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Another chilli plant question :o)

Waz200Waz200 Posts: 56
in Fruit & veg

My chilli plants are coming on fine now but i was thinking image. Can i pinch out the small leaves growing between the stem & the main leaves similar to the way we do it to tomato plants? Will it help the plants concentrate more on the flowers with less foliage to sort out?

Posts

  • GardenmaidenGardenmaiden Posts: 1,126

    According to my hubby, quite the opposite. If you leave them you will get a better crop of chillis. You would be better to pinch out the leader to make your plant bushier and therefore more side shoots and more flowers.

  • Stacey DochertyStacey Docherty Posts: 1,759

    I concur do not pinch out. the side shoots chillies are not "cordon plants" by nature they are bushes and so they try to do that! Varieties like Jo long hace less side shoots as they produce a larger stem however chillies like apache should keep the side shoots to promote more growth flowers and eventually fruits. If you have a large chilli plant as mentioned above or cherry bomb then the only issue is weight of the fruit breaking the stem but then you just stake!

  • Waz200Waz200 Posts: 56

    Thanks for the advice guys, the small bushy ones are fairly steady & the taller ones i've had staked for a while, so all is good in the hood imageimage

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