Pinch out chilli plants?

[mysteryduck]

Hello! I’ve read that some people pinch out their chilli plants for bushier growers and supposedly higher yields. I’ve also read that some people don’t. It would be great to do a little poll and see what people do here. Do you pinch out? If so, at what point? And for which varieties?

[Scarlet]

I dont - it slows them right down and if you only intend to keep the plant for that season your crop that ripens is much smaller.
They usually branch of on their own anyway.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

I always pinch early on, although it does initially stunt growth, they soon bounce back with loads of growth.
I've never conducted a production test, ie unpinched v pinched, in my opinion however, I think you get more chilli's
I pinch when they get roughly 3 nodes of true leaves and pinch down to the second set of true leaves

[fluffybunnyuk]

I only pinch out if it gets too big. Anything over 6ft i find a bit unwieldy. Usually they start flower buds by that time though.
Usually i get maybe 40 or 50 chillis. So i'm far from good at growing these things, but its enough for me for the year.
I find the biggest pain to be pollinating with a brush, and playing tricks with hanging a ripe chilli off the tree to encourage the rest of it to set, and other small little annoyances.

[mysteryduck]

So far three completely different answers! How interesting!

It would be great to get an experiment on the go. Especially led by an experienced grower. I might try myself but given it’s only my second year there might be too much variability.

[Small pumpkin]

I'm with Scarlet on this. I don't have a long season and they produce very well without any pinching out.

[The Pepper Man]

I pinched out two padrons last year to see what effect it would have. As others have mentioned, it certainly slowed them down for a few weeks.

Interestingly, the two other padrons that were not pinched out, actually outperformed the ones that were. They produced peppers earlier, and overall more peppers throughout the season, compared to the ones that were pinched out. So I am not really an advocate of pinching them out.

Maybe it works better in warmer climates, where growth can resume quicker and the season is much longer, which will compensate for any stress and slow down time that the plant experiences as a result of pinching. But in our climate, I don't think it is really worth it, since our growing season is short and you will loose a few weeks of that valuable growing time due to inflicting stress on the plant.

Just my two cents anyway...

[Scarlet]

We did experiment a few years back...it must be on one of the chilli threads. I did a few side by side comparisons and the pinched out ones definitely didn't crop as well.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Think I might stop pinching

[Scarlet]

Think I might stop pinching

Don't let me put you off it may be that the varieties you have grown respond better.....and remember that no two gardeners will ever agree

[Mitzi]

In theory I don’t, but in practice the aphids effectively topped the young plants last year and this. I’ve also pinched out one plant which dried out when I was away, wilted severely and dropped all its leaves except a couple at the top.

[mysteryduck]

Thanks everyone for sharing. Certainly seems like leaving them alone is the way forward!

[Small pumpkin]

No pinching out for me looks like this. Photo taken August last year.



It wasn't all greenery I harvested 89kg

[Jay-ell]

.....and remember that no two gardeners will ever agree

I think you're wrong about that.

I don't grow a lot of peppers but haven't had much success pinching them out - they seemed to produce latrt and never ripened for me. I've only got a couple Trinidad Perfume this year but I'm not going to pinch them out.

[Scarlet]

No pinching out for me looks like this. Photo taken August last year.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]86492[/ATTACH]

It wasn't all greenery I harvested 89kg

Put it away girl! Such a show off




Just wait until you see my chocolate hab this year....that is if the frost doesn't get to it
I cant pick it up - will need to fleece it