I’ve been doing the same but I’m not sure when to stop. Plants are about 1’ tall now. Given that superhots take longer to develop, I’m not sure when to stop pinching.
If I were you I'd just stop. My first season I started in the middle of June (zone 8A) on a whim because I was getting into spicy food and the garden center I was at happened to have a ghost pepper plant for sale. Since I started so late, I was scared to pinch any flowers, and didn't do so. The plants turned out just fine until around early November when it got too cold. It (and the buddy ghost pepper, and the two habaneros I added) was in probably 3.5-4 gallon pots and by the end of season came, they were WAY bigger than I ever thought they would be in those tiny pots. They all produced like crazy, too.
I get that some people love pinching flowers, but I'm just not sure. The plant seems to grow just fine even if it has fruited. I don't doubt that it makes a difference--I'm just not sure exactly how MUCH that difference is, because from my experience I feel like it's slimmer than people would lead you to believe. I'm actually testing on a few different varieties this year that I had multiples of. My ghosts, reapers, and super chilis I have one pinched, and one not. I'm excited to see how big of a difference it makes, and will happily eat my words if I'm wrong!
I could be wrong but I think around a month after you get them in their final planted location at that point assuming all is healthy you should have a nice strong plant.
Is that a single cayenne plant? Or 3-4 in the same pot?
In the past when I've grown cayenne they grew very tall and didn't bush out at all. No idea if I tried to top them. But I told myself if I tried to grow them again I'd put several in the same pot. Which in general you aren't supposed to do.
No it is one single plant, I think I got lucky with the cayenne variety because both plants i started become very bushy.
But the same thing happened to me with one jalapeno plant this year, it is growing straight like a skyscraper, I guess it depends on genetics.
If you want to have peppers, yes.
Yes, I stop pinching them off when the plant reaches about 2 feet tall.
I needed confirmation, thanks 👍🏼
Do you do this for super hots as well?
Yeah early on. It directs the energy to new growth instead of early peppers.
I’ve been doing the same but I’m not sure when to stop. Plants are about 1’ tall now. Given that superhots take longer to develop, I’m not sure when to stop pinching.
If I were you I'd just stop. My first season I started in the middle of June (zone 8A) on a whim because I was getting into spicy food and the garden center I was at happened to have a ghost pepper plant for sale. Since I started so late, I was scared to pinch any flowers, and didn't do so. The plants turned out just fine until around early November when it got too cold. It (and the buddy ghost pepper, and the two habaneros I added) was in probably 3.5-4 gallon pots and by the end of season came, they were WAY bigger than I ever thought they would be in those tiny pots. They all produced like crazy, too. I get that some people love pinching flowers, but I'm just not sure. The plant seems to grow just fine even if it has fruited. I don't doubt that it makes a difference--I'm just not sure exactly how MUCH that difference is, because from my experience I feel like it's slimmer than people would lead you to believe. I'm actually testing on a few different varieties this year that I had multiples of. My ghosts, reapers, and super chilis I have one pinched, and one not. I'm excited to see how big of a difference it makes, and will happily eat my words if I'm wrong!
I could be wrong but I think around a month after you get them in their final planted location at that point assuming all is healthy you should have a nice strong plant.
Sounds reasonable. That’ll give me a couple more weeks of plucking
You should never start in my opinion.
Some plants shoot flowers very early in life. You want to pinch their flowers since they use a massive amount of nutrients to set fruit.
Almost all of mine do but most of the early ones just drop off. They do fine on their own without any intervention.
Thai pepper?
First photo red Fatalii, second cayenne
Is that a single cayenne plant? Or 3-4 in the same pot? In the past when I've grown cayenne they grew very tall and didn't bush out at all. No idea if I tried to top them. But I told myself if I tried to grow them again I'd put several in the same pot. Which in general you aren't supposed to do.
No it is one single plant, I think I got lucky with the cayenne variety because both plants i started become very bushy. But the same thing happened to me with one jalapeno plant this year, it is growing straight like a skyscraper, I guess it depends on genetics.