by Many gardeners do not pay attention to pinching peppers, considering it a useless and labor-intensive task. However, to get a good harvest, you need not only to regularly water and feed the plants, but also to shape them as needed.
Some varieties of pepper do not need side-shooting: the bushes grow compact, side shoots in the lower part of the plant do not form, and there are no more than ten ovaries on the main branches. But if your peppers grow in lush bushes, you cannot do without side-shooting, otherwise all the fruits will not have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather.
What does the formation of a pepper bush give?
- The number of ovaries increases.
- The fruits grow larger.
- The harvest ripens faster.
- The bushes are better illuminated and ventilated.
Should you remove the crown flowers?
The first bud of pepper is called “crown” or “royal”. It is formed on the fork of the main shoot and very often falls off on its own after the plant is transplanted into the ground. If the first crown flower appears after the seedlings have been planted in a permanent place, it should be carefully removed, since it will slow down the development of skeletal branches. Many gardeners leave the crown flower in order to get the first fruit as early as possible. However, the plant spends too much energy on its formation, and fewer ovaries are formed on the remaining shoots, and some of them fall off during the growing season.
At the fork of each skeletal branch, crown flowers of the second order often form. They can be partially removed: some can be left to obtain an earlier harvest, and some can be removed so that more ovaries can form on the shoots.
When forming a bush, it is necessary to take into account the planting density, the characteristics of the variety and weather conditions.
How should stepsoning be carried out?
On a pepper bush, 2-3 main shoots usually stand out, on which the harvest is formed. All lower stepsons up to the first fork must be removed, since they inhibit the development of skeletal branches. Stepsons can be cut off together with the lower leaves, leaving stumps several millimeters long. In this case, you need to act very carefully, trying not to damage the main stem.
You shouldn’t wait until the lower shoots form buds. The sooner you remove the extra shoots, the better for the plant.
Then carefully examine the skeletal branches. If there are shoots on them that have not formed ovaries, they also need to be removed. Such stepsons only take away the plant’s strength and thicken the bush.
Should I leave all the shoots with buds at the top of the bush?
On powerful, lush pepper bushes, buds can form on absolutely all shoots. Let’s assume that the plant has three skeletal branches. They bifurcate, and we already get six shoots, on each of which 3-5 buds can form. This is too much stress for the bush, and not all the fruits will have time to ripen. What should be removed in this case?
We should pay attention to the central part of the bush, to those shoots that “look” inward. They do not receive enough light, and the fruits there are formed later. Therefore, on the shoots directed inward, only one bud should be left, and the top should be cut off. In this way, we remove the growth point. And the main skeletal branch will continue to develop.
When a sufficient number of ovaries have formed, we pinch the tops of the main shoots, stopping the growth of the bush and directing its energy to the formation of the harvest.
After pinching out the pepper, the soil in the bed will dry out much faster, since we have removed the shoots that provide additional shade. Therefore, it is advisable to mulch the bed to retain moisture, protect the soil from overheating and facilitate further care of the plantings.
Pepper bushes need to be formed throughout the season. And when the plants begin to bear fruit, do not forget to tie up the bushes in time so that they do not break under the weight of the harvest.
