This is my first time growing a Carolina Reaper, and I planted the seed in mid-January. The plant is growing well so far, but I’m wondering if I should trim the leaves to help it grow better or just leave it as is? Any advice would be appreciated!
by Amazing-Camp4179
11 Comments
What makes you think trimming the leaves would make it grow better?
No
Forget about it for a week at a time or it will seem like it never grows
you can trim any bottom leaves touching the soil, other than that any kind of pruning is unnecessary
No
I don’t think that is a reaper, time will tell but I’m willing to bet it’s not
NOOOOOO! Leaves give the plant energy. DONT cut any leaves.
Healthy green leaves are good. Do not cut.
Leave it alone
How often have you been watering? The leaves look like they are drooping down a lot which may either be a sign of overwatering or underwatering.
What chatGPT has probably formed its response from is advice to take the top off a pepper plant to encourage side shoots. This is something I’ve always done but it seems to split growers 50:50 whether it makes any difference or not.
The strategy is to snip the top of the plant off when you see the first bud. This causes a load of side shoots from the main stem to grow tall and strong. Effectively you get 4 stems for fruit to grow on instead of 1. But from what I’ve read on here you get side shoots and strong plants whether you take the top off or not.
One year I really should try and experiment to see whether it makes a difference or not!