are my plants budding too soon ?

11 years ago

hi ive been growing my peppers indoors from seed for about 1month and half and they are already looking like they are starting to bud. im worried as i thought they would be bigger and more bushy.

my bell pepper is low to the soil and was buried up to the seedling leaves when transplanted and is now about 4 inches above soil and has 4 buds forming.

my cayenne is about 5-6 inches above soil also buried to seedling leaves. it has 6-7 small buds.

also my thai birds eye is only about 3-4 inches above soil buried to seedling leaves. only has two or three buds.

is this normal? to me they are small.

what should i do? i want them to grow bigger and produce more fruit but dont know what to do and if anything will harm them.

please help.

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Comments (9)

TheMasterGardener1
11 years ago
Rip them off.
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esox07 (4b) Wisconsin
11 years ago
This is not uncommon. Most people snip blooms and buds until just before it is time to get them outside for the year. I am not sure where you live and when you plant to get them outside but I will guess you are in Austrailia or NZ or somewhere in the southern hemisphere. If not, you started way to early.

Just snip them until just before you plant to put them outside for the year.
Bruce
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SgtPepper
11 years ago
One of hardest things to do when you grow your first peppers is to cull the early buds. It feels destructive, but there's no need to worry, because buds will eventually populate the branches to astonishing amounts. It is better for accelerating the plant's early growth if you do.

You can, of course, let the plants grow without interference - not necessarily a bad thing either. But I myself would prefer to pinch off the early guys, because there is little likelihood these first buds will blossom for fruiting anyway. But at this stage you really don't want fruiting, because the plant directs a lot of its energy toward fruiting - and less to foilage.

When the plant produces pods, you can see how evident these energies are. Get the leaves and branches first, then you will so how much you will be inundated with buds.
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don555
11 years ago
Are these plants to be grown entirely inside, or are these to be transplanted outside soon, in which case you must be in the southern hemisphere or the tropics?

Artificial lights can induce bud-set... I think it's the warm white that stimulate buds and the cool white that are more for foliage, but don't quote me on that. At any rate, I've never seen a problem letting early buds flower on thai/cayenne-type peppers because the pepper pods aren't terribly big so don't sap too much energy from the plant, and it's kind of nice to get some early peppers. But for green peppers, or Hungarian wax, where the peppers are quite large and take up a lot of the plant's energy, then you might want to clip off the early buds, particularly if you are going to move these plants outdoors and/or you have lots of time so early peppers aren't important.

If these are all going to be grown indoors, they are going to get much, much bigger, so you will have to either do brutal triage on what plants you want to keep, or have a huge indoor growing area. If outside, all is good.
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stephendunkley
Original Author
11 years ago
ye they are to be grown entirely inside and i know they will get big.

so i decided to pinch off the peppers and have pruned the bell pepper and cayenne leaves down to having about four or five on each. and topped the plant. will they be ok and will this help them grow?
i live in scotland which at the moment is not the greatest weather. so i thought i would try a full grow inside and see how it works. but its my first time growing at all so i dont know much.
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don555
11 years ago
Pruning the peppers will promote branching and the plant spreading outwards rather than upwards. That is what you want for indoor plants because it prevents them from becoming narrow upright plants that are difficult to give even lighting. It will delay fruit production a bit too, but hey, the winter hasn't even begun so time is your friend.

I'm in Alberta Canada at 53.5 degrees N latitude, which I think is similar in latitude to you. I'm doing the indoor winter garden thing too, it's something inspired by short summers I think...
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SgtPepper
11 years ago
One further point. If you are a smoker, avoid using your fingers or at least wash well with anti-bacterial soap when pinching off the buds. Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) can easily infect your plants this way.
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DMForcier
11 years ago
> "I'm in Alberta Canada at 53.5 degrees N latitude, which I think is similar in latitude to you."

It may be, but the sole equivalence is hours of daylight. He has warm zephyrs off the Gulf Stream and you have a direct corridor to the North Pole.

Still, if it's any comfort, you'll both be swallowed at about the same point in the coming Ice Age.
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don555
11 years ago
> "It may be, but the sole equivalence is hours of daylight. He has warm zephyrs off the Gulf Stream and you have a direct corridor to the North Pole."

Having a direct corridor to the North Pole is a good thing, better access to Santa. This year I'm going to ask him to bring me pepper plants loaded with peppers! Pics coming late December...
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