Topping/ pinching out tall Chilli plants with many growing points!

[colonel]

Hi there everyone,

I have a couple of chilli plants that have really shot up and are around 2 1/2 or 3 ft tall, they have loads of flowers and chillies on them but are too tall!

There are quite a few growing tips on them. In order to pinch out and stop upward growth should I pinch out all growth points at top of the plants? Will this encourage growth from the bottom of the plants? And will more flowers and chillies keep developing lower down the plants?

Any tips and advice is most appreciated.

Thanks and happy growing

[Ms-T]

Pinch them out, if their to tall, they may brush out...What kind are they.?

[colonel]

Yeah I was thinking of pinching them out, they are purple cayenne and a couple of thai birdseye.

One more question; what size pot do you generally use for chillies?

Thanks for your reply Ms-T

[burnie]

I use the old "long tom" pots for most of my chillies, or pots that Rose bushes came in, I also have some in smaller pots(6 inch) and as long as I give them a liquid feed at least once a week, they seem to thrive, even when pot bound.

[Ms-T]

Bigger the pot ,bigger the chilli plant..

[colonel]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I am going to top the chillies and pepper plants but just have one more question. How to do this? How much should I lop off?

Because the plants have split off into several different stems from the main stem there are many stems; each with a growing tip/point. Should I cut off each growing tip? And how much should I chop off? Just the very tip or a bit further down to take a few leaves off?

It's all a bit confusing due to the many growing points and I don't want to take too much off and harm the plant too much?

Thanks

[greenishfing]

Why are the plants too tall? Have you physically not got room for them? My pimientos de Padron usually grow to about 5 feet tall and bushy and my gypsy peppers to about a bushy 3 feet. Other assorted chillies have been known to grow up through the grapevine in one greenhouse. I would only cut them back if you have to.