Does Topping Peppers Increase Yields & Growth?
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2023
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I’m in Ontario, and had some plants that never made it into the garden last year, so I kept them in the basement under grow lights. I topped them a month or so ago, and put them outside two weeks ago. Now they’re nice and bushy, with new peppers growing already! I’ll be overwintering a bunch this winter too.
I had a habenaro that fruited for 3 years by overwintering the plant year after year. Fantastic way to keep your favorite pepper around. By the end, she was 3+ foot tall, 2 foot wide, and would produce flushes of a dozen peppers at a time, 4-5 times a season.
I'm in Nebraska, I over winter my jalapeno, serrano, habanero, and fatalli peppers. I top/prune them heavily in the fall so get very bushy plants that produce quickly. I start my Italian, ancho/pablano, and Anaheim peppers in Feb and top them as soon as they have 3 sets of true leaves I then top them to 2 sets. This creates 2 stems for fruit and by the time I plant them in May, they are very healthy. I get great harvest this way.
I am in , Michigan, great idea.
Love you Luke! Been watching since high school. It's amazing to see how far you've come in over a decade!
This is such a sweet and loving comment. You get my comment of the world this year award. Sorry I'm a nobody, but you're awesome, and I just wanted you to know 💗. Jesus loves you!
@@GoTo-KleckfilesDOTCOM thank you!
I watched him since he was in highschool too at his parents house!
I never top my bells and easily get 10-15+ peppers per plant. I just pick flowers off for the first 2-3 weeks to prioritize more leafy growth before allowing it to set fruit
THANK YOU. I am in southeast Texas and I've heard so many people rave about how their choice to top or not is the ONLY WAY to do things. You're the first one to explain how growing season length makes all the difference. I appreciate it!
I grew your purple beauty bell peppers last year, grasshoppers topped them for me. From 4 plants, I harvested around 100-150 peppers, it was unreal. They were smaller, but they were SO good. I think they were called purple beauty, can't remember the name. Last year was an MIgardener season in my garden with your tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers, lettuce, and okra. Your seeds are greatm
Hi Luke love your channel. Can you come in closer to the plant for your demonstrations. I really couldn’t see what you were doing. Thank you.
I topped one of my Carolina Reapers by accident with my foot yesterday. I plan to put it in the ground to see how it compares to those I put into grow bags from 4 inch pots yesterday. Yep, it is late in the season as we are finally experiencing out first heat wave of the year in Zone 8a in Lynden, WA 👊🏻🌶👊🏻
I'd love to see a follow up with this plant through the season!
Thanks for the info Luck! I'm in MN and this year I started from seeds indoors in February. I top half of my peppers and left the other half as an experiment to see if I get a larger yield from the top peppers!
As a fellow Michigander I would be interested in how that specific plant you topped does this season…can you follow up for us , please?
I'd note while topping is often highly effective, being in the north means you need more time from when you top to harvest so I would top before they even go outside.
Only peppers of mine that are topped (basically) are overwintered from last year and they are taking their time getting going and it's already the middle of June.
I’m in Illinois. I topped peppers last year. Never again 🤦♀️. Not enough days in the growing season for that.
I agree. Would be nice to see the difference
I agree. Would be nice to see the difference
I live in NE Oh. Have been topping pepper plants-the larger varieties-for several years now. I always grow just a few that are not topped also. Definitely gain larger harvest from my topped pepper plants. They are also more sturdy and don’t topple over from the weight of the peppers.
I had a pretty leggy little jalapeno plant (central NC zone 7b) in early mid-April in a pot on my patio. I topped it and it absolutely exploded with bushy growth and flowers almost overnight. It is producing like mad.
I went with all varieties of small peppers this year, garden salsa, banana, orange you sweet, serrano, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve gotten more peppers from the little ones in June than all year with the big ones! And only the Serrano peppers are spicy at all. No more BELL peppers for me. Small is my choice moving forward.
Banana Peppers are definitely one of the EASIEST pepper plants to grow. They fruit without pollination as well! So productive!
Be sure to keep members of the same species apart unless you want them to cross breed. AFAIK all of the peppers you mentioned are Capsicum annum, same as bell peppers, which means the seeds you save will likely produce weird hybrids.
I'm in MI zone 6A. In 2021 my pepper harvest was decent without topping, despite a major whitefly infestation in the garden. I made the huge mistake of topping my plants in 2022. They grew huge & gorgeous, with dark green shiny leaves & thick woody stems. The peppers were big & blocky like what you'd hope to find in the grocery store . . . *BUT* it took 2.5 months longer than in 2021. We had only a few peppers ripen in October at the end of the season, the rest stayed green & weren't full size until mid-late September. Lesson learned. This year I had 7 bell pepper plants sown indoors in early Nov that reached full maturity and ripened fruit well before it was time to transplant into the garden outside. The lion share was sown in 72 cell trays in early March. The untopped March peppers are already getting to full size and setting fruit. The pepper plants from the indoor garden are full sized & bushy Each has multiple peppers that are big enough to harvest green.
I like watching you because you have to work with whatever weather Michigan has at the time. Very helpful.
Brasilian here. Biquinho is pronounced Bee Keen Yo. Thanks for all the great info!
I regularly top my peppers, in my case I get bumper crops of peppers doing this. I live in Bedford TX zone 8A.
Just started my first bed here in Michigan and your videos have been so helpful already! Thanks!
I’m new to gardening. This is helpful information for me. Thanks!
I live in Manitoba, Canada and I start my pepper plants extra early and top them immediately when they form their first set of true leaves. My plants get huge and produce insane amounts of fruit. I think if planned for properly, topping can work well even for northern places.
Thanks so much - in the UP of MI and was just evaluating the benefits of topping. Did not even know how to do it. Really timely video. Thanks!!!
Thanks for the advice, I am in S.E. Michigan as well and always wondered about topping.
I didn’t know about topping a pepper plant. Thanks for teaching this. I may get more peppers as a result.
It's been so cool this Spring that my peppers have barely grown. Now that we got some good rain and the afternoons are warming again, I hope to see some exponential growth.
Once it hits higher then 85 degrees F. The pepper plants will stop producing strong flowers-fruit until later in the summer when it starts to cool back down. Always pick the first few peppers until the plant gets taller wider and strong. So the energy isn’t going to the first fruits rather than the growth of the plant
Same here! Also, slug damage to one of my plants, completely took it out. 😥
We're in Chicago with 135+ days to grow. I did this with all my peppers this year. SO glad I did! They look absolutely stunning!
Thank you for this video. This something I been thinking about, and this helped alot.
Thanks 🙏 I did not know that stuff about peppers your videos help a lot thanks for the gardening videos an gardening Tips your awesome
thank you for this!! stay bright
Thanks Luke. So helpful!
Very helpful to know for here in Minnesota.
Central Alberta here. Short season, long days of daylight (17 hours today). My outdoor peppers wouldn't have time to recover from topping. Also, they hate wind so I'm surprised yours are so unsheltered. I have them in 3-4 gallon pots (some are 2 per pot), staked and against a south facing wall. I picked all May flowers so now in mid-June they are big and bushy and doing great.
Thank you for your sacrifice, I wanted to know the specifics of topping pepper plants. 👍
I accidentally topped my serrano while hardening it off. I was able to root the broken off top and now I have two serrano pepper plants! Both are looking good (though shorter than my other peppers) so far. 🤞🤞
This is definitely good information. There is an alternative technique, though, that will accomplish the same goal as topping while hardly stressing the plant at all. It's called low stress training, and it's common in the cannabis growing world, where production of as much flowers as quickly as possible is the main goal. Just put a stick or stake in the ground near one of those peppers, and hook a wire to it to pull the plant over to where the top is pointing sideways. You can compare it to a topped plant, and if done right, you will find that you shave off at least a week and a half of stress, and potentially not stress the plant at all. The top will turn to face upwards, but apical growth will still be sent to lower branches. There are quite a few useful techniques common for growing cannabis right now that you never hear about in other areas where it can be used, that I think should be adopted into the rest of gardening.
I had no idea peppers produced in flushes or that the shock time after pruning was so long. Thank you so much for all the great info!
Thank You!
Thank You, Luke. SW Michigan here- never topped my peppers. I do start them early. As a comment record, I will say that the Candadian wildfire smoke that is blocking our sun does not seem to be helping my garden.
Best explanation to topping peppers on the internet!
I'm so glad to see your peppers at the same growth stage as mine! Last year mine were much larger by now, I was worried I did something wrong or that the weather ruined my plants
This was very informative. I always had my reservations about topping all peppers. But, I didn't have enough evidence to support my reservations. Except I did my own experiments.
Thanks I am trying topping my pepper plants.
Thank you so much for this info. I was wondering about this topic. I have several pepper plants and one is very lanky and was thinking of topping. Live in the southern AZ with a longer growing season.
Thank you for the info about the tomato plants.
I started my Jimmy Nardello, Aleppo. Shishito, and Giant Marconi pepper plants under grow lights in January.... I live in Southern Wisconsin zone 5b... I was worried about the plants getting too tall under the lights... Now I know that I can top the plants to solve that problem... Thank you very much...
I started doing this several years ago with good results, Chicago zone 5ish
Thank you
I topped my potted pepper plants for the first time last fall when I brought them in for the winter, over wintered most of the peppers that I brought in. Was able to take the pots back out the first part of May and they are flowering now. Where the ones that I planted out in the garden this spring are still small.
Thank you for the great explanation. I wondered if it was beneficial. I've heard mixed results. Now I understand why. Sometimes yes sometimes no. Thanks again for all your help
Thank you for sharing this info
Thanks for that explanation! I hear so many people talk about it, but I've been hesitant. Our season is pretty short and some years isn't even 100 days. I do start mine inside but it's more like in late February/early March. I might try with some and see how it goes.
I feel like I should start my peppers in January! They take so long! ♥️👍
Thanks for sacrificing a plant for us! I am hoping for a bumper crop of bell peppers this year (in SE Tennessee) for salsa so I'm totally going to experiment with this!
I've topped my Cheyenne peppers here in 6B but I do start them indoors in February and have excellent production
Thank you for content specific to us northern growers! Wisconsin!
Great content Luke, thank you for clarifying it. I would like to see how that topped pepper does for you during the growing season! I sure hope that will surprise you and give you a lot of peppers! Have a blessed day, hugs 🤗💞 Grow big or go home 😉😉☺️
I’m going to go do that right now! I’m in 7b and have never known that.
Great video Luke. As an experiment I tried topping a few years ago (I'm in southern Ontario Canada) and the plants I topped didn't produce nearly the amount of peppers as the plants that weren't topped. Again, as you mention, it all depends on where you are and the length of your growing season.
I tipically don’t prune my pepper plants, but few weeks ago frost did it ;)
So interesting!
I've grown a few pepper plants. My favorite is bell peppers. I've never thought of pruning them or topping them. Interesting. Maybe I'll try it! Thank you!
Very helpful, I heard about topping peppers recently and wondered if it's worth it.
I realize I'm commenting 10 moths after this video was produced, but it's a new growing season. I live in NE IN. this is a process that I use each year for my peppers. I started my peppers 2/9. I waited until I had about 6-8 open leaves, then I carefully pinch out the growth point of the plant, leaving the developed leaves on the plant. It sets my plants back, but only briefly, and the side shoots start to develop very early in plant growth. I do not cut off nearly as much of the plant as Luke was cutting off
Yes it's spreads them.
I use tweezers or toenail clippers.
Peppers will produce an abundance in a simple 5 gallon bucket.
They are pick growers.
I had a habanero plant jackpot after almost killing it 3 times with direct sunlight.
It grew to a beautiful season end monster happily under a mulberry tree canopy though.
It was 6' across & chest high. Beautiful watching those peppers change color
Great video! Northern Michigan here, about four hours north of Luke. I tried topping a year or two ago. Didn't help but didn't really hurt either. Needless to say I'm not going to be doing it again. I can totally see though where in a longer growing season it would be beneficial.
I topped mine in April and they bushed out nicely, already got fruit growing and blooms all over 🌶️🌶️😁👍
Great Topic Luke
Even though the growing season here (the Netherlands, US zone 8) is not that long, I decided to top four out of my ten bell pepper plants. They were already large (30cm+) in May. I hope they will grow bushier now
And if the yield wont be great for the topped plants, I think it will still work out because I will try to overwinter them and try to gain great yields next year. The bushier plants will probably do great in the future
I don’t know if you even realized but you said the most quotable phrase for merch EVER. WE CANT STOP QUOTING IT HERE!! you said “Bushy by Nature”. Get that on a t-shirt NOW!
I have not had luck with peppers...so when I heard about topping I thought perhaps that is why. I can attest to it setting plants back 4 weeks...they are finally starting to get back on track. Not sure I would do this again next year. We will see!
I live in Idaho and I start my pepper plants very early indoors where I live it can be very windy at times reaching wind speeds up to 60 miles an hour so I top my plants at 4 to 6 inches while they are growing indoors so that they can be bushy and have larger stocks to withstand the wind it works very well
I'm in 5b south of Chicago. I only grow pepperoncini and bell peppers. I dont top them. The pepperoncini bush out on their own and produce enough for my family. The bell peppers I grow send out enough suckers that they bush out as well. I wish I could tell you the variety. But I get the seeds from bell peppers I buy at Aldi in the winter, so they are basically free. I get nice sized bell peppers in 3 different colors, so I am happy even if I dont know exactly what variety they are.
I overwinter peppers and prune them back each fall, which makes them really bushy when I break them out of dormancy in late March to April. I have a 3 year old shepherd pepper that's trying to set about 100 fruits at once...
i honestly was just thinking about this as i checked on my peppers this morning. luke, the psychic gardener!
@pennisauer2121 You have to consider that LUKE probably started planning and videotaping this show some time back. Therefore, it did not coincide with your thoughts about topping your pepper plants.
One other thing. . . You know how he says "Grow big or go home." If you are growing bonsai plants, you really should ignore that advice.🙂
I have a 3 year old Bell Pepper plant that is still producing peppers for me this year. I keep it in the greenhouse and during winter temperature only goes down to 45 degrees. Talk about how you can trim your peppers for the dormant period and come spring the pepper plant starts growing. You get peppers earlier because the plant you already have a huge plant.
I want to do this, but I'm in the Pacific Northwest and my greenhouse won't stay that warm unless I heat it. 😕
I tried to overwinter my peppers from last year, but I must have done something wrong. I pruned them back heavily, potted them up, kept them in a sunny window, and made sure they didn't dry out. However when I took them back outside this spring, they shriveled up and died. I had no choice but to restart everything from seed.
@@FrozEnbyWolf150 did you harden them off slowly or just put them directly outside/into the sun? If you put them out without acclimating them slowly first they may have been too stressed by the outside environment.
@@willsolarski8550 I moved them into the greenhouse at first, for several weeks. Then on a particularly hot day, I planted them out. This might have been my mistake, as the temperatures this spring have been fluctuating wildly, and they could not take the cold swings. I lost a lot of pepper sprouts to the temperature swings too, so it's not just the mature plants.
Northern New Jersey about 15 min from Manhattan N.Y. I have never toped my pepper plants. I don't have a long season but it's not short either so I just let them do what they do and there happy. 😁
Georgia ZONE 7b -I topped off my peppers this year.
I caught that slight in there towards Jess😂
God bless!
With my experience this year try your best to start outside in a greenhouse my plants took a big shock going from inside to outside and then again when I finally plant in the ground for good. Will not be doing that again next year I put mine under a 80% shade cloth for just about 3 weeks and then planted in ground the UV burn them so bad I dont know if they are going to make it and all but a few days of may was cloudy..... i planted first of may no new growth yet..... tomato's got burned like that too but have come out of it and look great now hope this helps yall
NV it was 97 f 2 nights ago last night 87 f and it poured today clear and going to be 93 f.
Dam weather backlash sucks more plants Less smog please.
I top my peppers, but I also overwinter my peppers indoors. I have a lot of 2-3 year old plants and they produce a lot more than my first year plants.
I live in the mountains in NM, I am new to gardening, and have been topping my peppers like everyone on CZcams says to. I have never had a good yield from them. Now I know why. I don’t have a long enough season. Thank you for this information. I hope I remember it next year 😂
Summers are long, and hot in the south. And pepper plants will stop producing when temperatures get above 85. Just leave them be. They will flower again when it cools down. I’m in Texas. So in late September the temperatures start to cool back down. That’s when ur pepper plants will be able to produce strong buds that won’t just fall of before opening up into their flower. It’s so warm here that I can be harvesting peppers as late as December sometimes January. If I keep them covered from any freeze.
One like for the brave pepper that gave its growth of 2 weeks for education. A moment of silence. Lol
Thanks Luke because I’m in northern Mn and have been debating doing this. Another perfect video we’ll-timed!
I have very fine sandy soil and have an awful time growing peppers. They're in full sun, fertilized and I put straw around them to retain moisture. I just get a few and they don't get very big. Am using organic chicken poo this year so am hoping it helps. I always grow them next to my tomatoes (not in raised beds).
Love you luke❤
Topping is the way❣❣❣🌱🌱🌱
I received hot pepper plant as a gift. Only type of pepper I have ever tried. I did not top it. I’m in zone 6a. It’s very bushy, so hopefully the grower did early on.
Well this year I had 2 jalapenos "naturally" topped. We had a vole sneak into our greenhouse and left a 1 inch nub :( and tried to pull the rest of the plant through the opening it came through (to keep for later I suppose). The next day, we found a second pepper that had been topped off but we still had 4 or 5 inches left. We decided to feed the "Nub" and replanted the taller one in a pot. Both plants are regrowing but I doubt they'll produce much.... especially considering I'm in zone 3! LOL
Now everyone will want a vole of their own.
I know some folks swear by it but I've never topped mine. Short growing season for one. Just never saw the need for two. But three, I usually plant 2 peppers per planting hole and double the volume that way.
I have heard about topping peppers when they are young seedlings to encourage the bushing/branching earlier in the growing cycle. I haven't done it yet but I would love for you to make a follow up video in a few weeks so we can compare the one pepper you topped verses the others you didn't. I may top my peppers in coming years if I can see the value in doing this.
I have topped before but was never sure if it was worth it.This year I have decided to let them just grow without topping.
Maybe you live in a northerly growing zone.
So, pinching just like flowers to get more produce. I managed to over winter my pepper plants this last winter so I may try this and over winter my plants again since peppers are perennials. 🙂
The deer here in the Hill Country of Texas top my pepper plants for me.
It was really hard to top our pepper plants last year and for the first time. The plants slowed but did bush out more eventually. Production came in later and after I was getting tomatoes. No salsa til later! I might do a mix and not top off all of them to lengthen the time of harvest. We are in NE Indiana, zone 5b/6a.
I’m formerly SW Indiana, now SW Illinois.
I wouldn’t recommend topping your peppers personally. When I don’t, I always ended up harvesting earlier and just as late as when I top.
International watcher here. I'm from Christchurch, New Zealand and very much a beginner gardener. Great and informative video Luke as per usual. May try growing a different pepper this season. I've not had much luck the past couple of years with the pepper I've tried growing...maybe time to plant more than just one!
What helped me to grow peppers was to start early inside and then not plant them until it 65 degree nights. This season has been weird so I had to plant them at 60. Time will tell🤷🏼♀️
Luke, can you recommend an organic water soluble fertilizer for the veggie garden? I use fish emulsion but I'm thinking I need a higher middle number for fruit set. Thanks! and you're the best btw.
never crossed my puny mind to top a pepper plant, woah!
I used to top peppers as advised but stopped as I have a shorter season (UK south) and found I was trying to ripen peppers too late in the season.
Last 2 years, I haven't topped, fruit sets earlier and there is time to ripen. Sometimes, you have to ignore the advice around you and grow by trial and error.
Can you give me an idea of the length of a growing season we would need to see a benefit?
Can you or have (i certainly could have missed it) videos on wether or not to pick early flowers to push more growth out of the plant. I just did so because they are about yours big, probally a bit smaller, and started flowering. So I picked the flowers as I do with my tomatoes to encourage the plant to focus on green growth instead of flower growth.
I'm in MI as well and I'm not topping this year. With both my tomatoes and peppers I've learned to pull the lower leaves (as showed with the tomatoes). I have found that leaves close to the ground can cause diseases in the plant so I want them well up. For me, I have also found some pepper varieties grow better for me. Jalapenos grow great so I switched to more of those and fewer of the ones that have struggled in the past. I think you've covered this topic before but it might be helpful to show how (or if) you water your garden. I believe one of my past "sins" was over watering so now I'm waiting. I have a 5 head permanent sprinkler system mounted to the top of my garden fence to water from above. Not sure if this is good but was trying to mimic nature.
If you have the space you can remove the suckers and plant them. They are easier to take care of and I'm convinced they grow more fruit than if on the mother plant. Plants can't count to know when to stop.
I've been using tposts for years. Never saw anyone else use them.