Half the questions on this forum are about pulling flowers. I think the view is that the plant won't grow if it's putting energy into fruit.
Here's my counter evidence. I got the first fruit growing a month or so ago, they're all going ripe, above that the plant kept on growing and now there's around 100 pods starting to swell.
FWIW I did nip the top off when it was about 6" high, I do it as I like the plant to be bushier and shorter. Should get the same result regarding leaving flowers either way.
by nezzzzy
8 Comments
I don’t know, I’ve always seen a very strong consensus on not pulling them, I’ve seen the question often but never a real debate.
Either way, couldn’t agree more, I like peppers as early as possible and for as long as possible!
That’s a beautiful plant! There are too many factors to make a blanket statement about what’s best for individual plants. If a plant is clearly struggling and you’re working on getting it balanced, it makes sense to pop off fruit that would otherwise be siphoning resources. If the plant overall looks healthy, I let it ride and see what it does on its own.
This year I made the mistake of pulling all flowers early because of a post like this. I moved across the country and our growing season is too short here for that, and now I’m out hundreds of dollars because they will all die before being harvested. If you have a long growing season, go for it but err on the side of caution.
We don’t pull flowers in commercial growing either. Here to grow fruit not leaves. If you’re constantly feeding and managing the generative/vegetative characteristics then removing flowers isn’t needed. Leaves? Yeah we prune!
I will say I’m not a hardcore hot pepper only type person, just a general gardening enthusiast that also grows peppers so that might be relevant to my motivations haha.
I’ll be honest, I don’t pull flowers, do much in the way of pruning, or do anything fussy on any of my annual vegetables including peppers. I’ve got enough fussing over blooms and fruit load per year in early years and thinning on my fruit trees and I’m simply too lazy to bother with any of that on my annuals. By the end of the season I usually end up with more than I can use on my hot peppers without doing anything to them, so I just take the lowest maintenance/mental energy route possible and let them do whatever they’re gonna do.
Finally someone said it… the whole flower pulling thing is such bro science bullshit that gets repeated endlessly on here.
I’ve been growing for like 8 years now and I only pulled flowers my first season because everyone told me to. Complete waste of time. Plants gonna plant, you know? They’ve been doing this shit for millions of years without us micromanaging their reproduction…
Only time I’ve seen it actually matter is with really weak seedlings or if you’re growing in tiny pots. But if you’ve got decent sized containers and the plant looks healthy? Let it rip. Hell, I had a reaper last year that started fruiting when it was like 8 inches tall, thing ended up being my most productive plant.
The topping though, that’s where it’s at. I top everything except my Thai chilis (they get weird when you top them). Makes such a huge difference in yield it’s not even funny.
What variety is this btw? Looks like it could be a cayenne or maybe a serrano? Either way that’s a solid haul for a plant that size.
I tend to find if the plant doesn’t want to make the effort to fruit, the flowers fall off on their own anyways.
I didn’t hear of pulling flowers until recently. I’ve been growing peppers for years and have never pulled flowers and never had an issue. I’m in a short growing season area and need the early flowers.