Hey everyone, it certainly does, for those folks who don't know what topping or docking is, it simply means cutting the main stem of a small plant to encourage growth. This has many benefits and one draw back in the beginning, setting the plant back for a few weeks, but ultimately the growth and extra branches one gets from the plant is exponentially more then had you not have done so.
These Carolina Reapers I have in a big pot outside my house. I have around 20 plants in total some here and the rest in the garden at the bottom. Since starting to dock plants around 8 months ago, the experiment has been brilliant so I do it all the time now, when the plants reach around a month or two old!
Here we have 2 Reapers and 2 Cayenne plants in the background. All of them were docked around 3 months ago, they are growing really nicely now in a bushy hedge like fashion.
I like to plant all my plants close to one another especially plants that do not enjoy such excessive African Sun and heat. They generally do fine however tend to wilt in the heat of the day in Summer. Planting them real close as I have tends to keep the humidity up and the plants cooler, this is a nice trick that really works well given high nutrient content in the soil as naturally their roots will 'compete' in this close proximity!
The below pic all my potted plants at the entrance to my humble abode, and what a lovely abode it is! I have all my other Vegetables and Chilli's in the two big gardens at the bottom of the property not seen in these pics but featured many times here before :)
Below a pic taken at the exact point where I cut the main stem. This had some incredible growth in the last month. Always after docking the main stem you will get atleast 2 main branches coming from the point of where you topped it. So far as my experimentation goes I have had great successes with mostly chilli's but quiet a few other vegetable and fruiting plants too!
Below my glorious Carolina Reaper pods, aren't they pretty? So these have been green for over a month now, rare you may ask? This is my first time growing them so I am not too sure but learning as I go. I did order both Red and Yellow Reapers so I just can't wait for them to start becoming ripe, should be rather 'tasty' too, proceed with caution I shall :)
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Weekend almost here, I trust you have a great week further and amazing weekend.
Cheer$;)
