Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - Pruning the tops leaves from tall pepper plants

rhines81 · April 13, 2018

Side-by-side, the plants will perform about the same during the first year (unless you top them too close to plant-out if you have a short growing season). I have 4 plants started Jan 1st (2 topped, 2 not) ... all have peppers on them, but the topped plants are thicker stemmed and bushier (and shorter). No difference otherwise. If you start your plants early and run out of vertical space for lighting, then topping them could be a viable solution.
I have seen studies done on topping vs not and there isn't much of a difference in the 1st year - topping for overwintering is a different story.

April 13, 2018	#6
rhines81 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Zone 5A, Poconos Posts: 959	Side-by-side, the plants will perform about the same during the first year (unless you top them too close to plant-out if you have a short growing season). I have 4 plants started Jan 1st (2 topped, 2 not) ... all have peppers on them, but the topped plants are thicker stemmed and bushier (and shorter). No difference otherwise. If you start your plants early and run out of vertical space for lighting, then topping them could be a viable solution. I have seen studies done on topping vs not and there isn't much of a difference in the 1st year - topping for overwintering is a different story. Last edited by rhines81; April 13, 2018 at 07:21 PM.