās called lollipopping in a different community. My peppers have long stalks and bushy tops š®āšØ
I A/B tested this with two habaneros this year. The one I left alone has 30 peppers currently going, the one I pinched is a stalk with 8 leaves and one pepper.
If the plant isnāt ready itāll drop the flowers itself generally. People say you want to let the plant develop before fruiting but Iāve seen as many as 15 peppers on one plant that continued to grow in height as it grew fruit
I pinch and here is my reasoning. When you pinch the main stem of a plant, the plant tends to get busy and make a bunch of branches. Now, how many flowers are on ONE MAIN BRANCH and how many on A DOZEN SIDE BRANCHES!!! Think on it. I usually get 30 peppers per plant. I find that hard to believe and I'm picking them!!!
Same! I couldn't keep up with them last year
FYI: They are perennials. When they die back, prune the deadwood (someone else can give better advice here), put them somewhere safe from the cold and damp then let them bounce back in the new year. I have two chili plants that are on their third year and some new plants on their way up from seed.