Habs flowering already

[Dan@BLP Labels]

OK - I just transfered my habs into my garden last week. Currently they are approximately only 5 inch tall plants and about 5 inches across. The plants look pretty healthy. I have a question, though... Should these plants be flowering already?? Two of my plants have a couple flowers on them already and it seems to be incredibly early. If they shouldn't be flowering this early, what should I do? Nip the flowers off or just let them develop into fruit?

[Pam]

OK - I just transfered my habs into my garden last week. Currently they are approximately only 5 inch tall plants and about 5 inches across. The plants look pretty healthy. I have a question, though... Should these plants be flowering already?? Two of my plants have a couple flowers on them already and it seems to be incredibly early. If they shouldn't be flowering this early, what should I do? Nip the flowers off or just let them develop into fruit?

Were they a little bit pot bound before going in the garden? That does seem to stimulate earlier fruit.

As to pinching the flowers, well, that depends on who you ask! I pinch any flowers for the first week or ten days on my plants, but lots of people don't and have perfectly healthy, productive plants.

[Dan@BLP Labels]

Hi Pam -

Yes, the root ball was quite large and healthy. I should have done a search on here for this topic first as after I posted my question I found pertinent threads. You are correct though, there are two different sides to this question. To pinch or not to pinch. Thanks for your response!

[Slinter]

Why not pinch half of them, and see which does better for you? I am interested in a little experiment to find out.

[gardenkiller]

Maybe its just my inexperience speaking here, but most of the time when my plants flower when very small the blooms just fall off. Maybe the plant just isn't ready for fruit or just transplant shock or something, but I have never had to pinch I just let mother nature do it for me.

[imaguitargod]

Ok, to clear up confussion, pinch flower until you feel that the pepper plant is the right size. This is because once it starts flowerin and growing peppers, the plant shifts it's focus to growing peppers rather than growth (for the most part).